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Jimmy Kimmel responds to Ted Cruz's challenge to game of one-on-one basketball

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After late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made fun of Texas Sen. Cruz’s appearance at Game 7 of the Rockets-Warriors series in Houston on Sunday, Cruz responded by challenging him to a game of one-on-one basketball.

The host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” said on his show Tuesday that Cruz looked like a “blobfish” in the photo Cruz tweeted from courtside.

“Can you be embarrassed by a picture of someone else’s dad? Because I am,” Kimmel said, according to The Hill. “When Ted arrived at the Toyota Center, some of the fans mistakenly thought it was Grandpa Munster Bobblehead Night. I mean, look at him. He looks, and I’m not joking here, he looks like a blobfish.”

Cruz heard about the jab and responded via Twitter with a challenge.

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“All right, Big Guy…you talk a good game. You besmirched my support for the @HoustonRockets. So let’s settle this man-to-man: one-on-one, hoops (or ‘ring-ball,’ if you prefer). The loser gives $5k to the (non-political) charity of the winner’s choice,” Cruz tweeted on Wednesday.

The reference to “ring ball” is a joke about himself as Cruz, at a campaign stop in Indiana during his 2016 presidential campaign, referred to a basketball hoop as a basketball “ring” while stumping at the Hoosier Gym Community Center in Knightstown.

Kimmel tweeted back that he was in, with one condition.

Cruz shot back: “As Borat demonstrated conclusively, NOBODY wants to see that. And ABC would probably be fined by the FCC! How ‘bout this: you dress yourself, I’ll do the same. Play to 10 (by ones), win by 2.”

Then he wrote, “you can wear a kilt if you like,” accompanied by a Simpsons reference.

Eventually, Cruz tweeted, “Never mind the dress code. We can play to 10, or 21, or 50, your choice. @adamcarolla can provide color commentary.”

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Ultimately, Kimmel accepted the challenge.

Do you think Ted Cruz could beat Jimmy Kimmel one-on-one?

“If he wants to do it, I feel like I have to do it, right?” Kimmel said on his show. “Besides, who needs to watch LeBron and Kevin Durant again when we can instead focus on two out of shape white men in their 50s with little to no athletic ability instead? So yes, Ted Cruz, I do accept your challenge. I will play you one-on-one.”

Cruz reportedly organizes basketball games among senators, so he may not be that bad.

“Cruz is said to be a surprisingly good jump-shooter with miserable form,” Politico‘s Tim Alberta wrote in January.

When Deadspin asked for proof of Cruz playing basketball, Cruz jokingly tweeted a picture of Duke’s Grayson Allen shooting.

As for the game with Kimmel, it remains to be seen when it will actually be played.

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Dave is a lifelong sports fan who has been writing for The Wildcard since 2017. He has been a writer for more than 20 years for a variety of publications.
Dave has been writing about sports for The Wildcard since 2017. He's been a reporter and editor for over 20 years, covering everything from sports to financial news. In addition to writing for The Wildcard, Dave has covered mutual funds for Pensions and Investments, meetings and conventions, money market funds, personal finance, associations, and he currently covers financial regulations and the energy sector for Macallan Communications. He has won awards for both news and sports reporting.
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