If you’ve ever been to a college basketball game, you’ve probably been a part of chanting “air ball” when your misses everything on a shot attempt.
Let’s be honest, we’ve all been a part of that tradition at some point.
But one Syracuse fan couldn’t believe it happened to one of his favorite players, John Gillon, after he chucked up an air ball against Josh Pastner’s Georgia Tech team on Sunday. The fan was so heated about it, he let Pastner have it after the game, leaving a heated voicemail.
In a conversation with the the Georgia Tech IMG Network, Pastner revealed the hilarious story and his response to the fan, which is even better:
“Somebody called and left a message saying they needed to talk to me. It was a Syracuse fan … They were very upset at Georgia Tech; they felt that there was something very unclassy about Georgia Tech.
So I thought, man, did something happen? Did one of our players say something? So I called the person back … he says, ‘Coach, I find it just really offensive that your student section, during the entire game, was chanting “air ball” to Gillon .. I just thought that was so unclassy of Georgia Tech.’…
I want to tell you, the student section, you’re awesome, and when anyone air balls … you need to just yell it even louder now, all throughout the game. I said, ‘Sir, couple things: first of all, this is not intermurals … nor is it The Love Boat, where everybody gets served cocktails at 4 p.m.’ I said this is men’s college elite basketball.
And I said the ‘air ball’ chant has been going around since Dr. James Naismith invented the game. I said I guarantee you if one of our guys air-balled the ball at the Carrier Dome at Syracuse, 30,000 people would be chanting air ball for the entire game.”
The Love Boat!
You want to learn how to endear yourself to your fan base as a first-year coach? Pastner provides a perfect blueprint here.
Show a little arrogance, troll a Syracuse fan and let it ride. Yellow Jackets fans have to love it.
Outside of the comedy of the situation, Pastner happens to be right. This is Division I college basketball, where jobs are at stake and players and coaches are fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives. The difference between quiet fans and rowdy ones can be the difference between a win and a loss, so any advantage is welcomed. Pastner made that perfectly clear.
Maybe the taunting will work, and maybe it won’t. But it’s a mind game worth welcoming, because any home crowd advantage is huge in college hoops.
It also happened to work on Sunday. Georgia Tech beat Syracuse 71-65, and Gillon, the player subject to the “air ball” chants, finished with 7 points on 2-of-10 shooting.