Slam
With the NBA playoffs in full swing, it seems fitting to honor one of my favorite athlete-wordsmiths: Darryl Dawkins, aka, "Sir Slam," "Double D," and "Chocolate Thunder." (All self-appointed nicknames.)
Dawkins could dazzle with a dunk and a description of it. Here are his word pictures for his powerful slams:
"The Rim Wrecker"
"The Go-Rilla"
"The Look-Out-Below"
"The In-Your-Face Disgrace"
This is my favorite:
“The No-Playin’, Get-Out-of-the-Wayin’, Backboard-Swayin’ Game-Delayin’ Dunk.”
I’m not keeping score, but that’s four rhyming adjectival compounds all bearing down on one simple noun: “dunk.”
Dawkins is best known for his 1979 backboard-shattering dunk against Bill Robinzine of the Kansas City Kings. After the game, Robinzine complained loudly that he had been cut by a piece of the broken glass. Dawkins responded with this rhyming comeback:
"The Chocolate Thunder Flyin’, Robinzine Cryin’, Teeth Shakin’, Glass Breakin’, Rump Roastin’, Bun Toastin’, Wham, Bam, I Am Jam."
As Dawkins himself said, "When it’s all been said and done, there’s nothing left to say or do."
Want to read more? Basketball's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Hoops' Outrageous Dunkers, Incredible Buzzer-Beaters, and Other Oddities.
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September 4th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Not really sentences — although “I Am Jam” is. But, as you mention, the series of rhyming participial adjectives gives it power.
It is the repetition of the “-yin’” sound that gives it that appeal.
In the Two Hands Approach to the English Language (revised edition to be published early next year) identifies more than 130 “sentence forms” that can be incorporated in an infinite variety of combinations.
I really like your title for this blog entry.
Cheers.