Anyone remember Brian Scalabrine? Most NBA teams (or any professional sports team) have a couple of these guys, perennial bench warmers who get to play in the last 2 minutes or so of blowout games. The ultimate role players who are willing to do the dirty work, play in garbage time, get some Gatorade for the stars…basically happy to be on the roster. Also usually tall white guys. These are guys who you see playing on TV, and from the comfort of your Laz-E Boy you say, “I could take that guy on.” Scalabrine was a particularly genial bench warmer, and became a fan favorite during his 11 years in the NBA, although not due to his on court prowess. (In Chicago he was referred to by fans in jest as “the White Mamba,” in contrast to Kobe Bryant’s more intimidating “Black Mamba.” He was also referred to as “the human victory cigar.”) Scalabrine has since retired and is now a broadcaster on a New England station.
Having had enough of being an NBA punchline, he agreed to take on Boston’s best amateurs, one on one, to once and for all shut up his detractors. A local radio show sponsored the event, and his potential opponents had to send in videos demonstrating their hoops skills (and also talking the requisite trash to the White Mamba). Check out the link here for footage of the challenge, or the “Scallenge,” as it was called. He took on four of Boston’s best amateurs, one of whom was on the Syracuse roster last year. The results? Maybe it ain’t so easy to make it in the NBA after all, even as a bench warmer. The White Mamba dominated the Scallenge, doing what he never was able to do in the NBA, throwing down Blake Griffin-like dunks and shooting Jordanesque jumpers over the heads of the competition, absolutely crushing them. The final results were a combined 44-6 in favor of Scalabrine (one point per basket in one on one), with two of the games being shut-outs. So even the NBA scrubs are much better than pretty much anyone else in the country.
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