Here's something you might be interested in.
I went to a Thanksgiving in July party over the weekend. I'll be writing about it in a future Crasher.
There was a woman named Sandy that was smoking a guy at a game of Horse. It was funny, because after ever few shots, she would take a drink, too. It didn't seem to be messing with her depth perception.
I went over and challenged her. I was hitting my outside shots, but she was matching them (for those that don't know, the object of the game is one person makes a shot, and the other has to make that same shot, or they get the letter "h". The first one that spells "horse" loses).
I made a free throw, but she had no problem sinking that.
I finally resorted to trick shots. I went into someones driveway, behind the basket, making the shot. I did a one handed shot from far outside. I tried bouncing the ball into the hoop, but missed that one.
Two guys were throwing a football around. I grabbed the football, and shot with the basketball in one hand, the football in the other, making them both. I think that was the shot that won me the game.
As a Lakers fan, it got me thinking about Shaq O'Neal and how bad he was at free throw shooting (something like 48%). I once won a bet, by making 90 out of a 100. The best outside shooters in the NBA...Calvin Murphy, Mark Price, and Larry Bird, were all at about 90%, or at least the high 80s.
You're 15 feet away from a 10 foot rim. Obviously, Shaq has no problem as a 7 footer, dunking the ball when he's only one foot away from the basket.
I once had an argument with 10 guys I worked with at the post office 15 years ago. I didn't believe the Guinness Book of World Records, which listed a guy that had made over 2,000 free throws in a row. He was on Letterman, and would miss after about 8 shots. Not that there isn't a difference being on TV in front of millions, but still.
The record books at the time said they didn't witness this, but had signed papers from other witnesses. This wasn't good enough for me.
I remembered years earlier, every college team had their players shoot. The guy that made the most in a row, had something like 147. That makes more sense. It's basically impossible to make a thousand in a row. It simply is. As a good free throw shooter, I'm telling you, that is a fact.
As a test, I told the guys I argued with...even if you got good enough to shoot free throws, that from 15 feet out, it was like you or I standing directly in front of the basket. Even directly in front of a 10-foot high basket, shooting only 100 in a row, you are going to miss some. One guy bet me $25 he wouldn't miss a shot from that close.
We went to the courts. I made $25 after his 17th shot.
I then tried it. I got to about 24, before missing a shot. And, you aren't sure why you miss the shot. Because, you have the strength. It's an easy shot. But it takes just one time of the ball slipping, or thinking about it too much, or whatever. And, at the free throw line, that has to be the same thing.
I saw Rick Barry, one of the greatest of all-time (although he shot under-handed, or as they called it "granny style"). He was blind-folded on the show "That's Incredible." He still made 6 out of 10. He asked to see the film, and insisted that the rim was a few inches low. He was right.
When basketball was invented, the free throw wasn't a part of the game. Neither was dunking, or the three point line. The game evolved a lot. But, I'm not blogging to give an entire history of the sport...talking about peach baskets the old Celtics and ABA. Yeah, I love all that stuff. But, what I don't love, are people lying to get in record books.
And, in this day and age of video...someone better have footage of a shooter making a thousand or more in a row, before it ends up in the books.
I went to a Thanksgiving in July party over the weekend. I'll be writing about it in a future Crasher.
There was a woman named Sandy that was smoking a guy at a game of Horse. It was funny, because after ever few shots, she would take a drink, too. It didn't seem to be messing with her depth perception.
I went over and challenged her. I was hitting my outside shots, but she was matching them (for those that don't know, the object of the game is one person makes a shot, and the other has to make that same shot, or they get the letter "h". The first one that spells "horse" loses).
I made a free throw, but she had no problem sinking that.
I finally resorted to trick shots. I went into someones driveway, behind the basket, making the shot. I did a one handed shot from far outside. I tried bouncing the ball into the hoop, but missed that one.
Two guys were throwing a football around. I grabbed the football, and shot with the basketball in one hand, the football in the other, making them both. I think that was the shot that won me the game.
As a Lakers fan, it got me thinking about Shaq O'Neal and how bad he was at free throw shooting (something like 48%). I once won a bet, by making 90 out of a 100. The best outside shooters in the NBA...Calvin Murphy, Mark Price, and Larry Bird, were all at about 90%, or at least the high 80s.
You're 15 feet away from a 10 foot rim. Obviously, Shaq has no problem as a 7 footer, dunking the ball when he's only one foot away from the basket.
I once had an argument with 10 guys I worked with at the post office 15 years ago. I didn't believe the Guinness Book of World Records, which listed a guy that had made over 2,000 free throws in a row. He was on Letterman, and would miss after about 8 shots. Not that there isn't a difference being on TV in front of millions, but still.
The record books at the time said they didn't witness this, but had signed papers from other witnesses. This wasn't good enough for me.
I remembered years earlier, every college team had their players shoot. The guy that made the most in a row, had something like 147. That makes more sense. It's basically impossible to make a thousand in a row. It simply is. As a good free throw shooter, I'm telling you, that is a fact.
As a test, I told the guys I argued with...even if you got good enough to shoot free throws, that from 15 feet out, it was like you or I standing directly in front of the basket. Even directly in front of a 10-foot high basket, shooting only 100 in a row, you are going to miss some. One guy bet me $25 he wouldn't miss a shot from that close.
We went to the courts. I made $25 after his 17th shot.
I then tried it. I got to about 24, before missing a shot. And, you aren't sure why you miss the shot. Because, you have the strength. It's an easy shot. But it takes just one time of the ball slipping, or thinking about it too much, or whatever. And, at the free throw line, that has to be the same thing.
I saw Rick Barry, one of the greatest of all-time (although he shot under-handed, or as they called it "granny style"). He was blind-folded on the show "That's Incredible." He still made 6 out of 10. He asked to see the film, and insisted that the rim was a few inches low. He was right.
When basketball was invented, the free throw wasn't a part of the game. Neither was dunking, or the three point line. The game evolved a lot. But, I'm not blogging to give an entire history of the sport...talking about peach baskets the old Celtics and ABA. Yeah, I love all that stuff. But, what I don't love, are people lying to get in record books.
And, in this day and age of video...someone better have footage of a shooter making a thousand or more in a row, before it ends up in the books.