Ted Cruz Beat Jimmy Kimmel in Trash-talking Basketball Game

.@SenTedCruz dribbles past @jimmykimmel during the Blobfish Basketball Classic. Cruz challenged Kimmel to the game after Kimmel blamed the Houston Rockets playoff loss on the senator. Cruz won 11-9. pic.twitter.com/Tr9pSGemWu

— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 17, 2018

It all started with insults.

Jimmy Kimmel, a late night talk show host now obsessed with politics, insulted Texas Senator Ted Cruz.  His insults were of the mean and vicious variety.  He insulted his appearance — called him Grandpa Munster and compared him to a blobfish.  The Senator responded this way:

After mocking the invitation relentlessly on television, Kimmel finally accepted.  And Cruz won!  The Houston Chronicle has the story:

The nearly two-hour contest — which featured the voice of Houston Rockets announcer Matt Thomas — would have gone on even longer if the rules hadn’t been changed mid-game. Originally, the winner would be the first to reach 15 points (each basket was worth one point) and win by two. As the game looked like it might go on as long as a rave in an abandoned warehouse, it was announced that the winner would be the first to reach 11 with a two-point lead, much to the joy of anyone wanting to get home before sunrise. (As it was, lots of people were streaming out of there early.)

If the Blobfish was an epic fail as an athletic competition — though it did improve near the end when both Cruz and Kimmel got last-minute jolts of energy — it wasn’t much better as political theater. While Kimmel stopped play a couple of times to try to engage Cruz in a discussions about detentions and family separations along the southern border as well as health coverage of those with pre-existing conditions, Cruz’s responses were drowned out by crowd noise with many shouting “play ball!” That prompted Kimmel to yell, “That’s as close as we’re going to get to a town hall,” a probable reference to the charge that Cruz doesn’t hold enough of them.

Even though Kimmel lost, he may still keep clowning Cruz on social media. “Well, I don’t think that has anything with who wins or loses the game,” Kimmel said. “I take the shots as they come.”

At the end of the game, Kimmel apologized to the game of basketball.  But I think it’s fun that these men met for something — at least a little — different than politics!

Hat Tip: Houston Chronicle

Featured Image Credit: [[File:Kimmel meets Hallo Hessen.jpg|Kimmel meets Hallo Hessen]]