So, apparently, there was some manner of Aztec basket-ball contest played last night? This is news to me since a) I don’t get Time Warner Sports in my area and b) they decided to start the game in the dead of the night in my time zone, presumably so as not to bump a previously-scheduled ShamWow commercial.
So let’s see, here. Did I miss anything?
Wow 65-62. Close game against a pretty not good Fresno team. Oh well, MWC road games are never easy. Let’s see, what else?
Oh.
Apparently I’m not the first person on the Internet (or on this blog even) to have noticed this aerial display. My favorite read of these links is the ESPN.com post by Eamonn Brennan, because I have to imagine he wasn’t wearing pants while he typed this:
Sure, I saw Franklin take on three defenders in transition, ball-fake one out of his shoes, throw the ball to himself from the 3-point line and then take a Olympic-style running long jump en route to finishing the finest two points we’ve seen in years. … But it would be more accurate to say I saw Franklin dance across the sky of my perceptions while an angel choir hummed the prelude to Bach’s “Cello Suite No. 1.”
Dude. Need a cigarette?
So what does my just-rolled-out-of-bed ass have to add about this dunk that you’ve all watched about a thousand times now? Just this: My favorite part of this whole play isn’t the dunk itself. It’s watching the reaction of Steve Fisher, who appears in the frame second from the left, right around the time Jamaal reaches the rim.
Just before the GIF cuts out, you can see him slump forward in his chair, almost despondent. I expect that if the camera had trained on him longer, you would have see him bury his head in his hands. Maybe it was out of disbelief. More likely it was a little part of his old-school self dying a bit inside.
So great.
Honestly, as enjoyable as the Jamaal circus can be at times, the fact that it is occurring with Steve Fisher as the coach makes it a thousand times more enjoyable. It’s a mismatched buddy comedy like the Lethal Weapon franchise. Franklin is a not-racist Mel Gibson doing insane, irresponsible, brilliant nonsense to save the day. And then we get to pan over to Fisher’s Danny Glover, muttering “I’m getting too old for this shit.”
Like Lethal Weapon, hopefully this has a few more sequels in it, too. Four stars!
As Aztec fans, we know the following history about past attempts of this trick shot:
1) he pulled this off against UCSD (?) early last season when there were no t.v. cameras and I gave away my tickets to a friend and his daughter. I don’t do that very often anymore.
2) he had a horrible attempt at this last season in traffic on Interstate 8: I think he was also trying to text at the same time. It was a disaster. Was it Long Beach State game?
3) he did it in the closing seconds of the NC State NCAA loss last season, but it was after a foul and didn’t count or some weird stuff like that. I already had my head buried in a tall glass of something.
4) he has done it repeatedly in the YouTube mixtape videos of his Summer League games
This one wasn’t straight show boating though, as it seemed to be the right play. He had to pump fake the three Fresno State guys out of their shorts for the clear path to the basket.
Live by the ‘Maal, die by the ‘Maal. Entertaining, exhilarating and a little dangerous, like tequila poppers on Revolucion.
Just fine if you make it home alive. Sports Center #1 play of the day indicates that we somehow got the car home and made into our own bed without a scratch.
Well put. Though, I think the first one was Southern Utah. Same diff, really.
The winning buzz that begins after the buzzer sounds. Why did Fisher choose SDSU? Or were those prayers answered?
Hey, AKH, any thoughts on Brian Sipe becoming offensive coordinator?