Shakiraās hips not lying alongside mine at the closing press conference of the 2010 Fifa World Cup at Soccer City is my abiding memory of Africaās biggest sporting undertaking.
At Lordās, for the Ashes Test between England and Australia, itās the scrumptious bacon sandwiches in the ET-style spaceship of a media centre that I remember of my experience at world cricketās holy grail.
In ancient Olympia, itās the almost impossibly tasty, melt-in-your-mouth lamb, potatoes and fresh Greek salad that sticks out when I recall the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
Okay, so I clearly love my food, and not surprisingly, the tastes and flavours I have encountered at some of world sportās cathedrals stand out.
For a glutton for the theatre of global sport, however, the NBA All-Star Weekend is unmatched for me.
Itās a delicious smorgasbord of athleticism, sporting spectacle and sheer exhilaration that beggars belief.
I was fortunate to attend the 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles in the US this week.
And this time, the food was bland in the city of angels, but the entertainment, showmanship and the brilliance of some of the globeās supreme athletes was simply out of this world.
All the clichĆ©s donāt do it justice ā sensational, mind-blowing, gobsmacking, orgasmic ā none of them quite describes this unique event.
I worked intimately as part of the team that delivered Africaās first Fifa World Cup, seeing first-hand the scale, magnitude and attention to detail needed to seamlessly put on an event the whole world religiously watches.
And there is no doubt that the opening and final matches of a Fifa World Cup remain the biggest in world sport in terms of its reach and global appeal, events watched live by nearly 1 billion people.
Jermaine Craig.
While the NBA and basketball can only aspire to match Fifa and footballās ability to touch virtually every global village and home, thereās no doubt the NBA is far superior in its execution of live events and its focus on the fan and viewer experience.
Look, when youāve got gargantuan beasts of a baller such as LeBron James and the silky skills and finesse of Steph Curry as your gameās best and brightest current exponents, you donāt need much else.
For the NBA, their appeal will always be the 2.1-metre hulks who somehow fly through the sky like ballerinas and dunk basketballs with the velocity of an earthquake.
The NBA has long mastered the thrill, glitz, star power, and spectator engagement that keeps its rabid disciples gripped, and has made basketball one of the worldās fastest growing sports.
Fans travel across the globe and the length and the breadth of the US to simply be a part of All-Star Weekend, barely flinching at paying over a thousand dollars a pop to attend just one of the events on the weekendās basketball programme.
And itās easy to see why.
Fans are engrossed for hours, the basketball on All-Star Weekend often a sideshow with so much to feast your eyes with, on and off the court.
The fan experience ā inside the arena and for the millions watching around the world ā is paramount.
Skills contests, gravity-defying dunking competitions, three-point shooting drills, kiss cams, zany mascots and impromptu music performances from some of the worldās biggest entertainers ā all watched courtside by some of the biggest stars in music and film ā are what make this event truly something else.
At halftime of the main All-Star game, the Staples Center was instantly turned into a concert hall as Pharrell Williams and N.E.R.D rocked the crowd with a performance that was worth the entry fee alone, while Black Eyed Peasā Fergie performed a sultry pre-game American national anthem.
NBA Africa vice-president Amadou Gallo Fall (left) chats to actor Djimon Hounsou (right) and ex-NBA star Bismack Biyombo at the NBA Africa Game launch. Photo: Barry Aldworth/eXpect LIFE
The biggest names in world music all sat courtside ā Snoop Dogg sipping his gin and juice, Diddy, Chance the Rapper, Kevin Hart, Chris Rock, Jack Nicholson, Ellen Pompeo, Ludacris, DJ Khaled ā they were all there, sitting within shoelace distance of the players from Team LeBron and Team Stephen battling it out on the court.
The biggest stars on the night, though, taking pride of place at Staples, were Black Pantherās biggest stars Chadwick Boseman and Michael B Jordan (who had to sit down though when THE Michael Jordan showed up on court).
Fortuitously, the NBA All-Star Weekend took place in Los Angeles on the weekend of the global release of Hollywoodās biggest current blockbuster, Black Panther.
And it was fitting too, for a movie that celebrated African excellence, skill and ingenuity, that NBA Africa and African basketballās growth and importance to the broader NBA organisation becomes more and more pronounced.
The NBA has seen an explosion in the number of African basketball stars playing in the league, and first time All-Star, Cameroonian Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, was one of the weekendās biggest fan and media attractions.
A total of 20 first- and second-generation African players started the current season in the NBA, and that number is set to grow as the gameās popularity spreads like wildfire on the African continent.
Outside of this yearās All Star game, another feather in the NBA Africa cap was Nigeriaās towering teenager Charles Bassey walking away with the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award at the Basketball Without Borders camp, attended by 67 of the worldās elite teenage basketballers from 36 countries.
A huge future awaits the towering Nigerian, as NBA scouts licked their lips courtside to jostle for his signature, dangling carrots of what will surely be multi-million dollar contracts when he is ready to turn pro.
NBA Africa Vice President Amadou Gallo Fall speaks about the NBA Africa Game returning to Johannesburg. Video: Jermaine Craig
The NBA first opened up its doors in Africa in Johannesburg in May 2010, and its work is beginning to pay off big time as Africaās basketballers make their presence count in the NBA and the gospel of the game spreads its tentacles to more and more African countries.
NBA Africa used the All-Star Weekend as an opportunity to not only blow its increasingly big basketball horns, but to also trumpet the continent globally to an influential audience as a major investment destination.
At an āAfrica Nowā lunch moderated by Sierra Leoneās CNN anchor Isha Sesay, NBA Africa vice-president Amadou Gallo Fall announced that the NBA Africa Game between Team Africa and Team World would return to South Africa for the third time on August 4.
To give an indication of the growth and importance of NBA Africaās role to the multibillion-dollar NBA organisation, the announcement was attended by NBA commissioner Adam Silver and a host of celebrities, basketball stars and African entrepreneurs.
Just some of those also in attendance at the NBA Africa game announcement included American-Senegalese musician and entrepreneur Akon, Benin actor Djimon Hounsou of Blood Diamond fame, Liberian entrepreneur Richelieu Dennis ā the Shea Moisture founder who recently bought Essence Magazine from Time INC ā as well as a slew of current and former African NBA stars such as Dikembe Mutombo, Didier Mbenga, Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo, all Congolese.
South African celebrities who attended included actress and model Nomzamo Mbatha and television personality Pearl Thusi, musician Cassper Nyovest and Nigerian film-maker Akin Omotoso.
African personalities DJ Cosmo, Siyabonga Ngwekazi and Pearl Thusi outside the Staples Center before the NBA All-Star Game. Photo: Barry Aldworth/eXpect LIFE
And Silver made no bones about the NBAās commercial approach to the African continent and the seriousness with which it views the regionās growth potential.
āAfrica is one of the fastest-growing continents in the world, and the NBA and the sport of basketball is one of the fastest growing sports in the world.
āThe NBA Africa game is not just about sport, but itās also about business. We see a huge opportunity in Africa,ā said Silver.
And the investment message came across strongly from NBA Africa, and from some of the continentās brightest minds and entrepreneurs.
The stories told were inspiring and powerful.
Sundial Brandsā chief executive Dennis spoke of how he started selling his cosmetic products on a street corner in New York, inspired by the lack of beauty products designed to serve the needs of black women.
āInspired by the core of African ingredients and traditions, I eventually started selling my products in stores in a small corner, which was called the āethnic aisleā.
āWe fought to transform those aisles into ābeauty aislesā that celebrated black women,ā Dennis told the audience at the NBA Africa luncheon.
He turned his business into the 10th biggest beauty brand in the world, which was eventually bought by the global giant consumer goods company, Unilever.
āI bought Essence because I believe we have to own our own narrative. We canāt rely on anyone else to transmit our culture, emotions, and the things we care about.
āWe have to create it, but we also have to own the distribution network. Our culture must stand up tall.
āIt is important that we must own and maintain it, otherwise someone else does.
āIn Africa, we have the smarts, the resources and the people. We have everything we need,ā said Dennis.
NBA Africa vice-president Amadou Gallo Fall at the launch of the NBA Africa Game, with Shea Moisture founder Richelieu Dennis in the foreground. Photo: Barry Aldworth/eXpect LIFE
For musician-turned-entrepreneur Akon, he was inspired by visits to Senegal to his grandmother, and seeing her village still without electricity and basic amenities.
āIn Africa, energy affects everybody. I once did a concert in Sierra Leone and during the third song, the lights went out and it ended up nearly causing a huge riot.
āWhen I visited my grandmother in Senegal, in her area thereās still no electricity.
āIf you become successful, you want to do something for your family, and I said āGrandma, let me buy you a houseā.
āShe said āI donāt want a house, I raised all of you in this home and I donāt want to move from itā.
āI said at least let me put some lights up in here,ā Akon recalled.
He found, though, that even after meeting Senegalās president, African āpower politicsā were more detrimental than beneficial, and he was told it would ācost billionsā to electrify Senegal.
In partnership with alternative energy company Selectra, he has started an ambitious solar power project that has benefited the lives of his grandmother, and millions and millions of Africans.
āWe started with a goal of electrifying one million homes, and weāre now in 16 African countries,ā said Akon.
The World Bankās Makhtar Diop said the current positivity around the African continent was āa great opportunity to demonstrate Africaās talentā.
āItās important that the public at large knows that Africans are doing great things, not only in the US, but around the globe.
āAgriculture remains one of our biggest challenges, as well as creating more economic and political certainty.
āThe land issue too is a major factor for the whole of the African continent, ensuring our people have title deeds and access to land, so that they can invest and participate in the field of agriculture,ā said Diop.
āWe also need to change our rapport with the youth in Africa. We talk a lot to the youth, but we donāt listen to them enough.
āWe need to develop small, medium and micro enterprises, more young entrepreneurs, and sophisticated education systems.
āCurrently, for instance, only 20% of African students coming through universities graduate in the fields of science and technology, and we need to change that.
āUnless we have African communities who are economically independent, we will always have problems.
āWe need to invest in our youth and help them to achieve their objectives,ā Diop added.
Akon speaks about the impact that the NBA Africa Game can make on the continent. Video: Jermaine Craig
Inventor and entrepreneur, Uncharted Play founder Jessica O Matthews, rubbished US President Donald Trumpās recent stance towards immigrants and his description of African countries as ās***hole countriesā.
āI hail from Nigeria and I myself am a patent holder in the US, with 10 patents outstanding.
āIn my mind, Iāve brought innovation to the US, as a woman and importantly as a woman of colour.
āMost of the innovation that has built the US and moved it forward has come from immigrants to the country, and Trumpās comments are against the reality of those statistics.
āWhat Africans need is the internal mantra to believe in our own ideas.
āWeāve always said magic does not exist, but what if success is the pathway to magic? Thatās the culture we must inculcate in our African youth,ā said Jacobs.
For Fall, he has always believed basketball is merely a catalyst for Africaās youth.
Whether those who play the sport of basketball become stars in the NBA, or confident, empowered, strong, influential African leaders of their communities is equally important, he believes.
āWe are trying to touch every corner of the African continent with the sport of basketball, and we bring our best young talent on the continent to the global stage such as NBA All-Star Weekend to tell them to dream big, to have really high ambitions.
āWith big dreams and hard work, anything is possible,ā said Fall.
* Jermaine Craig is the Group Executive: Sport & Motoring for Independent Media.
@JermaineCraig07