Featured Image Credit: Fox4
Topics: Viral, Basketball, US News, Education
Joshua Nair
A reporter was left stunned when he accidentally recreated a viral moment.
Basketball is a game that requires immense skill, precision and practice - or just plain darn luck - to succeed.
And the latter seemed to be the case for US-based Fox local news reporter Rob Low.
Back in 2010, Olathe Northwest High School in Kansas was the venue for a viral moment, as basketball coach Joel Branstrom made headlines when he made a half-court basketball shot while blindfolded.
His students pranked him, saying he would win two tickets to the NCAA Final Four if he pulled off the impossible shot.
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The students assumed that he wouldn't make it, and were planning to cheer to trick him into thinking he got the tickets, but determination is a funny thing.
Branstrom made the 47-foot attempt, and the clip became very popular, even being broadcasted as the number one play on ESPN's 'SportsCenter' programme in its weekly top 10 countdown.
The moment was so popular that reporter Rob Low was sent to the school to report the story, but accidentally created a viral moment himself.
The clip begins with Low saying: "What was supposed to be a prank on a teacher instead backfired on the students - a blindfolded half-court shot that is now the talk of campus and beyond."
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While speaking to the camera, the reporter speculatively lobs the ball over his head while standing at half-court, and against all odds, it swishes into the net.
Completely oblivious, a woman behind the camera could be heard saying: "Oh my God."
The cameraman added: "Put that in the story, too."
Thinking they're pranking him, Low asks: "Are you kidding me?"
He then asked if it was caught on tape for broadcast, and oh yes, yes it was indeed.
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It's not often when an impossible shot like that gets pulled off twice, and on the same court too.
People commented on the news reporter's insane moment on TikTok.
One user commented: "The man was too stunned to speak."
Another said: "Bro was flabbergasted."
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A third put: "The most genuine reaction."
As for the original story and coach Branstrom, he unfortunately never got those NCAA tickets as it was a prank, but he did get his moment of fame.
Student and prank orchestrator Brad Keepes commented on the crazy moment: "I never thought it would get this far, but it's just one of those amazing things that happen."
Keepes stated that there was no 'better person' who could have made that shot and gone viral.