Last night, in a relatively harmless attempt to pander to an Indiana crowd, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) tried to quote the movie "Hoosiers." Instead, he found himself to be the latest internet laughingstock after he referred to a basketball hoop as a "basketball ring."
Basketball ring? @TedCruz tries to re-create 'Hoosiers' moment and misspeaks: https://t.co/A3JQWyBVXS
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 27, 2016
Brutal. Pro tip: when talking to the most basketball-obsessed part of the country, it's a good idea to make sure you've got all the terminology down.
The internet, on the other hand, got quite the chuckle from the gaffe:
Calling a hoop a “basketball ring” is even worse than your girlfriend asking which team you are “voting for” in a game
— Clemzingis (@TheClemReport) April 27, 2016
Hahaha that girls face when he says "basketball ring" https://t.co/HWVhYc2ybm
— Not James Vogel (@Not_James_Vogel) April 27, 2016
Is he going to talk more about the "basketball ring"? https://t.co/LDuP8rbjvw
— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) April 27, 2016
No one has ever called it a "basketball ring" before Cruz just now in the history of basketball, politics, or words.
— Luke O'Neil (@lukeoneil47) April 26, 2016
A "basketball ring" may lose Indiana for Cruz
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) April 27, 2016
Nail in the coffin…Ted Cruz calls it a “basketball ring.” https://t.co/Za8UxloaVK pic.twitter.com/nT3zZ16Fwi
— Kmarko (@Kmarkobarstool) April 27, 2016
When ted cruz called a hoop a "basketball ring" pic.twitter.com/RWfaDYwJoI
— James Custer (@JamesCuster_II) April 27, 2016
How to hand #Indiana to Donald Trump: https://t.co/1OFYAdRjg7 pic.twitter.com/R41lMRvz5S
— Matt Glenesk (@MattGlenesk) April 27, 2016
And, of course, it wouldn't be a Ted Cruz joke without a Zodiac Killer reference:
did some body say "basketball ring" pic.twitter.com/g0kdjgMTlT
— darth!™ (@darth) April 27, 2016