Each Friday, we’re presenting a fun sports hypothetical that requires serious introspection. We expect you to weigh in in the comments below.
Would you rather throw down 1 tomahawk dunk or drill 40 straight 3-pointers?
Give it some thought, each one has distinct advantages.
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In front of your entire office, would you rather throw down a vicious tomahawk dunk or hit 40 straight three-pointers?
With everyone paying attention, you can either dunk precisely once, or shoot the threes from anywhere you’d like within three feet of the (college distance) arc and at a reasonable pace for shooting 40 threes. This would be in a gym in front of — but not against or over — a gathering of all your coworkers, none of whom can film your brief greatness.
The Case for Dunking
Odds are you probably can’t dunk on a 10-foot rim, and certainly not throw down a powerful tomahawk dunk at that. The obvious reason for choosing the dunk is it’s most likely something you’ve never done and will never do, and you’ll thus feel something new and exciting in front of a bunch of people you see every day. It’s fair to say you’ll be mobbed by your friends in the office immediately after. Also, you’ll become a water cooler legend after the fact — “Hey remember when Sheila threw down that dunk out of nowhere?!?!” etc.
Example:
The Case for Raining Threes
Generally speaking, given a few tries, hitting a three-pointer isn’t terribly difficult for most reasonably athletic people, but the opportunity to be unconscious from outside in an unprecedented way has to be tantalizing. Your crowd will go from half paying attention, to getting more and more excited with each successive splash. Even though the feat isn’t nearly as shocking as the nasty tomahawk, the opportunities to celebrate in fun, weird ways in the moment are far more plentiful — finger guns, three goggles, exaggerated follow-throughs, turning around as the ball is still in the air to laugh and pose, etc. Also, after the fact, you’ll almost certainly have a reputation for being especially good at basketball (for whatever that’s worth), whereas the dunker may be more known for just athleticism and jumping ability.
Example:
Which would be more satisfying?
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