Pennisi on flop heard around the world: ‘I was like, you got to dive.’
MANILA, Philippines—Blake Griffin and Mick Pennisi have something in common: They’re the stars of their own viral basketball video.
The difference: Griffin’s videos are a showcase of the best dunks ever. Pennisi, the veteran PBA center, will be remembered for the worst flop ever.
Don’t think though that the 37-year-old-Filipino-Australian is treating this like some sort of a humiliating experience. Pennisi finds something comforting about being called the worst flopper ever.
“Definitely no shame. Most of the comments are positive…saying that it’s the worst flop of all time. But everyone had a good laugh so I’m happy, then can call me whatever they want,” Pennisi told INQUIRER.net.
Pennisi is known for a lot of things—one is being an impressive three-point shooter for his size, and another is his in-your-face temperament—but his flopping skills have never really been highlighted.
“I don’t usually flop, I usually get out there and confront guys. I don’t know, it just happened to be that one-in-a-million things. It made it comical,” Pennisi, who just hit claimed a milestone by making his 700th career triple last week.
“The thing was, [the ball] hit me in the head…and I was like, oh my goodness, he [McDonald] just hit me in the head. It was a big game, and I was thinking about being in the 700th club, so I wanted to stay in the game.”
“And it all happened in two seconds, so I was like, you got to dive.”
And he did—but about two seconds indeed after the ball which a hot-headed Petron import Will McDonald, who was ejected from the game, purposely threw hit his head.
But that delayed reaction was all it took to skyrocket Pennisi to worldwide acclaim—for all the hilarious reasons, though.
Pennisi’s flop warranted an entire entry on Yahoo! Sports blog Ball Don’t Lie, saying he might just be on Chicago Bull’s center Omer Asik’s level—when it comes to flopping.
And how often do you see Filipinos making it to ESPN SportsCenter, let alone the NOT Top 10 plays.
Pennisi’s flop was too funny to pass up that it made to last Friday’s number two, even ahead of NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB’s daily gaffes—which basically gave the league a lot of press as well.
“I was informed through text that it went viral really good. I’m a little surprised,” said Pennisi. “But when you look at it, it makes everyone laugh, no matter what age group you are. It was really that bad.”If you want another comical reel from Pennisi, though, you might have to might wait a few more conferences for that.
“I’m pretty sure the referees will be on top of that, I don’t think it will happen again for a little while,” Pennisi said.
