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L-P junior's miracle shot becomes YouTube hit, complete with national attention
While LeBron James makes headlines, Anna Olson gets the clicks.
Since the Lewis-Palmer junior’s impromptu full-court bounce-in shot Friday at Cheyenne Mountain, video of the unreal play has gone viral, garnering national attention on "The Today Show" and "Good Morning America" and even a pending interview on CNN.
Upon witnessing the shot, Rangers coach Joel Babbitt entered the world of social media by registering for a Twitter account and sending a tweet to ESPN, then uploading his first video on YouTube.
In not quite a week, YouTube has counted 1.3 million hits on the video. In addition, Olson’s shot earlier this week was ranked No. 1 on ESPN "SportsCenter"’s top 10 Plays.
Not even James, who made history Wednesday by recording his sixth straight game with at least 30 points while shooting 60 percent or better, can compete with the shy Olson.
“I had to get a Twitter account to get it out there,” said the 42-year-old Babbitt. “I didn’t know what viral meant until the last few days.”
Babbitt gave the Lewis-Palmer fans, known as the Ranger Rowdies, an assist on the play. The group apparently chanted a false countdown to end the third quarter, baiting an Indians player to shoot much too soon. The shot missed, and a Rangers player rebounded and flipped a short pass to Olson.
Her quarterback-style, right-armed heave landed well short of the basket. After one bounce, however, the ball lightly glanced the underside of the rim on the way back up and found the bottom of the net, ultimately becoming an Internet sensation.
“We like to think our own fans had a hand in this,” Babbitt said. “They got her to throw it early.”
Luckily, the shot bounced and went into the net with time to spare. Had time expired during the flight of the ball before the bounce, the basket would not have counted.
Olson actually was awarded three points for the shot, since it was taken well beyond the arc. Should this rare event ever happen again, referees will be quick to put up two fingers, since the ball bounced well inside the 3-point arc.
Now, life returns back to normal, right? Not so fast.
“We got a call from 'Anderson Cooper 360' on CNN,” Babbitt said. “They’re looking to do a live interview sometime.”
Babbitt maintains Olson, who averages just 2.3 points, hasn’t been changed by becoming an online superstar.
“For a nice, humble sweet girl to get all that attention, it’s pretty cool and interesting,” Babbitt said. “Her teammates are very supportive of her, and with all these interviews, she has been incredibly poised for someone who had never done something like that. The whole thing has been good for our school and good for Anna. We’re all proud of her.”
