OT: Scalabrine and the "Scallenge"

Submitted by JeepinBen on

This is for anyone who has said "I could do better" than that highly trained athlete you pay to watch be an athlete. Ever say "I'm more athletic than Novak" or "I could block better than Hopkins" or "I COULD CATCH ALL THE DAMN PUNTS".... well, guess what. The highly trained athlete is better than you, despite how big you are on the internet.*

If the reality of them being a high-profile athlete and you being on the internet weren't enough, I present the Scallenge.

Brian Scalabrine, aka the White Mamba, aka Doc Rivers' human victory cigar before becoming a favorite at the United Center as a human victory cigar, played 3 normal dudes in a 1-on-3 game of basketball.

Yes. This man.

And, well, there's a reason he was paid to play basketball.

Just something to think about before you talk about how much better you are than "that guy who's playing in the game I'm watching".

*Maybe you're a better free throw shooter than Shaq. But have you ever shot them in front of 20k people? And have you shot thousands of them, while, ya know, playing in basketball games and dominating the rest of the game in front of 20k people? Because, I mean, we all can shoot better than 50% in an empty gym.

EDIT: PART 2 HAS POSTED. A 19 year old who calls himself "the Great White Hope" played Scal in 1-on-1

http://www.csnne.com/basketball-boston-celtics/celtics-talk/The-Scallenge-Scal-vs-Great-White-Hope?blockID=826253&feedID=10602

Butterfield

January 23rd, 2013 at 1:21 PM ^

LOL at the guy buying Scalabrine's pass fake at the 2:05 mark. 

As to the OPs point that even a bad NBA player is way better than you are - it's right, but this video doesn't prove it.  Those three (radio personalities?!?) may be the sorriest excuse for basketball players I've ever seen.  I think 3 average YMCA players would have handled Scalabrine (or Lebron James for that matter) with the powerplay. 

CoachBuczekFHS

January 23rd, 2013 at 9:55 PM ^

The one guy was on Syracuse's team last year. You can look him up on the roster. So I wouldn't say that's terrible. The other guy played pro ball in Europe. So they weren't your avergae gym all-stars. I just think it speaks to the eliteness of pro-athletes over even solid athletes. 

TheDirtyD

January 23rd, 2013 at 1:31 PM ^

Those guys are awful either your incredibly bad at sports or you just thought this was funny. I'm not sayin I could beat him since I'm 5'10 but I'd play better than that.

Dennis Talbott…

January 23rd, 2013 at 1:36 PM ^

I really don't think most people think they can actually beat a professional or D1 athlete in their sport. There's a difference between saying "so and so is not a good player" (which is a relative term to the level of competition), and "I am better than so and so."

That being said, Brian Scalabrine is not a good player.

5starrecruit

January 23rd, 2013 at 1:47 PM ^

when it's 3v1 even an average joe should be able to score. I could get 2 buddies and play Lebron james 3 v 1 and we would score. However I don't know if we would ever stop Lebron, but we would score.

 

Edit: BTW i shoot 85% in an empty gym, and about 70% in games. But the reason the game % is lower is becuase you get so tired not becuase your nervous.

Elmer

January 23rd, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^

My brother-in-law played in the NBA.  He was a power forward.  I'm 6'2, and all he had to do to box me out was casually put a forearm in front me.  I was stonewalled.  Playing against someone with that type of size and strength is like playing a completely different game than the Thursday night mens league.

MGoDC

January 23rd, 2013 at 1:55 PM ^

Yeah this video doesn't prove anything. Guys were missing (even AIRBALLING) wide open bunnies. I think 3 average players would've scored significantly more since you cant play defense 1 v 3.

Bb011

January 23rd, 2013 at 2:04 PM ^

What a terrible example. Scals was leaving the guys wide open at the free thrown line and they were airballing it. This video doesn't prove your point at all, if anything it shows how terrible he is with his handles cause he gets ripped by these scrubs.

JonSnow54

January 23rd, 2013 at 2:21 PM ^

Those guys were terrible.  How does this prove anything? I think I could have beaten them 1 on 3, all I'd need to do would be to score one bucket, then let them airball the rest of their possessions.

I would guess that 2 competent players (such as people that played in high school or D3) going against an NBA player 2-on-1 would be able to score most of the time.  There's just too much space on the floor.  Defending the NBA player, on the other hand, would be much harder, and he would probably score every time.

His Dudeness

January 23rd, 2013 at 2:29 PM ^

In undergrad I was at the REC and had a basketball player (I assume) ask me to play him one-on-one. I am pretty sure he wanted to clown me. Make it take it, 2's and 3's to 21. He shot for ball. He then simply shot 3's and made 7 in a row (8 if you count the shot for ball). He was a solid 6 inches taller than me so I couldn't really effect his shot with defense. Then he just walked away. I watched him as he left to see if he just went over to his boys to laugh at me, but sure enough he just walked out of the REC. I swear this actually happened. One of the weirdest things I remember from undergrad.

The Shredder

January 23rd, 2013 at 2:53 PM ^

Anyone who thinks they are better then a pro who is the 12th man on an NBA team is an idiot. I was at a tourney with a buddy who played at EKU. It was for only former D1 players and professionals and easily the best team was Raja Bell, Kevin Ollie and Jermaine Jones. They were unreal and beat the crap out of all the teams. No one sitting at home shooting a 100 jumpers in their backyard is better then the worst pro on any team

umuncfan11

January 23rd, 2013 at 4:06 PM ^

Yeah this video that was posted is not a good example, but he played 1 on 1 against 4 different guys who were picked after sending in "tryout" videos to the radio program.  These guys were decent and they lost by a total of 44-6.  So take more out of those 1 on 1 matchups than the 3 v. 1 radio guys.  

CoachBuczekFHS

January 23rd, 2013 at 9:58 PM ^

You guys are seriously nuts. The one guy was on Syracuse's roster last year. That means he was on an elite Division 1 basketball team. They were "air-balling" because Scal is long and it's tough to get a good look against him. Any one of you go out there against him and the result is the same. Unless you have participated in elite athletics then you have no idea how good pro-athletes really are. Scal may have been an average to below average NBA player, but he is still an ELITE basketball player...against anyone. 

MGoDC

January 24th, 2013 at 3:28 AM ^

The one-on-ones were more impressive.Nobody is dogging Scal in this thread -- those 3 guys that tried to 1 on 3 were chumps though. Airballing bunnies that Scal wasnt even defending (thus his length was irrelevent). It wasn't an actual game for stakes or anything like that so there was no pressure either.

I am average or below at basketball and I guarantee I would beat any of those 3 on1 bums 11-2 .