“DeBusschere shoots…HITS! With three seconds to go.”
“I was practically out the door,” the talking basketball says to the off-screen interviewer. “I was out the door and on my way to dinner.”
The talking basketball hesitates for a moment, chuckles, and somehow manages to wiggle itself—a crude facsimile of shaking one’s head.
“But, Jerry, Jerry wasn’t ready to go home.”
The talking basketball sounds familiar, perhaps it is voiced by Richard “Cheech” Marin, or Tobey Maguire. It’s a recognizable voice, reassuring.
“Two seconds. One second…”
The slender man dressed in yellow throws up a prayer. He’s 60 feet away, can’t possibly hit it.
“He makes it.”
As grainy footage plays of Jerry West looking up at the scoreboard, seeing that he’s tied the game, receiving congratulatory hugs from his teammates, the talking basketball resumes, but you aren’t paying attention to the ball anymore. You’re remembering how absurd it is that Jerry West hit a 60-foot shot at the buzzer to send a Finals game into overtime.
You’re not thinking about how the Lakers eventually lost that game (possibly because West went 0-for-5 and sprained his wrist in extra time). You’re not thinking about how the Lakers lost that series because Willis Reed invented the Willis Reed moment, or that Walt Frazier was the better guard in Game Seven.
You’re not reflecting on how Jerry won only one title during his career, or on how he swapped Vlade Divac straight up for Kobe Bryant later, or about the Zeke from Cabin Creek nickname.
Nope, you’re just thinking about how with only one play possible, Jerry West flicked up a shot from where the other team’s three-point line would be and looked like a guy in a pre-game layup line.
You’re thinking that’s why he’s The Logo.
That’d make for a pretty cool commercial.
♦◊♦
More from “Talking To Talking Balls Week” at the Good Men Project:
Week One Links
Charlie Zegers: Shades of Willis Reed
Ryan Jones: Zeke’s Ankle
Andrew Sharp: 2 for 18
Nick Mancini: The ‘94 Knicks
Yago Colás: Nasty Infinities
Max Ornstein: Walt Clyde
Eric Freeman: Smush and Kwame?