Air ball
In basketball, an air ball is a shot that misses both the rim and the backboard.
The usage may have an ironic subtext to it; "air" is generally used positively in basketball, often relating to jumping ability. The "air ball", on the other hand, is widely perceived as the opposite: a signifier of an unskilled player. To perform an air ball is often to be ribbed by one's co-players.
Although the term has often been deemed to have been created by the Cameron Crazies of Duke University, such attribution is highly suspect. Some have pointed to the date of February 24, 1979, during a college basketball game between the Duke University Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels, as the first recorded use of "air ball". During a highly unusual Duke-UNC game, in which UNC failed to score during the first half, the Duke crowd broke into a chant of "air ball" after Tar Heel player Rich Yonakor took UNC's only shot of the half, which missed the rim. It has become one of the most iconic jeers in college basketball.
It is also believed that longtime Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn was an early popularizer of the phrase.
Nevertheless, while the UNC-Duke game may have popularized the phrase, it is doubtful that the term originates from that date. American television announcer Keith Jackson can clearly be heard using the term "airball" in game five, during the third quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers and N.Y. Knicks 1972 championship series. With the score 69-65, Jackson's call is as follows: "Goodrich almost lost it to Monroe. Shoots. Short. Airball. Frazier rebounds. Bad shot by Goodrich." NBA Hardwood Classics (2005).
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