The Best Two Blocks You’ll Ever See
Chances are you’ve heard about or seen 5′ 7″ Nate Robinson’s block of 7′ 6″ Yao Ming from this Monday night. Nate’s a fellow Washington Husky so everyone in Seattle has seen him perform some crazy aerial stunts on both the basketball court and the football field but for a guy a full TWO FEET SHORTER than the tallest man in the NBA to issue a rejection like the one below is pretty amazing. Here’s the Chinese version, just for kicks:
Now that’s a great block, BUT, last week I think I saw probably the best football block I’ve ever seen in the West Virginia/Pittsburgh game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be on YouTube, but ESPN has it inline with the recap of the game. 100 times more impressive at full TV resolution, but man… those two punt coverage guys go down like dominoes. And not a bad runback either!
damn man, my teeth rattled watching those.
Wow. It’s like watching dominoes go down.
Thanks for sharing those Mike! I hadn’t seen either of them yet but man, those are some nice blocks.
Those big guys have a tendency to get lazy when they have the ball… I was tortured by having to watch Greg Ostertag play for the Jazz for several seasons. The urban legend is that he was so lazy that his dad yelled at him for not jumping at all during a game. His response was “but, dad, I don’t have to…”
It’s impressive that Nate Robinson can get that high, but it’s almost hard to call that a block because of all the body contact going on. Even after the block he follows through and nails Yao in the face.
I was at the cal vs. ucla game a few weeks back and a cal blocker hit a ucla guy so hard he gave him a concussion and knocked himself out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo9e2Jf7R0o
Randomly, I ended up playing guitar hero with the cal player about three hours later.
The commentator describes Robinson as a “too big hot pot.” Which is pretty funny to this Chinese-American with poor grasp of Mandarin colloquialisms.
Being an Aggie (from Texas A&M) and getting ready for our yearly game against the Longhorns, we tend to dig up old footage to get us pumped up. This one always comes up as one of the best, and hardest hits I’ve ever seen. And yes, he did block the pass.
Short Version:
http://stingray.tamu.edu/football/movies/the hit.avi
Long Version:
http://stingray.tamu.edu/football/movies/TheHIT_shut_em_down.wmv
100 times more impressive at full TV resolution
It’s 200 times more impressive to be there in person :) I was at Pitt’s student section and after 4 years worth of games, after that block, I’ve heard the loudest celebration ever.
Most didn’t even realize the play was still going on. I was just look at the two guys lying on the ground. It took them a while to get up while the blocker didn’t even fall.
Wish the game had a better outcome though :p
Dimitry
Being a knicks fan and seeing the game that night Nate Robinsons’ block on soft as terrycloth Yao Ming was hilarious. The two Seatle natives Nate and Jamal Crawford always do something crazy everygame, but that block is definitely on top of that list.
The Nate Robinson block is exactly what they said on ESPN. The block of the century.
That WV/Pitt punt return: unbeliveable. Just unbelieveable.
(btw – great site, that newsvine; I’m your newest user; “beauty” to see a Cdn article on the homepage when I signed up too)
I recently showed his block on my blog. He also won the slam dunk contest. You should see those highlights as well.
I argue that Tayshaun Prince’s block of Reggie Miller was better