Dagger!

I finished my homework just in time to hear one of the greatest (worst) calls of a sports announcer of all time. The Washington Wizards were down by one point against the Detroit Pistons with what I recall was about 12 seconds left on the clock. After the ball is nearly thrown out of bounds, Martell Webster is able to tap the ball to Trevor Ariza for a contested 3-point shot at the buzzer. He puts up the shot, and much to the amazement of just about everybody in the arena and presumably at home, the ball hits nothing but net. Steve Buckhantz, the Wizards play-by-play announcer, clearly thought it went in.

He shouts his signature line, "Dagger!" This one happened earlier this year, but unlike Wednesday, he didn't walk away looking like a total fool.


I consider that a pretty exciting call, and I'd definitely definitely replay this video. Now this coming video of what happens when a "Dagger" goes wrong never gets old. Forget that the Wizards lost the game; this was ten times better than a win!


Now here's what this scene looked like to me. I'm being perfectly honest. I wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but it for some reason just didn't look like it went in. Maybe it's because by the time I was able to process what had happened, I saw no Wizards players celebrating and saw a Pistons player with his hands in the air, as if to celebrate. I caught on what felt like about 15 seconds before Buckhantz, and as a result, I was on my couch dying with laughter. I had totally forgotten that my favorite team had just lost a nail biter.

Anyway, I will give Buckhantz credit for generating a highlight from that lowlight in his life. "The dagger has been retracted," said Buckhantz.