Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is fond of quoting movies, and he re-enacted an entire scene from the 1986 sports drama “Hoosiers” Tuesday evening during a campaign event in Indiana.
“Well, as you all know, we’re here on the Hickory basketball court,” the Texas lawmaker said during an address in Knightstown, Ind.
He then addressed a campaign organizer who was standing on a ladder set up beneath one of the court’s baskets.
“Do you have a tape measurer with you?” Cruz asked. “Tell me something: How tall is that basketball rim? Ten feet. You know, the amazing thing is that basketball ring here in Indiana — it’s the same height as it is in New York City and every other place in this country.”
“And there is nothing that Hoosiers cannot do,” he added.
Many online commentators noted immediately that Cruz had referred incorrectly to the basketball “rim” as a “ring” (he owned up to the “flub” later the next morning).
Cruz’s remarks Tuesday evening are an almost word-for-word reading from a scene in “Hoosiers.”
In that scene, the film’s main character, Coach Norman Dale, reassures the Hickory High School basketball team that the away court they’re about to play on for the state championship is the exact same size as the one back home.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misquoted Cruz’s recitation. The Washington Examiner regrets the error.
