From The Sports Revolution The Phi Slama Jama nickname was not created by a smart guy in an advertising firm on Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It was coined by a sports columnist who was trying to figure out how to write a column about a 112–58 blowout victory by the University of Houston’s Cougars over a school called the University of Pacific on January 2, 1983. The Houston sports scene was depressing that winter. At the Astrodome, the Luv Ya Blue era of the Oilers had long passed, for the team had just finished a woeful 1–8 strike-shortened season. At the summit, the NBA Rockets were trudging through their first season without Moses Malone, who had been inexplicably traded to the Philadelphia 76ers the previous fall. In early January, they were in the midst of an eight-game losing streak on their way to a dreadful 14– 68 season. Thomas Bonk had to come up with something catchy. He noticed the Cougars had ten dunks during the game, and therein lay the inspiration for what became a legendary sports column. “As members of the college roundball fraternity Phi Slama Jama, the Houston chapter has learned proper parliamentary procedure,” he began his column. The key criterion for joining this fraternity was your ability to dunk the basketball. “If you are a Phi Slama Jama, you see how many balls you can stuff into a basket.” Bonk highlighted the particular skills of Clyde Drexler, whom Bonk quoted as saying, “Sure, 15-foot jumpers are fine, but I like to dunk.”
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