The funniest guy I know is a former college basketball player named Chris Barber who is, like me, from a small town in Tennessee.
Quick quips bonded our friendship, and one of his lines — delivered years ago in a pickup basketball game — has had real staying power for me:
“Ran out of talent.”
During NBA games, the line comes to mind anytime I see a player try a move he can’t finish. The bigger the gap between intention and execution, the funnier it is:
Whoops! He ran out of talent. 😂
NBA swingman Corey Brewer — another guy from a small Tennessee town (the very town in which my father-in-law grew up1) — brought that line to the wider basketball world via an ESPN feature on legendary coach Mike D’Antoni, written by Tim Keown:
[T]here's nothing D'Antoni loves more than a good story, which is why ex-Rocket Corey Brewer will forever have a place in D'Antoni lore. Early this season, Brewer, who was traded to the Lakers in late February, took a pass on the baseline, drove, spun, shook two defenders with a 360 and missed a point-blank shot at the rim. "Coach, I did my thing," he told D'Antoni, "but then I got to the rim and just ran out of talent."
"Ran out of talent," D'Antoni repeats. "Best line in the history of basketball."