At a post-primary reassurance party for Indiana supporters after his resounding losses Tuesday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz attempted to bond with his Hoosier State supporters by speaking to them in a language they understand: basketball.
He wanted to pay tribute to the scene in the classic 1986 comeback film “Hoosiers” in which Gene Hackman implores his team to keep fighting. Unfortunately, Cruz has apparently never seen the film, or watched a basketball game:
@DavidMacAnally Cruz reenact a famous HOOSIERS scene to reassure Indiana supporters. Remember this? pic.twitter.com/Hz7nW2lV3I
— David MacAnally (@DavidMacAnally) April 26, 2016
“The amazing thing is that basketball ring here in Indiana, it’s the same height as it is in New York City and every other place in this country,” Cruz said, calling the hoop something it’s never been called by a native speaker in human history.
The gaffe wouldn’t be quite as devastating if he had made it in his home state of Texas — where football under the proverbial “Friday night lights” is the official state pastime. But what Cruz said in Indiana is the equivalent of him telling Texans his campaign would continue to “run the ball through the touchdown poles,” and Twitter let him know it:
A "basketball ring" may lose Indiana for Cruz
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) April 27, 2016
Ted Cruz called a basketball hoop a "basketball ring" and that still doesn't crack the top 50 for dumbest things said this election
— Jay Smith (@Smith_Jay_) April 27, 2016
Going to Indiana and saying "basketball ring" (Cruz) is as tone deaf as it gets. The kind of little thing that turns into a a big thing
— West Wing Report (Edited by Paul Brandus) (@WestWingReport) April 27, 2016
Wow, @tedcruz referred to a hoop at the Hoosier gym as a "basketball ring". As a Texan, I apologize for the monster we created.
— Richie Branson (@richiebranson) April 27, 2016
