The 10-Year Anniversary of The Night Aaron Gordon and I got Robbed

Me and NBA Champion Aaron Gordon have something in common.

Ten years ago to this day, on February 13th, 2016, the high-flying Magic forward and I got robbed.

How did we both get robbed, you ask?

This was the night Air Gordon went head to head with Zach Lavine in the 2016 NBA Dunk Contest, featuring two sky-walking slam dunkers showing off their incredible ability to invent new slam dunk stylings on the fly, dropping 50 after 50.

This night was special.

This night was different.

This night would be remembered.

Until a crime occurred, infamously changing everything.

Aaron Gordon’s dunk contest one-handed 360 windmills (2016 vs 2020) pic.twitter.com/TFul5w9Nob
— Ryan Kaminski NBA (@beyondtheRK) February 16, 2020

How Aaron Gordon and I got Robbed on the same night

Gordon dunks over Stuff Mascot — Feb 13, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Orlando Magic player Aaron Gordon (00) dunks the ball over Magic mascot "Stuff" during the slam dunk contest during the All-Stars Saturday Night at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Peter Llewellyn-Imagn Images | Peter Llewellyn-Imagn Images

I decided to head over to a friend's place to watch the dunk contest with my college buddies.

And boy, did it not disappoint.

The 2016 Dunk Contest also featured participants Will Barton and Andre Drummond, with a judging panel featuring Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Tracy McGrady, George Gervin and Dikembe Mutombo.

This entire event was one long adrenaline rush of game-breaker next-level dunkitude.

An unbelievable display of two of the highest-flying rim-rocking athletes in the world trading blows like a heavyweight boxing match.

A parade of high fives, fist bumps, and cheers ensued.

With one electric slam after another, Gordon and Lavine forced a dunkoff, comign up with some never-practiced and never seen before in the dunk contest.

"We were looking in our bag of tricks. Ain’t got nothing left,” LaVine said.

“Zach’s an incredible dunker,” Gordon said, "He went through the legs from the free-throw line. That is insane.”

Zach ended up scoring higher on the final round, earning the official crown, despite Aaron Gordon dunking over his team's mascot with a through the legs slam.

Arguably the greatest dunk contest ever happened that night, and Aaron Gordon had as much to do with that if not more than Zach Lavine; the idea AG walks away with no additional hardware to display in his trophy room was outright highway robbery!

Which bring me to the rest of my night...

I walked into my front door at around 3 AM, as one does after celebrating one of the most entertaining nights in the history of basketball, even if Air Gordon only left with the title of People's Champ instead of the NBA's official one.

As I walked through the living room, though, I glanced up to the back wall, noticing something was off.

"Huh," I thought, "Where'd my tv go? Where's my Xbox? Is my laptop missing?"

For a second I thought, "Maybe my roommate was back rearranging or cleaning the place?"

Then, I saw the window.

This old, beat-up house, The Shack, as we lovingly called it, was on its last legs.

Apparently, all one had to do to enter the place was slightly push the window inward to move it out of the way.

Maybe they staked out the place, maybe they timed it perfectly, maybe they got a little lucky.

Either way, the thieves got a bout a grand worth of tech to pawn off nearby.

Called the police, they wrote something down and said they don't normally find anything in these cases, so the house robbery was neither prevented nor solved.

I hope someone out there is spending today how I would ten years ago in my college years with that Xbox one and tv, enjoying the pre-downloaded Grand Theft Auto V on the big screen.

If those thieves happen to pick up the sticks in honor of today's anniversary, at least they'd be scaling back the tradition of robbing people on February 13th into a safe, enjoyable, virtual experience.