Vince who?

Sans Dr. Funk, Raptors have snapped out of theirs

Maybe you've seen the Dr. Funk ad. Vince Carter of the Toronto Raptors plays the role of the good doctor, stepping into the midst of some grainy, big-hair footage of an old Rucker League playground game. Vince is his shaved-head bad self, flying and skying against the big hairs, making the crowd fall out of its seats, dunking and funking and selling some kind of athletic shoe.

It's all good commercial fun, I suppose, except ... well, except that it has nothing to do with real life. In real life, Dr. Funk has left the court and his team is finally playing some winning basketball and probably is going to make the playoffs.

After losing 17 of 18 games with Carter/Funk in the lineup, the Raptors had racked up nine straight wins before tackling the Pacers in Indiana Wednesday night. This all had been done after Carter/Funk had season-ending knee surgery.

A cynical mind might rejoice in this stat, calling it a testament to the too-much, too-soon hype that is laid on certain young NBA talents, the rush to find the new Michael Jordan , the great ballyhoo to sell products and tickets before the talent is fully proven on the floor. Let us not revel in the cynical. Let us just say that the Raptors lost all those games with Dr. Funk in the lineup and have won all these games since he left.

Maybe it wasn't him. Maybe it was the shoes.

Leigh Montville's commentaries appear regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated.

 

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