If you go to basketball games long enough, there's a good chance -- at some point -- that you'll find yourself plucked from the crowd for one of those in-game fan contests.
You know, the ones where you have to answer some trivia questions or make a half-court shot to win some free pizza?
Fun as they are, they can also be a little embarrassing. There's nothing like air-balling in front of your hot date, right?
No worries. Because the fan-contest bar has been lowered all the way to the floor as of this weekend.
The Los Angeles Lakers were almost three quarters through their 90-83 win over the Utah Jazz on Friday night when Staples Center staff rounded up a lucky fan poor soul for a quick-and-easy challenge sponsored by Pechanga Resort & Casino. The game featured face-down playing cards on the big screen, and the fan -- a fellow named David with a Lakers hat and jersey -- was tasked with guessing whether the next card shown would be higher or lower than the first one shown.
"I'm here with our lucky contestant, David, who will have 30 seconds to guess if the next card shown will be higher or lower than the first card shown at the table," the host announces. "If David guesses all this correctly, he will win a Pechanga getaway package."
Simple enough, right? If the first card is a "2," you can safely go "higher." If it's an ace, you can probably go "lower."
Well just you wait to see how our lucky contestant handles this.
"Higher or lower than zero?" the host asks, to which David replies, "Lower."
"Lower?" the host responds, still unaware of what's transpired. "Well, all right, it looks like your luck ran out. Thank you so much for playing."
Yep. That's right. David got a "0," of all numbers, to start, and, without hesitation, went "lower."
Where do we even start? Like it or not, this is like a stockpile of ammunition for anyone who thinks little of Lakers fans. (Sorry, David.) And yet you almost have to feel bad for the guy. After all, he doesn't even blink before giving his answer, and it's clear after our Staples Center host shoots him something of a double take that he still hasn't realized what he's done. Maybe he just didn't understand the rules?
In any event, his performance is pretty remarkable, if only as a way to ensure you'll never be out-embarrassed when you finally get your own shot at fan-contest glory.
Twitter, of course, had a field day with this one as well:
We'll see what transpires when the Lakers hold their next fan contest when the Orlando Magic come to town on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET -- watch on fuboTV with the NBA League Pass extension). If it's anything like this one, it might just be considered must-watch TV.
