Viral sensation Old Ball talks All-Star Game, Dunk Contest, ’90s NBA originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
It’s not every day you can talk to a basketball.
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But that’s exactly what The Sporting News did last week, having been granted the unique opportunity to chop it up with animatronic internet sensation Old Ball — as well as the three-headed brain trust behind his operation.
That brain trust is Funny or Die alums Ben Bayouth, Adam Aseraf and Christian Heuer, who now handle Old Ball’s shenanigans via their own Benched Studios.
Old Ball got a chance to hang out with NBA royalty at the Los Angeles Clippers‘ home arena, Intuit Dome, during All-Star Weekend.
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As of this writing, Old Ball has notched over 438,000 Instagram followers and close to 250,000 TikTok fans.
After talking with Bayouth, Aseraf and Heuer, The Sporting News got into it with Old Ball himself.
The Sporting News: Old Ball, what was your favorite moment of All-Star Weekend? Did you like the new All-Star game tournament format?
Old Ball: “Loved the new format. Ty Lue and Ballmer must have found the reboot button on Kawhi because that guy was automatic. My favorite moment was housing a bacon-wrapped hot dog outside Intuit Dome. My least favorite moment was discovering I am not built for street meat at 2 a.m.”
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How did you feel about this year’s Slam Dunk Contest?
“Look, Gary Payton Senior once told me there’s guys who dunk on people and guys who CREATE dunks. Gordon, LaVine, McClung – those are creators. I think we gotta get more creative with the dunks. Give me a Superman over a 7-footer. Give me a 360 windmill over a bonfire. Hang glide from the rafters and crater the Earth with your dunk supremacy. “
Would you have been comfortable being dunked? There were a lot of misses this year. It would probably not be ideal to have been Jase Richardson’s ball.
“Dunked? I watched the warmups and started updating my will. I need two pumps and a pep talk just to stay inflated.”
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There’s been a lot of chatter recently that All-Star Weekend is washed and needs a change. What would you alter about the format?
“I actually liked the format this year. Felt like those guys were playing hard. I think it’s all about having that one dude that doesn’t want to lose. This year, it was Wemby. He set the tone. You got in the lane with the Frenchman, you were gettin’ smeared into Creme Brulé.”
I’ve read in other interviews that you had a shot at the pros in the ’90s, and subsequently were in a shed for three decades. What do you miss most about ’90s basketball? What do you miss most about the shed?
“How about the mid-range jump shot? How about a 130-point game being a rarity? But I digress, these cats today have game – you can’t hate on that. As far as the shed, I miss those cold winter nights where I had nothing to entertain me except a rogue cob web the wind blew onto my face that wouldn’t fall off for months. Oh wait, I don’t miss that at all. Nah, dude. My shed days are over.”