D-III gets sniped by ESPYs
Jun
2005
On Jan. 31, 2005, Jordan Snipes heaved the ball the length of the court, and was the talk of the sports world. His shot with 0.6 seconds remaining turned a would-be 89-88 overtime loss at Randolph-Macon into a 91-88 win.
Luckily, the local ABC affiliate in Richmond still had a camera there at the end of the game. Their video not only made SportsCenter’s top 10 plays, it was top play No. 9, No. 7, No. 5, No. 3 and No. 1. The anchors said we would see it again on the ESPYs.
One problem — less than five months later, ESPN has snubbed the shot seen ’round the world. Snipes shot isn’t even on the ballot for Best Play. Surely we could have done without the X-Games “play” that was included.
Not that the shot hasn’t had lasting effects. Later in the season I saw women’s basketball players imitating it in a shootaround before an NCAA Tournament game. Heck — Randolph-Macon is even remodeling its gym completely this offseason, and that can’t be a coincidence. I wouldn’t want any reminder of that shot left either if I were there.
June 27th, 2005 at 7:20 pm
“Heck — Randolph-Macon is even remodeling its gym completely this offseason, and that can’t be a coincidence. I wouldn’t want any reminder of that shot left either if I were there.”
What, no smiley face at the end? Could it be that you are serious when you say this?
June 28th, 2005 at 3:18 am
I know the project has been in the pipeline for a while, so yes, the coincidence part is a joke. But the second sentence is not a joke — would you want to remember that shot if you were Randolph-Macon?
June 28th, 2005 at 5:58 pm
Anyway that we fans can bombard the ESPY’s with a “write-in” campaign?
June 28th, 2005 at 6:57 pm
If the shot had been in a game more consequential than a regular season conference game, it might be something I’d want to forget. The Red Sox have rid themselves of the “curse of the Bambino” and the memory of the Bill Buckner error in the ‘86 World Series. But the shot at Randolph-Macon is nothing of that magnitude.
I went to Randolph-Macon and was listening to the game. It stunned me at first, but I quickly put it behind me. They even showed the shot on one of the evening news broadcasts here in Saint Louis. For me it’s one of those things that you shrug your shoulders at and marvel that it even happened. I suppose the lesson is that no matter the situation, you should always play defense.
And, re post #3 above, is there anything we can do?
June 28th, 2005 at 6:59 pm
My ESPN contact had no idea who made the decision on ESPYs. I’ll keep digging.
June 30th, 2005 at 11:28 am
Heck, Pat, the ESPYs didn’t have Tim Duncan as an option for best NBA player, either. They had two members of the Miami Heat (Wade, Shaq) … wouldn’t you think that with two of the supposed top five players in the league, they’d at least make it to the Finals??