Air ball

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In basketball, an air ball is an unblocked shot that misses the basket, rim and backboard entirely.[1]

Origin[edit]

The Oxford English Dictionary cites earliest printed use of "air ball" in a 29 January 1967 article from the (Hayward, Calif.) Daily Review, which reads: "Cal State, four times lofting air balls at an orange basket that may as well have been painted invisible."[2]

Crowd behavior and consequences[edit]

In collegiate basketball, home crowds were found to initially chant when the air ball shot was made from a distance and when it resulted in a lost possession. Home crowds were also more persistent in their chants when the shot was made farther from the basket.[3] An archival exploration showed that away players who shot an air ball had a lower success rate in the shot immediately after, as compared to home players launching the same shot; however, this difference was unrelated to the chant.[4]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Definitions:
    • "Unblocked, doesn't touch the rim or the backboard". sportingcharts.com.
    • "Completely misses the basket, rim, and backboard". merriam-webster.com.
    • "Misses the basket and backboard entirely". oxforddictionaries.com. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
    • "Missed shot that fails to touch the rim, net, or backboard". dictionary.com.
  2. ^ "air, n. 1". OED Online. Oxford UP. Retrieved December 1, 2012.(subscription required)
  3. ^ ""Air ball, air ball!": A study of collective crowd chanting in collegiate basketball". ResearchGate. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  4. ^ "The experience of ego threat in the public arena: A study of air ball shots performance in collegiate basketball". ResearchGate. Retrieved May 27, 2019.