Minnesota Basketball Player Beats Odds, Hits Longshot

The chance of being hit by lightning, or winning the lottery, is in the same field as the possibility of being a high school basketball player who wins an ESPY, ESPN’s award for someone whose television sports highlight is the most outstanding of the year. Thus, the odds of being possibly a two-time ESPY winner is astronomical; but the University of Minnesota’s Blake Hoffarber might be that two-time lottery winner.
During the Big 10 Tournament game between Indiana and Minnesota, Hoffarber scored the winning basket as time ran out, converting a turnaround, left-handed push shot from thirteen feet with three Hoosiers around him after leaping to catch a 77-foot pass inbounds from the opposing baseline. The improbable play started with Minnesota down a point and only 1.5 seconds left in the game.
Minnesota had led the game by as many as 16 points, but the Gophers were missing several of their top players due to injury and foul trouble, and Indiana slowly crept back. Even though the Hoosiers missed five of their last six free throws, Indiana still scored the last six points of the final minute and a half, and D. J. White’s free throw broke the missed streak and gave his team the point lead, setting up Hoffarber’s shot.

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Tags: indiana, lottery

15 Responses to “Minnesota Basketball Player Beats Odds, Hits Longshot”

on 17 Mar 2008 at 5:44 am Ted

I’d kill myself too.
on 17 Mar 2008 at 6:35 am Beulah

Oh, totally. You can’t make this stuff palatable - that was one of Kierkegaard’s main points. There’s just all kinds of wild stuff going on in the Bible: It’s missing all of those “easy 10 steps to XYZ”. It’s not meant for polite company. It’s not suitable for flannelgraphs and Sunday School. Besides, hasn’t god failed in his test? Until Abraham has actually killed Ismail, there’s always a possibility he’s going to stop at the last moment.Well, there’s that whole omnicient thing going on there too. God knew what was in Abraham’s heart (if you buy into the narrative, of course). The fact that he was willing to go that far with it, and all. It says somewhere else in the Bible that Abraham believed that if God really wanted him to sacrifice Isaac then God would raise Isaac from the dead.
on 17 Mar 2008 at 7:25 am Allegria

April 15th. Except for this year, because the post doesn’t run on sundays. Maybe he’d tried to mail his taxes and after visiting one closed post office after another, he went crazy. Don’t all shooters somehow link back to the postal service?
on 17 Mar 2008 at 8:16 am Josh

Would you obey a disembodied voice from the sky that told you to do something completely contradicted by the culture and values with which you grew up?Would you obey the same voice telling you to do something that seems perfectly normal and sane?Now, how would you feel when the voice interrupted you doing the latter and explained that it’s a barbaric practice He won’t allow? Remember, this voice is your god.
on 17 Mar 2008 at 9:06 am Lewella

A very close friend of mine from early childhood was brought to America from India and ended up killing himself at the age of 29. He didn’t kill anyone else, but he threatened to. I wonder what America must seem like to people who aren’t from here… I don’t think it’s an easy adjustment. I read an interview once with a girl who had survived African refugee camps, war, rape, and starvation to come to America, and she said of all her ordeals, being a student in an American high school was the worst.
on 17 Mar 2008 at 9:57 am Tanzi

And now?
on 17 Mar 2008 at 10:47 am Eileen

There has to be a better word. “Islamic supremicism” seems to be too many syllables
on 17 Mar 2008 at 11:38 am Evelyne

One of the most interesting interperations I ever heard was the Abraham was acting out a Prophecy, and knew it. Abraham offered his only son in the way a Sin Offering would be made . . . and years later God would offer His Son as a Sin Offering. He cited some of what Abraham said before and after as having faith that this was an act of great importance than a mere test, like the comment that he believed God would resurrect Issac if he did kill him.
on 17 Mar 2008 at 12:29 pm Briar

You mean this?http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0417071vtech1.html
on 17 Mar 2008 at 1:19 pm Emerson

I think you and I are speaking of different things.You can, by changing your clothes or your behavior, be accepted as “Fully American”.The same does not apply for Asian-Americans.As for Native Americans, I dont know enough to comment.
on 17 Mar 2008 at 2:10 pm Newt

Is He supposed to be merciful, kind, peaceful, or nonviolent? I don’t recall God saying He was always nonviolent. “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”If he was always sunshiny and happy, there’d be no reason for His existance.I think you misunderstand the Judaeo/Christian God.
on 17 Mar 2008 at 3:00 pm Archibald

The blog post doesn’t really explain anything, does it? Some possible sources of the name, but no real explanation of why he would pick that name. I mean maybe he thinks he is chopping down idols, that makes some sense, but wouldn’t he then be Ibrahim’s Axe?
on 17 Mar 2008 at 3:51 pm Scarlet

Asians, especially if you’re speaking about East Asians (Chinese, Korean, Japanese) are certainly (generally) economically well off - but you can certainly sense they are seen as “perpetual foreigners” no matter how long their families may have lived here.
on 17 Mar 2008 at 4:41 pm Violet

That article is bullshit. But then again, I’ve heard that everything on the internet is true. Gosh, I wish I could make up my mind…Yep, it’s bullshit.

on 17 Mar 2008 at 5:44 am Ted

I’d kill myself too.

on 17 Mar 2008 at 6:35 am Beulah

Oh, totally. You can’t make this stuff palatable - that was one of Kierkegaard’s main points. There’s just all kinds of wild stuff going on in the Bible: It’s missing all of those “easy 10 steps to XYZ”. It’s not meant for polite company. It’s not suitable for flannelgraphs and Sunday School. Besides, hasn’t god failed in his test? Until Abraham has actually killed Ismail, there’s always a possibility he’s going to stop at the last moment.Well, there’s that whole omnicient thing going on there too. God knew what was in Abraham’s heart (if you buy into the narrative, of course). The fact that he was willing to go that far with it, and all. It says somewhere else in the Bible that Abraham believed that if God really wanted him to sacrifice Isaac then God would raise Isaac from the dead.

on 17 Mar 2008 at 7:25 am Allegria

April 15th. Except for this year, because the post doesn’t run on sundays. Maybe he’d tried to mail his taxes and after visiting one closed post office after another, he went crazy. Don’t all shooters somehow link back to the postal service?

on 17 Mar 2008 at 8:16 am Josh

Would you obey a disembodied voice from the sky that told you to do something completely contradicted by the culture and values with which you grew up?Would you obey the same voice telling you to do something that seems perfectly normal and sane?Now, how would you feel when the voice interrupted you doing the latter and explained that it’s a barbaric practice He won’t allow? Remember, this voice is your god.

on 17 Mar 2008 at 9:06 am Lewella

A very close friend of mine from early childhood was brought to America from India and ended up killing himself at the age of 29. He didn’t kill anyone else, but he threatened to. I wonder what America must seem like to people who aren’t from here… I don’t think it’s an easy adjustment. I read an interview once with a girl who had survived African refugee camps, war, rape, and starvation to come to America, and she said of all her ordeals, being a student in an American high school was the worst.

on 17 Mar 2008 at 9:57 am Tanzi

And now?

on 17 Mar 2008 at 10:47 am Eileen

There has to be a better word. “Islamic supremicism” seems to be too many syllables

on 17 Mar 2008 at 11:38 am Evelyne

One of the most interesting interperations I ever heard was the Abraham was acting out a Prophecy, and knew it. Abraham offered his only son in the way a Sin Offering would be made . . . and years later God would offer His Son as a Sin Offering. He cited some of what Abraham said before and after as having faith that this was an act of great importance than a mere test, like the comment that he believed God would resurrect Issac if he did kill him.

on 17 Mar 2008 at 12:29 pm Briar

You mean this?http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0417071vtech1.html

on 17 Mar 2008 at 1:19 pm Emerson

I think you and I are speaking of different things.You can, by changing your clothes or your behavior, be accepted as “Fully American”.The same does not apply for Asian-Americans.As for Native Americans, I dont know enough to comment.

on 17 Mar 2008 at 2:10 pm Newt

Is He supposed to be merciful, kind, peaceful, or nonviolent? I don’t recall God saying He was always nonviolent. “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”If he was always sunshiny and happy, there’d be no reason for His existance.I think you misunderstand the Judaeo/Christian God.

on 17 Mar 2008 at 3:00 pm Archibald

The blog post doesn’t really explain anything, does it? Some possible sources of the name, but no real explanation of why he would pick that name. I mean maybe he thinks he is chopping down idols, that makes some sense, but wouldn’t he then be Ibrahim’s Axe?

on 17 Mar 2008 at 3:51 pm Scarlet

Asians, especially if you’re speaking about East Asians (Chinese, Korean, Japanese) are certainly (generally) economically well off - but you can certainly sense they are seen as “perpetual foreigners” no matter how long their families may have lived here.

on 17 Mar 2008 at 4:41 pm Violet

That article is bullshit. But then again, I’ve heard that everything on the internet is true. Gosh, I wish I could make up my mind…Yep, it’s bullshit.

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