Flip Your Way To Internet Stardom

Dashiell Bennett|published: Tue 23rd June, 16:05 2009

The biggest YouTube hits of the week are a minor league baseball player and an eighth-grader—a.k.a., two people with a lot of time on their hands—doing tricks that will probably make you think, "I can do that!"

The first is the " bat trick" of Long Beach Armada outfielder Josh Womack doing ... something ... with his bat. The odd thing about this one is that it's been online for over a month and there's a different video of him doing the same thing from over a year ago, yet this week is when it somehow decided to take off. That's the internet for you. Perhaps, it's the cameo appearance by Jose Lima that puts this one over the top?

The other is from an eight-grader named Aaron Shutway, who does a complete forward flip with a basketball over his head, chucks the basketball three-quarters of the way down the court, and hits nothing but net. When I was about that same age, my friend Tim and I spent a whole afternoon practicing full-court shots in our school gym and I know we must have actually made one or two crazy shot, but we did not have a video camera. We also did not have girlfriends.

As with any great accomplishment of the YouTube age, there are doubters. Why does the basketball leave the view of the camera? What's up with the shadows at Womack's feet? How did everyone in the gym know to look up at precisely the right time? That has to be sped up ... or slowed down ... or required 55 takes. FAKE!!!

Or, getting back to my original thesis, can anyone do it? I feel like if I had more space in my living room—and maybe a wiffleball bat—I too could perfect Josh Womack's miracle swing. But I'm just a hater. Or jealous LOL! I need to find my own unique, yet useless talent and then I can be on the Today Show too! And maybe get a book deal! Or meet Miss California. (No, the original one.)

But I won't try anything that involves flipping myself or objects, because that's been done to death.

Aaron Shutway makes a crazy basket!!!! [YouTube] Josh Womack's crazy bat skills at Long Beach Armada 2009 Training Camp [YouTube]