Once in a while, there comes a call that defines a generation.
In 1951, it was Russ Hodges famous cry, “The Giants win the Pennant, the Giants win the Pennant.” Then in the 80s, it was Jack Buck’s “I don’t believe what I just saw,” that still plays in highlight reels to this very day.
As a guy that’s called a few games in his day, you know a good call when you hear one.
During Syracuse’s 107-59 victory over DePaul on Saturday, we heard one.
It came with 3:35 left to play and Syracuse already up big.
CJ Fair had scored on a dunk plus the foul on DePaul’s Tony Freeland. And to sum up the moment with all the literary genius of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau rolled into one succinct statement was color commentator Dickey Simpkins.
“O-M-G,” he cried. “And that’s not with the smiley face, that’s with the dunk nasty face.”
Dickey studied marketing while attending Providence, which explains the words that flowed so easily from his mouth.
Listen, the call it self makes no literal sense whatsoever. Following the call, I sat by my computer keyboard for a good 15 minutes trying to make sense of what a dunk nasty face is.
A regular smiley face would be J, and a nasty face would be L, but I’ve never seen either one in the dunking variety. O> makes a pretty good version of what a hoop would be, but I have no idea how to depict somebody dunking and I’m not sure I’m fully committed to trying.
Still though, when I look back on this game some 24 hours later, this is the first thing that pops into my head.
Purists can have, “The Giants win the Pennant.” I’ll have “The dunk nasty face,” any day of the week.
Mike Lacett is a Senior Columnist at The Juice Online. He also hosts “The Bud and the Manchild” Show on The Score 1260 in Syracuse. See more at http://www.espnradio1260.com/