On September 25th, 2000, the greatest dunk of all time happened.
However, most of the world didn’t know about it until the next morning.
Here’s the story behind the first “viral” online basketball clip.
Everybody knows about Vince Carter’s infamous Lipton dunk over 7’2″ Fred Weis now, but when it happened, nobody in the United States did. That’s hard to believe considering we now live in a social media world where a dunk can go viral and accumulate millions of views, likes, shares, and retweets just minutes after it happens. But this was long before Vine, Instagram, Twitter, and even YouTube, and before the Olympics were broadcast on multiple channels. Back then, NBC, which had exclusive rights to Olympic footage, had to pick and choose what was being shown and what would have to be shown the next day as a delayed-air event. The Team USA game vs France was picked as one of those delayed events.
Oblivious to the game’s results, I woke up early the morning after and turned on the local Houston NBC news to see how bad my morning commute was going to be. They ended up showing the dunk as the Highlight of the Day, and I was lucky enough to have a VCR ready to record (back then, having an empty VHS tape in the VCR prepared for highlights was a must).
I taped the local news segment and posted it on a website I was running called Gotvinsanity.com. Within an hour, HoopsTV.com (the coolest basketball site at the time) posted a link to my site. The next thing I knew, the footage was on P2P networks (Kazaa, anybody?) and going viral on message boards and chat rooms. TV producer/journalist Greg Tanner, the pioneer behind the awesome Streetball.co.uk, told me that he posted my clip on the site, and it crashed after tens of thousands of people tried to download it.
Next thing I knew, the IOC (Olympic Committee) was sending me a cease and desist letter basically saying we have a big ass deal worth millions with NBC and if you don’t take this clip off your tiny ass site we will sue your ass.
I was allowed to keep the images on the site as long as I credited the IOC; however, the video had to be removed.
Within a year, the footage, including newer and better angles, was everywhere. And by the time YouTube came around, it was a pointless battle for them to try to remove the footage.
Here we are on the 16th anniversary of the dunk, and I can freely post as many videos of this dunk as I want without worrying about a phone call from the IOC. I also don’t have to worry about my wife accidentally taping over my Michael Jordan games with the latest episodes of Party of Five (although I still have a crush on Jennifer Love Hewitt).
I also had the honor of interviewing Gary Payton today, and when I showed him the following image, he yelled, “The Dunk” and said it was “the best dunk he’s ever seen.”
I agree.
VINCE TALKS ABOUT THE DUNK
“Once I took off, I just remember touching his shoulder. After that, I didn’t know what happened.”
(Shout out to MaxaMillion711!)
He went up & up & up some more 💥@mrvincecarter15 even surprised himself with the Dunk of the Death.
🇺🇸 #USAB50 pic.twitter.com/4G7Ut9xy9w
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) September 25, 2024
IN EVERY LANGUAGE
THE DUNK OF DEATH
UPDATE
Deep diving the Dunk Of Death on the FIRST BALLOT HALL OF FAME PODCAST
She wasn’t impressed with Vince Carter’s dunk 😂
(Via @FirstBallotPod)
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) September 25, 2023
A few years ago, I’m wearing this shirt & just missed an elevator. I hear someone yell “I’m on that shirt!” I look up & it’s Gary Payton pointing at me as the elevator doors shut. pic.twitter.com/zcD4EJ7j4u
— David Astramskas (@redapples) June 25, 2020