The Best of Shots the Worst of Shots

Sometimes funny things happen at small-time basketball games. For instance, this free throw:



According to PTI, the girl who shot it said she sneezed as she was shooting. If we believe her cover story, we can make a lot of good jokes, like Kornheiser did. Snot Going In, Snot Even Close, etc. But I think she was just try to save herself some embarrassment. Truth is, when I sneeze I know it's coming for about five minutes beforehand. I throw my head back, I start to breathe funny, I try to pinch my nose to make it stop, then I sneeze. No way this sneeze sneak-attacked her into this horrible free throw. Snot a good excuse.

But then there is this: Ashlee Arnau is a cheerleader at William Carey University who likes to try trick shots during halftime:



Note: with this shot, and all trick shots, you only seen the one that goes in, not the 100s of misses that happen first. Arnau had been trying this shot at halftime all year, and this was her 5th attempt on this night. That doesn't mean it's not incredibly cool and really awesome that she made it. It just means it's nearly a total fluke and mostly the result of luck. But people who try the hardest often get the luckiest.

Feels Like Old Times

Seeing as how this is Syracuse's final year in the Big East it seemed like a good idea to get to as many games as possible in the old cities before those games were no longer played. I couldn’t go to UConn because it was a Wednesday night, there is no MSG game vs. St John’s but that rivalry is continuing, Rutgers did not host SU this year (maybe I should have planned this better) but we did get one more game against Seton Hall at the Prudential Center.
Billy and Michael were in, Pizza Parlor Derek drove up for the occasion and the entire Beers mispochen made it, though fashionably late.
First order of business was to eat at Dinosaur BBQ, a Syracuse staple, of which the Newark location is basically right in front of the arena.



A really good idea. Such a good idea that everyone else thought of it too. I arrived 3 hours before tip time and was told there was a 4-hour wait. Not sure how reliable that is because so many people were just camping out at their tables and not leaving until the game starts. So we gave up on that and tried to other restaurants which were just as crowded. Then we stumbled into Loft 47, which had an entire section that was closed off. We literally grabbed a table and some chairs and moved it into the seating area. This seemed like a great idea at the time until we realized no server was assigned to a table that previously had not existed. The service was terrible, I was given crab legs instead of a crab lump and it took almost an hour to bring our food which I had to scarf down. But it’s better than standing around Dinosaur for 4 hours.
We finally arrived at the game in plenty of time to take our seats. Seton Hall and the Prudential Center releasing tickets piecemeal, at first offering only the lower bowl. Once that sold out they offered the first two rows of the upper level. And since Ticketmaster now allows you to choose your actual seat, by clicking on a dot, I chose seats that were perfectly aligned with center court. The view was amazing. The seats weren’t great as in being close to the floor, but it was sort of like sitting right behind home plate in a upper level at a baseball game. You’re not close, but the vantage point is amazing.



We got a really good look at the 2-3 zone which got torched early. But then the Orange got hot, especially Brandon Triche and ended the half on a 22-9 run. The rest of the game was pretty unremarkable with SU maintaining a solid lead, but not blowing them out. The best part was the crowd reaction to Fuquan Edwin's baskets. (They're not booing, they're saying Foo.) I tried to convince one of the Beers kids to change his name to Fuquan but they're too savvy for that.

One annoying trend that has emerged recently, and I am guilty of it too (especially when I am unable to check in at a game on Facebook) people spend way too much time on their phones during games. You pay for the ticket, you're surrounded by thousands of people, presumably some of them are your friends and all you do is text on the phone. I forbade people from using their phones while the ball was in play. Pizza Parlor Derek blatantly disobeyed me. I thought he was very disappointed that we didn't get to eat at Dinosaur. But turns out he was just tweeting. After the game I read several funny tweets from him which I would have enjoyed had he just said them to me.

But after the game we did retire to Dinosaur for a drink (not a brisket) and I had a nice chat with PPD. And next time we'll know that we have to arrive at Dinosaur four hours before game time in order to get a table. Unfortunately, there won't be a next time.

Better Dance Craze?

There are two hilarious dance crazes sweeping the nation (or perhaps have swept) based on the actions of dead or dying characters in TV in movies.

First there is the Fred Sanford, which involves clutching your heart with your right hand, throwing your left straight into the air and teetering about with your head thrown back.

Here's Redd Foxx doing the Fred Sanford

And now these expert dancers demonstrate it



The Bernie Lomax has gone a little more mainstream, there's actually two songs "Moving Like Berney [sic]" by ISA and "The Bernie Lean" by ATM and IMD which caught on with the Oakland A's.



And here's the original set to music.

Song of the Week

"Dance For You" - Beyonce
Sometimes I buy Mrs. Poop flowers for no reason. Jus' sayin'.

The Buss Stops Here

Lakers owner Jerry Buss died this week at age 80. Buss bought the team for $16M in 1980 (as part of a deal that included other properties) and now the Lakers are worth an estimated $1B. Once Jerry was asked if he would ever sell the team, he said "what could I buy that I would want more than the Lakers?"



He is certainly one of the most successful owners in the history of team sports, winning 10 titles and making the Finals 16 times (roughly every other year of his ownership). It's hard to calculate exactly how much credit he deserves for that, but he certainly was a great owner in that he hired good people and gave them the money and the autonomy to do their jobs. And the results are phenomenal.

The other world Jerry was involved in was poker. Most of the top pros will tell you Jerry was a good player and I'm sure that's true. But from what I saw of him he was clearly over-matched against the top pros and probably added millions of dollars to the poker economy by playing against tougher opponents.

One memorable televised poker moment involving Jerry Buss came during the NBC Heads Up Tournament. Buss was playing Daniel Negreanu (who was wearing a Ben Wallace jersey, just to needle Jerry after the Pistons beat the Lakers in the Finals) and not only did Jerry take a bad beat, it happened in a sick fashion.

Note: Even if you don't know poker, what happens hear is very clear and easy to understand.

Is Wrestling Still On?

I haven't watch professional wrestling in at least 10 years, and really hadn't even heard anyone talking about it. I literally have no idea which of the old school guys are still around, and who the new stars are.
But then I came across this video of the always entertaining The Rock from WWE Raw's 20th Anniversary show, serenading someone named Vicky:
They took down my first video, try this one, but go a minute in and ignore the horrible hiss



"And then she'll ask me
Do I look alright
And I said 'no biatch
You look horrible tonight.'"

Another Creep From Our Past

Noted Staten Island orthopedist Dr Mark Sherman is in some hot water over a picture he texted to a a female patient.
According to the Daily News he sent a picture of his dick to Wanda Arena, a bikini contest competitor and 9/11 widow.

Arena says the phone calls and texts went on for several years before Dr. Sherman stepped up his game with the dicpic.

There's a second woman also accusing Dr. Sherman of being a perv. When she told him her arm hurt when she pulled her pants down, he said that would interfere with her sex life.

It's all pretty unremarkable to me, Dr. Sherman is divorced, he can do what he likes. But it's just another example of the deviants and lowlives we encountered during our youth.

Story suggested by Nails