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Dwight Howard may really be Superman, and even if he isn't, he at least knows the keys to winning a Slam Dunk Competition and he showed them last night in New Orleans.

Last night was the most innovative and creative dunk contest of recent memory. Not since 2000 when Vince Carter absolutely rocked the house in Oakland after the dunk contest had been on hiatus for a couple of years has the contest been as fun.

Gerald Green and Jamario Moon did some nice dunks while Rudy Gay came in last despite his YouTube plea for dunk ideas. Green's "birthday cake" dunk, where he sat a birthday cupcake on the back of the rim, lit a candle, and proceeded to blow out the candle in the midst of his dunk, and his between-the-legs, windmill without any shoes on were both impressive.

Moon's pair of dunks were nice and possibly worthy of making it to the final round. After his first dunk where he lobbed the ball into the air, caught it off the bounce and did a one-handed 360 that got him good scores, Moon was in contention, but he killed himself on the second dunk.

The Slam Dunk Competition is about building anticipation, getting the crowd involved, and finally, about performing. Moon messed up on his second dunk by building too much anticipation and the inevitable let down of the crowd and judges killed his score. He taped a line about a foot past the free throw stripe making it appear as if he was going to jump from the piece of tape for his dunk ala Dr. J's free throw stripe dunk.

However, it looked like Moon used it to know where to take his final bound before taking off for his dunk, which was similar in distance to Jordan's attempt at the free throw line dunk. Moon received a bounce from a teammate and then threw it down left-handed. The dunk, of itself, was spectacular and difficult due to all the different aspects of it, but it didn't receive great scores because everyone thought he was going to take off from the line he taped down.

While Moon's anticipatory let downs hurt his scores, Dwight Howard scores were the exact opposite. They grew from the anticipation. His dunks were original, creative, and just plain ridiculous!

For his first dunk, Howard can thank his freakishly long wingspan. He actually missed his first attempt, and when all of the NBA players in attendance saw what he was trying, they rose to their feet in anticipation. He threw the ball off of the back of the backboard and dunked it on the other side similar to what Andre Iguodala did in 2006 (the real champion that year).

However, Iguodala was actually on the front side when he dunked it, whereas Howard's head and body (besides his left arm) were still behind the backboard when he threw it down with his left arm.

The anticipation grew even larger for Dwight's second dunk. First he placed a piece of tape in front of the free throw line and then...he donned a Superman costume (and just where in the world do you find something big enough to fit a 6-foot-11, 270 pound beast). Damon Jones and Dikembe Mutumbo, as well as several other stars and the crowd, jumped to their feet when Howard began taking off his uniform and displayed the Man of Steel suit.

He then proceeded to jump from a crazy distance while jumping crazy high and produced the next great poster...

It does have to be said that Howard didn't dunk the ball per se, but like Magic Johnson said during the broadcast, "He didn't just dunk it; he threw it through! [...] He was up so high, he threw it through! Oh my goodness!"

The first two perfect score dunks could have been enough by themselves, but in the final round, Dwight did something else that has never been seen by hitting the ball off the backboard while in mid air and then throwing it down with the opposite hand. If the final round would have been judged by the five panel judges, this would have been his third perfect dunk.

For his final dunk, Howard was again creative by putting up a mini-goal to hold the basketball where he grabbed it, did a windmill, and dunked it home to finish off the competition. It was the worst (and I hate to use that word when all of his dunks were purely incredible) of his four dunks, but plenty enough to win the fans' vote.

Another impressive factor of Dwight's night is that the NBA nixed other ideas that Howard had including raising the rim to 12 feet to show his jumping ability is just as good as shorter players in the competition and playing music (likely "Crank Dat Soldja Boy") prior to his Superman dunk to get the crowd pumped up.

Regardless, the 22-year old phenom became the first center and the tallest player to win the Slam Dunk Contest and, along with Green, brought back some life and excitement to the competition.

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Blood gushed like an awful scene from a graphic video game. But this was no game...this was a life or death situation.

Last night during the Buffalo Sabers 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers, Panthers forward Richard Zednik had to be rushed to the hospital after his throat was slashed by teammate Olli Jokinen.

Jokinen was in the right corner behind Buffalo's goal when he was upended by Buffalo's all-star defenseman Brian Campbell. As Jokinen fell head-first toward the ice, his right skate came across and found Zednik's neck.

Below is the video of the action as it occurred. The clip is a little fuzzy, and you can't really tell what happened until there is a replay later in the clip (the actual action occurs in the first five seconds). However, if you watch closely at the beginning when the play happens, you see Jokinen tumble over and then Zednik go down to the ice.

If you watch closely, you can see just how quickly the blood comes from Zednik's neck as when he slides across the ice there is a large dark spot behind him.

Luckily, Zednik immediately got up and headed toward the bench area. On the spot, Florida's trainer met him in front of the bench with a towel to suppress the bleeding. Zednik was then rushed to Buffalo General Hospital where he underwent surgery to repair the neck laceration that severed Zednik's carotid artery, which Zednik's doctor described "as 'hanging like a thread' when he arrived."

From the Florida Panthers web site: "During a press conference Monday afternoon at Buffalo General, doctors said Zednik was alert, was able to speak, and didn’t appear to have any longterm injuries from the incident."

It was a scary incident, but thankfully, it appears Zednik should make a full recovery. You can stay updated on his progress and leave a message if you'd like on the Zednik Get Well Page the Florida Panthers have set up at their web site.

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I began watching the Los Angeles Lakers/Atlanta Hawks game Wednesday night because I wanted to see how improved the Lakers and, in particular, their post play are with the addition of 7 foot, Spaniard Pau Gasol.

While watching, I was taken back by his athletic ability, his court vision, and his ability to go get a rebound. But throughout the game, it wasn't Gasol who surprised me with his basketball skill set. Instead, it was another post player...on the other team. Al Horford was an absolute beast down low!

The man-child with the big ears still may be rough around the edges, but from watching the Hawks this season I can say he is making quick adjustments to the NBA game and is progressing very well in his rookie season (the same of which can't be said about most of the Hawks recent draft picks not named Josh Smith).

In last night's game, he routinely snatched down rebounds as if it was second nature, often pulling them away from opponents and sometimes even his teammates. He finished the game with a career high 20 rebounds, and you can just tell he has tremendous strength in his hands and forearms when he yanks the ball out of the hands of a less physical post player like Gasol.

Many people are already ready to give the Rookie of the Year award away to Kevin Durant (see here, here, here, here, here, and a plethora of other places). But I'm one of the VERY minute minority, it appears at least, that thinks what Horford is doing with the Hawks is more impressive. Durant is leading all rookies with 19.6 points per game, which is impressive, but also leads all rookies with 17.3 shots per game. The most shots Horford has taken in a single game is 14. He averages only 8.7 shots per game.

Horford, on the other hand, leads all rookies in rebounds. He is averaging 9.8 per game and has over 150 more boards than Yi Jianlian, who is second in rebounds amongst rookies (Durant averages 4.2). Horford also leads all rookies with 9 double-doubles ('Joke'im Noah is second with 3) while Durant has yet to record a double-double. This is after Durant recorded 20 last season (second most in the nation) while playing at the University of Texas.

Of course, the most intriguing argument in the Rookie of the Year debate is team success. Last season, both teams were at the very bottom of their respective divisions. This season with Horford, the Hawks have gone from a cellar dweller to a playoff contender (even if it is in the East) with a record approaching .500. With Durant, the Sonics have the third worst record in the league.

The Rookie of the Year debate aside, both players have been impressive this season. Both appear to have promising careers ahead of them with Durant possibly having a scoring title in his future. But enough about Durant's future...Horford has a game that reminds me a lot of Dwight Howard (who is one of my personal favorites) in his rookie year, and I think the two are very comparable when looking at Howard's inaugural season.

Compare their very similar stats...

04-05 Howard:

07-08 Horford:

Like Howard, Horford plays the game with an old school mentality and passion (as can be noted by some of the hard fouls he has given, including one Wedneday against Lamar Odom late in the game). Both are tenacious on the glass. One thing I really like about Horford is his natural instincts on a defensive rebound to immediately look up the court.

Instead of searching the immediate area around him for the point guard, Horford is looking upcourt for the streaking swingmen the Hawks have in Josh Childress, Marvin Williams, Joe Johnson, and the electric Smith. He has great touch even on long passes enabling him to throw over and around opponents when pushing the ball up the court, but he is smart enough (even at this young stage in his career) to avoid throwing the ball away or into traffic if there isn't a fastbreak opportunity. His quick outlets are vital because it is obvious to anyone watching the Hawks they are best when they are running out in the open.

The 6'10" Horford gives up an inch to Howard, who has been an imposing defensive presence since entering the league in 04-05. But Horford's wingspan makes him seem bigger than he actually is, which is important on the defensive end for a Hawks team that plays a small lineup the majority of the time.

While neither should pass up any back-to-the-basket, low-post lessons, Horford's offensive game is probably more polished than Howard's game currently is. Horford has better range than Howard, but the #1 pick of the 2004 draft has three years of experience on Horford despite only being six months older.

Howard is by far a better player at the present, and Horford will be hard-pressed to push Howard for being the top power forward/center in the Eastern Conference in the coming years, but it should be exciting for Hawks fans if Horford is playing well enough for people to consider the two in the same breath.

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Here at the Blue Workhorse, we're having difficulties getting our photo galleries set up, but when we do we'll have photos posted of last night's NHL Dodge SuperSkills competition and the red carpet walk through that was held prior to it.  We'll also get photos up of tonight's NHL All-Star game, as well.

UPDATE: Photo galleries of all the events attended during the NHL All-Star Weekend are now available.

I'll be in attendance in HotLanta cheering on the hometown heroes Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa, which is why I won't be able to get the photos of last night up until late tonight or early tomorrow.  I will go ahead and say that the SuperSkills competition last night was fun.  The NHL made changes to the competition and some of them were hits...while others worsened the event, but I'll get to all of that when I do a wrap-up of the entire event later on.

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