BASEketball
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BASEketball is a 1998 David Zucker comedy feature film starring South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, along with Dian Bachar, Robert Vaughn, Yasmine Bleeth, and Jenny McCarthy. The movie follows the history of the sport (created by Zucker years earlier) of the same name, from its invention by the lead characters as a game they could win against more athletic types, to its development as a nationwide league sport and a target of corporate sponsorship.
The film starts with the film's two protagonists — Joe "Coop" Cooper and Doug Remer — arriving uninvited at a party hosted by Brittany Kaiser, a high school classmate of theirs. During the party Coop and Remer find themselves outside on a driveway basketball court after they find their classmates have grown-up and moved on with their lives. There, they are challenged by a couple other party goers to a game for $50. Instead of playing that "pussy-ass 2-on-2 they play in the suburbs," they play a new game they picked up "in the hood." Clearly making this new game up as they go, Coop originally proposed Horse but changes it to basketball with baseball rules:
- A single is at the free-throw line
- A double is at the top of the key
- A triple is from behind the key
- A homerun is further back ("behind the meatballs" in the driveway)
- You can't shoot from the same place twice
- If you miss you get an out
During the challenger's first throw, Coop "psyches" him out to make him miss — a rule not explained previously. A "psyche out" can be anything said or done that makes the offense lose their concentration and miss their shot, such as Remer telling one of the other players he "fucked their sister". Physical contact with the shooter is assumed to be disallowed, though this was never explained in the rules. However, throughout the course of the film, defenders usually keep a few feet of distance between themselves and the shooters. However, on one occasion Remer fails to psyche out an opponent and resorts to beating his opponent to the ground with a board of wood. Though officials attempt to restrain him, he is not disqualified (nor is Coop, who also kicks the opponent while he is down)
After Coop and Remer win the game — perhaps because they were the ones who made up the rules as the game progressed — they realize they need to "stop playing games" so they can get jobs then they can get khakis then they can get chicks. They proceed to play "baseketball" in their own driveway which gathers a large crowd. During this time their friend Kenny Scolari (cruelly nicknamed "Squeak", though he soon begins to refer to himself only by this name) joins the team.
Other rules revealed during the rest of the film:
- A tip-in by the defense is a double play
- A failed tip-in by the defense can be attempted by another defense player for the double play
- A failed second defense tip-in can be attempted by an offensive player (a "conversion") and if they make it then the original shot is good
- If the offensive player misses then another offensive player can try for the conversion as well
- A "bunt" can be made from the orange circles. Although a bunt will not allow players on base it is a place you can shoot and not use one of the other nine areas to shoot from
- A homerun can be attempted indefinitely, and, like bunts, is not subject to the "you can't shoot from the same place twice" rule.
- Gay jokes are not allowed.
