NORMAN, Okla. \u2013 LaMelo Ball has never been more popular, and it’s not because Charlotte’s 6-foot-7 star has the Hornets fighting for a playoff spot.<\/p>\n
They hype is largely about his height. And Charlotte is trying to take advantage.<\/p>\n
Dictionary.com named the term \u201c6-7\u201d its word of the year<\/a> for 2025, and the global \u201c6-7\u201d craze is still going strong at pro and college basketball games. Young fans<\/a>, players and coaches eagerly track when teams near 67 points, and pandemonium ensues when their team hits the mark. <\/p>\n The Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans are among NBA teams that feature \u201c6-7\u201d cams during timeouts at some games. Seth Bennett, the Hornets\u2019 chief marketing officer, said Charlotte\u2019s marketing and game presentation teams started discussing a possible \u201c6-7\u201d cam to capitalize on the trend and Ball\u2019s involvement in it.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us as a franchise, we always want to listen to our fans, and sometimes you listen to observing what they\u2019re into, their trends and likes, and it\u2019s a way for us to connect to that and hopefully have them connect to us in a fun way when they\u2019re experiencing it here,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n The Hornets\u2019 cam is mostly limited to kids days and weekend games so it doesn\u2019t get old. Michael Robinson, who attended a game between the Hornets and 76ers with his 6-year-old son, Abel, said it\u2019s non-stop at home. <\/p>\n Abel said he learned about it from his friends and on YouTube.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just cool,\u201d Abel said. \u201cIt\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u20186-7\u2019 originator can’t believe its reach<\/p>\n The origins of the \u201c6-7\u201d boom are Skrilla’s 2024 song \u201cDoot Doot (6-7).\u201d Skrilla leaked the song without much expectation, but it exploded on TikTok last year with basketball players, including Ball and prep standout Taylen Kinney, driving its popularity. <\/p>\n No one is quite sure what 6-7 means, and Skrilla kept it that way when asked for a definition.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody created their own meaning,\u201d he told The Associated Press. \u201cThe teachers created their own meaning. The football teams created their own, the basketball (players). \u20186-7\u2019 is global. It\u2019s bigger than me now. So \u20186-7.\u2019 Shout out to \u20186-7.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The nonsensical meme has its own hand gesture, too \u2014 flip your palms up, and alternate lifting your arms. Charlotte forward Miles Bridges hit the gesture several weeks ago after making a 3-pointer against the Indiana Pacers. <\/p>\n Bridges also is 6-foot-7.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s the team\u2019s way of having a little fun with LaMelo anytime that they can kind of incorporate that in just to tease him a little bit, and he\u2019s a great sport about it as well,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n \u20186-7\u2019 is big on basketball courts everywhere<\/p>\n Fans have been on 67-point watch at games across the country. It seemed to bubble up first at women’s college games<\/a>, including at Oklahoma. Now, fans there hold up signs handed out by the school.<\/p>\n On Dec. 22, the Sooners led North Carolina Central 64-29 in the closing seconds of the first half. When Aaliyah Chavez drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer, fans went wild.<\/p>\n Oklahoma center Raegan Beers said the team enjoyed giving the fans that moment.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I love this game (with the kids),\u201d she said. \u201cI know a lot of us love this game here, just to have that energy in the building, and obviously lean into what\u2019s is trending at the moment, which is 6-7, whatever that means. And so it was so much fun to have that moment and just let the kids enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel Durbin, director of Southern California\u2019s Annenberg Institute of Sports, Media and Society, attended USC\u2019s women\u2019s basketball game against Rutgers on Feb. 1 and witnessed the phenomenon first hand. He noted that the DJ even announced the possibility. The Trojans missed two free throws at 66, building the anticipation. When Yakiya Milton made a free throw that pushed the score to 67<\/a>, the crowd erupted into what Durbin called the loudest cheer of the game.<\/p>\n Durbin said it falls under the long history of arbitrary sports traditions fans have created to feel more connected to the action.<\/p>\n \u201cThink of all the superstitions fans have during games, rituals that they enact to \u2018help\u2019 the team win,\u201d he said. \u201cAs fans walk across the street to USC football games, most of them kick the base of a certain lamppost. Why? It makes them part of the game. They are enacting a meaningless ritual many USC fans perform for \u2018luck.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Adults are doing it, too<\/p>\n Even the coaches are in on it. On Maryland\u2019s annual Field Trip Day game, Terrapins coach Brenda Frese wore a jersey<\/a> with the number 67 on it before tip-off. LSU women\u2019s basketball coach Kim Mulkey did the hand gesture while on the big screen during a win over Morgan State, drawing an eruption from the home crowd and laughter from her players.<\/p>\n Mulkey said her grandson got upset with her after a game because LSU skipped 67 points<\/a> and went straight to 68.<\/p>\n