Viewers who tuned into SEC Network on Saturday night were dialed in for 12th-ranked Ole Miss versus Vanderbilt. The 12th-ranked Rebels coasted to a 33-7 victory over the visiting Commodores, who didn’t leave The Grove very happily. Ole Miss took them to the cleaners, shutting them out in three of the four quarters. While the game played on, a discussion emerged in the booth about slam dunks.
On the call for Vandy-Ole Miss were Tom Hart and former Commodore quarterback Jordan Rodgers, while the insightful Cole Cubelic patrolled the sidelines. Early on, Hart brought the game back to break with a segment discussing Ole Miss’ new sideline celebration idea: The team now dunks a basketball on a hoop rolled out on the sideline.
https://twitter.com/OleMissFB/status/1718417024542732566
Notably, during Saturday night’s contest, a Vanderbilt logo sticker was slapped onto the backboard. We can probably assume that going forward, opposing teams’ logos will wind up smacked onto the backboard that’s brought out onto the sidelines.
The origin, according to head coach Lane Kiffin and the broadcast, is unknown. Rodgers jokingly judged the dunk on the replay, while Cubelic revealed the team considered using a fire extinguisher as a prop celebration. And that they were going to bring real goals out and what the height would be. They decided on 8.5-feet. That discovery led to banter during the game:
Jordan Rodgers: I’d like to ask you a serious question.
Tom Hart: Okay.
Rodgers: Can you dunk on 8.5 right now?
Hart: Yes I can dunk–I’m 6’4″. You think I have cement shoes?
Rodgers: I wasn’t, I mean, I don’t know!
About 10 minutes later, Hart’s broadcasting partners challenged him to pull off the dunk. At the time, he told Rodgers and Cubelic he’d send them a video of the eventual dunk.
Luckily for us all, we all received the video of the dunk.
During the broadcast of ‘SEC Football Final’ on SEC Network after the game, Hart, Rodgers, and Cubelic talked about the Ole Miss victory live from Oxford. Before the end of the segment, Cubelic called out and fetched a football. He then tossed it Hart’s way.
“They said you couldn’t dunk,” Cubelic challenged Hart. “They said you couldn’t dunk. Prove ’em wrong. Just do it,” Cubleic said as Hart got up with the football in his hand.
Hart got up, went up strong and came away with the flush!
https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1718741981399073035
Sometimes, you just never know when great television will emerge. It could even happen while you’re asleep.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022