Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Stallball in Minnesota

Stallball in Minnesota

Well, Norm Coleman seems to have taken the Minnesota Senate race into about quatoople overtime, leaving the state still undrrepresented by one. (Granted, that one is Amy Klobuchar, which may be better than Iowa fully represented but with Grassley cancelling out Harkin.)

There hasn't been this much stalling in Minnesota since November 22, 1950, when the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons faced the unstoppable Minneapolis Lakers, led by basketball's first big man, George Mikan:
Fort Wayne controlled the jump and Mikan, flanked by Pollard and Mikkelsen, lumbered into defensive position. But as the trio turned around, they saw Pistons center Larry Foust standing at mid-court with the ball on his hip. And that’s where Foust—and the ball—stayed. Foust was under strict orders from Mendenhall to do nothing until the Lakers came out to play man-to-man.

The crowd of 7,021 began to boo and stomp their feet in response to the inactivity. But Fort Wayne stuck to its game plan as they held the ball for as long as three minutes at a time. When one playing got tired of holding the ball, he’d flip it to a teammate, who would then tuck it under his arm.

Every so often, a bored Slater Martin would press and try to force a turnover. When he was successful in doing so, the Lakers would hustle downcourt and, after three passes (the last one usually to Mikan), put up a shot.

The standoffs were thus interrupted by brief flurries of action.

Final score Pistons 19, Lakers 18. This game is why there's a shot clock in basketball. We need one in this Senate race, too.

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