After months of relentless verbal posturings, LaVar Ball is finally starting to get his comeuppance. His son’s team, the UCLA Bruins, were ousted from the NCAA Tournament this weekend despite the elder Ball’s previous proclamation that they’d win it all, and then a video emerged on Sunday of LaVar not looking very much like a man who could hold his own in an over-50 YMCA league, let alone beat Michael Jordan in a game of one-on-one.
We were all kind of hoping that he might just go away for a little while, at least until the NBA Draft this summer. But it turns out the world isn’t done delivering the Ball family patriarch heaping slices of humble pie just yet. According to Rich Cimini of ESPN.com, Ball tried out for the NFL before the ’94-’95 season but was cut before the season started.
Boomer Esiason, the Jets’ quarterback from 1993 to 1995, said he has “no recollection” of Ball. Former linebacker Marvin Jones does.
“I remember LaVar Ball very well,” he said. “He was a very athletic guy and raw. I remember him very well because he played only one year of college football. I remember a very confident guy and, yes, he voiced his opinion and was cocky, but overall seemed like a great guy.”
Note: Ball did make the Panthers’ practice squad in 1995.
I guess it’s nice to know Ball’s over-inflated sense of self-worth hasn’t changed much since then. And with one son on the way to the NBA and two other five-star recruit sons waiting in the wings, LaVar is likely to remain a part of the public consciousness for the foreseeable future.