Another Talby Tuesday is upon us. I'll have you know that I talked with the man himself last week for valentine's day and amazingly he had no plans for the night. He was just relaxing with ol' duke watching some tv. I watched some TV over the weekend and got the chance to watch Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks beat the Dallas Mavericks. Lin really does make watching the NBA fun again. Seeing all the fans and all of the "Linsanity" that is taking over the world made me pause and think "I have seen excitement like this somewhere before...". And then I remembered that long before there was Linsanity, there was Talby-mania. Yes, Talby has shocking basketball skills and he has a band of crazy fans. Let me clarify. When I say Talby has shocking basketball skills, I mean shockingly bad basketball skills, which makes sense because he was a wrestler. All wrestlers I have known have been very bad basketball players. My hypothesis was confirmed the first time I saw Talby shoot a layup. I was baffled, and found myself wondering, "How could someone who has at least a little bit of coordination make shooting a basketball look so bad?" I honestly thought he was joking when he consistently shot the ball (feet, not inches) wide of the hoop. While it troubled me, Talby was not bothered at all. Everyone would get mad at him for being so bad during pick-up games, but he just laughed and ran around the court the whole time. Weird.
During our time at Grove City, they had an intramural basketball league and the league was split up into four divisions, A,B,C, and D. A being the best and D being the worst. Talby and his crew of fraternity brothers were obviously in the D league. While the games were horrible and the play was extremely violent, it was still great entertainment, especially to watch Talby play. Decked out in arm bands, and rocking some tight cut-off, Talby was the intimidator. Many times, when we watched Talby, we would get to see basketballs bounce off of his head, his ridiculous attempts at dribbling the ball down the court, and his usual air balls. It was a comedy. But during a very important D-Leaugue game, all the stars aligned and "Talby Mania" erupted.
It was kinda like this
Talby was on the bench as our Fraternity team was locked in a heated battle. All of the other Pi's were there and were demanding that Talby be put in the game! The team obliged and Talby entered center stage. Every time Talby got the ball we would all yell "Shoot it!"... and for some reason he listened to us. As Talby launched a deep three pointer, we were all expecting it to hit off the wall or the rafters. It was a ridiculously high arcing shot and the ball was in the air for at least 4 seconds. As it came down from the moon, it managed to hit nothing. Nothing but net. Cheers, Jubilation, and leaps for joy were seen all around. But that was just the beginning.
Late in the 4th quarter, the game was tied and Talby was again inserted into the game. With time winding down, there was only one person who was going to be taking the last shot. As Talby received the ball, his ears were filled with the ringing chorus of his friends screaming "Shoot IT!" Talby turned, and from beyond NBA 3 point range, shot the ball from the middle of his chest, rocketing it toward the heavens. By this time we had already started rushing the court. Why did we do this before we knew the outcome? Did we do it because of Destiny? No, we did it because it was Talby and we knew that there was no other way that this could turn out. The ball swooshed through the hoop and the buzzer went off. Talby turned around to see the fast-closing mob of fans and he promptly threw up the "Carl Krauser" X above his head. We swarmed him and rejoiced. Thus began the "Talby-Mania" and all of the tales that would be told in the years to come about his basketball skills. So remember, dear readers, as you watch sportscenter and see all the athletes tweeting about Jeremy Lin and Linsanity; that Before Lin there was Tal. May we all never forget that great night. May we never forget Talby Mania.
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