SPORTS - Why don't we see the Skyhook anymore?

[Sheldon]

This one goes out to the NBA fans out there. Why don't current NBA players or really anyone besides Kareem & sometimes Magic use the Skyhook?

Its Unblockable!

Yao needs to learn the Skyhook. He'd be unstoppable.

Seeing Shaq do the Skyhook would be hilarious.

Is there something technically wrong with it that makes players not learn it these days?

Side Topic: Any other techiniques in sports we don't see enough of anymore?

MLB needs a another pitcher who uses the screwball. Fernado Valenzuela was great. Maybe MLB just needs another fat pitcher we can all get behind.
Once Tim Wakefield is gone will another knuckleballer rise to stardom?

Any other quirky sports techniques that need to be remembered?

[Buried Alien]

Honestly? I think it's because Jordan didn't do it. :rolleyes:

But I *did* see Kobe Bryant use it once (at an All-Star Game, I believe), much to Kareem's delight. :)


Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Karl J. Barnes]

Didn't Kareem patent the Sky Hook and thus the player using has to pay Kareem a certain amount of money??

[Sheldon]

On Kareem's official site (http://www.kareem33.com/memo2.html) it mentions it being 'patented'. Maybe current players fear Kareem collecting royalties :)

Seriously is there any other reason? It even has a cool name "Skyhook"!

[Winslow]

Kareem perfected the skyhook in college back in the day when the slam dunk was a technical foul. Yes, folks, there was a time when the slam dunk was a technical foul in college and high school.

Players had to learn to actually learn to shoot the ball back in the day.

I love a good slam - it's the new almost unstoppable shot - but the emphasis on it has really taken a lot of the game's fundamentals and strategy out. Hence, a lot of fans are turning to women's hoops.

[Indy24LA]

The only reason I can think of is it takes a lot of practice to master it and it's easier (and more marketable) to just take it to the hole and throw it down. Today's players are in love with either the 3 pointer or slam dunk. There is no in between.

[Core]

Any other quirky sports techniques that need to be remembered?

I miss the John McEnroe, the tennis technique through which players smash water jugs and unfortunate bystanders with their racquets. A lot of NBA players today think they've mastered the McEnroe, but really all they have learned to do is throw a temper tantrum. For a McEnroe, you really need the raquet.

[Sheldon]

I miss the John McEnroe, the tennis technique through which players smash water jugs and unfortunate bystanders with their racquets. A lot of NBA players today think they've mastered the McEnroe, but really all they have learned to do is throw a temper tantrum. For a McEnroe, you really need the raquet.
The McEnroe is enhanced by a good sweatband.

[Saint Nightwalker]

Kareem perfected the skyhook in college back in the day when the slam dunk was a technical foul. Yes, folks, there was a time when the slam dunk was a technical foul in college and high school.

Players had to learn to actually learn to shoot the ball back in the day.


Your last sentence sums it up perfectly. It's Og damn disgusting that the NBA has come to a point where an all-around highly skilled player such as Tim Duncan is nigh on ignored in favor of such JackAss slobs like Shaq, Dwayne Wade, Latrell Sprewell, etc.

The only thing you failed to mention is that Alcindor himself was the reason that the dunk was banned in college.

[StoneGold]

I love a good slam - it's the new almost unstoppable shot - but the emphasis on it has really taken a lot of the game's fundamentals and strategy out. Hence, a lot of fans are turning to women's hoops.
No they aren't. That's just what John Wooden says. Because if they were, they wouldn't constantly be in financial trouble.

[Saint Nightwalker]

No they aren't. That's just what John Wooden says. Because if they were, they wouldn't constantly be in financial trouble.

Then please explain how the HoosierDome sold out for the Women's Final Four this year.

[Joe Grendel]

Hence, a lot of fans are turning to women's hoops.
Hee hee.

Wait, seriously?

[Chi Illy]

Then please explain how the HoosierDome sold out for the Women's Final Four this year.

That isolated event doesn't paint an accurate view of the popularity of the sport as a whole.

How about the fact that during the WNBA's first broacast of the season the owner of the defending champ Seattle Storm described having 10,000 people in Key Arena(about 1/2 capacity) as a good thing?

[StoneGold]

Then please explain how the HoosierDome sold out for the Women's Final Four this year.
More and more lesbians coming out of the closet?

[Phrozen]

Not a particular skill but stirups need to come back for baseball and powder blue needs to come back as a color for uniforms. The Chargers also need to wear their throwbacks all the time.

[Joe Grendel]

And the Wizards need to go back to their real name.

[Fabian]

I've mastered the skyhook. No lie, I may not have much game but I do have a skyhook and that's enough to anger anyone who practices everyday

[Sheldon]

I remember watching an NFL films bio on Dick "Night Train" Lane. Besides having the coolest nickname ever he was master of the closeline tackle. He would just destroy wide recievers and running backs with it. It was pretty brutal to watch. Sure it wasn't safe, and has been subsequently banned, but thats a cool old time move that needs to be brought back.....the XFL should have used it.

[Valmore]

I've mastered the skyhook. No lie, I may not have much game but I do have a skyhook and that's enough to anger anyone who practices everyday

That's nothing. I can finger roll like The Iceman.

Okay, well maybe not quite like The Iceman.

But I can pass. And hit rainbow shots. That really annoyed my friend Danny in college. I'd shoot rainbow shots and swish them.

My dad used to shoot hooks on me in the backyard. Not sure if they were Skyhooks, but he could usually hit them.

[Sheldon]

My dad used to shoot hooks on me in the backyard. Not sure if they were Skyhooks, but he could usually hit them.

Well since we've established that Kareem holds the patent on the Skyhook, then maybe your dad did a generic equivalent hook.....

[west3man]

Didn't Kareem patent the Sky Hook and thus the player using has to pay Kareem a certain amount of money??

On Kareem's official site (http://www.kareem33.com/memo2.html) it mentions it being 'patented'. Maybe current players fear Kareem collecting royalties :)

Seriously is there any other reason? It even has a cool name "Skyhook"!

I can't tell if you guys are joking, but the references to the 'hook being patented are made in a different context. I didn't see anything, at least, that implied that "patent" was meant to be taken any more literally than the "guarantees" in a lot of commercials. Unless details are spelled out, I'd call it a "figure of speech."

"Kareem Autographed 16x20 Color "Skyhook" Photo
This is your chance to immortalize the most famous shot in basketball history, Kareem's patented "skyhook." After dunking was ruled illegal in college, a direct result of Kareem's domination of the game, he continued dominance with his "skyhook." After perfecting the shot at UCLA, Kareem brought his patented shot into the NBA. For the next twenty years, Kareem baffled opponents and dazzled fans with his "skyhook." This 16x20 is personally autographed by the legend himself and has been authenticated using the Online Authentics certification process. "

Otherwise, that second reference suggests he got the patent while in college.

[Sheldon]

We were joking west!

Although I remember once on an old WWF broadcast, Mr. Perfect was doing commentary and some new wrestler did the perfectplex, and and Mr. Perfect said to Gorilla "You know what that was? Money in the bank! Everyone know's I have the Perfect Plex patented!"

[Winslow]

The only thing you failed to mention is that Alcindor himself was the reason that the dunk was banned in college.

Actually – I thought it was the unstoppable Wilt Chamberlain. Once he scored 100 points, they outlawed the dunk.

No they aren't. That's just what John Wooden says. Because if they were, they wouldn't constantly be in financial trouble.

I thought the women’s college hoops was doing well and expanding their fan base.

[glory days reminiscing]
I'm right handed - but had a sweet left handed hook that was pretty unstoppable when I would cut across the lane from right to left. Nailed a bunch of those.
[/glory days reminiscing]

I would also like to see the intro to ABCs Wide World of Sports brought back with the agony of defeat wipe out of the ski jumper.

[Sheldon]

I would also like to see the intro to ABCs Wide World of Sports brought back with the agony of defeat wipe out of the ski jumper.

That poor ski-jumper.....ABC wouldn't have lost Monday night Football if they had stuck the their roots with the "agony of defeat" guy.

[Core]

I would also like to see the intro to ABCs Wide World of Sports brought back with the agony of defeat wipe out of the ski jumper.

I'm pretty sure that clip is used in the new film version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's shown on one of the background monitors on a Vogon battle ship.