Robby McKittrick Sports Communications & Journalism Portfolio

Watching “supreme” athletes make a dunk after failing multiple times is like watching a bad magician mess up his trick the first few times before finally completing it. In the end, the trick is impressive, but the magic is gone. The NBA Slam Dunk Contest this year had four contestants: Suns guard Derrick Jones Jr., Pacers guard Glenn Robinson III, Clippers big man DeAndre Jordan, and Magic forward Aaron Gordon. Glenn Robinson III ended up winning the contest with an impressive behind the head dunk while jumping over Paul George, a mascot, and a cheerleader all in a line. Robinson III was the lone bright spot in the competition, completing a mix of challenging and elegant dunks all night. However, even he could not save this night from being anything other than a failure. As the so-called “dunk contestants” attempted to complete their magic tricks, it was almost as if they had not practiced them. Derrick Jones Jr., who was supposedly the best dunker in the comp...

If the average sports fan looked at Lafayette College Men’s Basketball Coach Fran O’Hanlon’s record the last couple of seasons, they would surely call for his job. Over the last two seasons (this season being one of those), the Leopards have accumulated an embarrassing record of 13-42. Lafayette is 7-18 so far this year, and with only four games remaining in the season, they have mustered up just three wins in the Patriot League. Lafayette has a history of firing older coaches with bad recent performance. The school just recently fired long-time head football coach Frank Tavani. Tavani, like O’Hanlon, had recently won the Patriot League. The rationale for firing Tavani, like it could be for O’Hanlon, is that the recent struggles for the team outweigh the team’s success a few years ago. Let’s examine the case with O’Hanlon a little bit further. Although O’Hanlon has the most wins in patriot league history with 301, he does have 350 losses. This means that he is av...

Lafayette has been desperately waiting all season for someone other than Nick Linder and Matt Klinewski to provide some offense for this team. Although that wish finally came true against Army on Wednesday night, it still was not enough, as Lafayette lost their eighth straight game 80-73. Sophomore Paulius Zalys led the way with 18 points, while Nick Lindner had 16 points and five assists, and Kyle Stout had a career high with 15 points. Freshmen sharpshooter Stout finally had his breakout game everyone has been waiting for all season. Nine of his 15 points were 3-pointers, as he hit three out of four from long range. With high expectations as a scorer out of high school, the early part of the season had been a struggle for Stout. The three-point specialist who shot 54 percent from 3-point range in high school, has just shot 32 percent from 3-point land this season. “We’ve adjusted to the speed of the game,” Stout said before entering Wednesday’s game. “That’s ...