Three goggles? Love ’em or hate ’em?

Kentucky player Doron Lamb flashes "three goggle" after hitting a 3-point shot.

Move over “jersey pop,” “John Wall dance” and the “Dougie,” make room for the latest self-promotion symbol in college and pro basketball, the “three goggle.”

Sports Illustrated writer Seth Davis, a Duke graduate who is also an in-studio analyst for CBS’ NCAA men’s college basketball coverage, notes his hatred for the “three goggles” in his latest Hoops Thoughts column. UK players including Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb often flash the sign after scoring a 3-point basket.

From Davis:

“Let me be clear: I hate the three goggles. I understand kids should be able to have fun while playing a game, but there’s a big difference between exuberance and showboating — and the three goggles gesture clearly falls into the latter category.“

The symbol is made by forming “goggles” with the traditional “A-OK” hand sign and then placing the “O” over both eyes while also simultaneously sticking three fingers into the air. Some players cover only one eye but the message is the same: Look what I just did!

According to The Wall Street Journal, the trend began in the NBA as a joke. Now it can been seen most any given night on basketball courts throughout the land. Some fans even fork over their hard-earned bucks to buy “three goggle t-shirts.”

Recently Kentucky Coach John Calipari went on record as being “all for three goggles.”

Whether you view it as showboating or consider it simply much ado about nothing, like most fads, the three goggle phenomenon will eventually fade away, replaced by the next self-aggrandizing gesture–which is also destined to delight most fans and infuriate select sportswriters.

 

 

Losing to Kentucky in football… The bottom of the beer barrel?

The Web site Vols in the Fall‘s reaction to Saturday’s Kentucky victory over Tennessee at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington was to sum it up as “the bottom of the beer barrel” for Tennessee. Clearly, on the morning after the biggest win in Kentucky Football history in many years, UT fans aren’t feeling very Big Orange. They’re seeing red and feeling blue!

News Sentinel Photo/Amy Smotherman Burgess.