By CLIFF BRUNT AP Sports Writer
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — 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.
They hype is largely about his height. And Charlotte is trying to take advantage.
Dictionary.com named the term “6-7” its word of the year for 2025, and the global “6-7” craze is still going strong at pro and college basketball games. Young fans, players and coaches eagerly track when teams near 67 points, and pandemonium ensues when their team hits the mark.
The Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans are among NBA teams that feature “6-7” cams during timeouts at some games. Seth Bennett, the Hornets’ chief marketing officer, said Charlotte’s marketing and game presentation teams started discussing a possible “6-7” cam to capitalize on the trend and Ball’s involvement in it.
“For us as a franchise, we always want to listen to our fans, and sometimes you listen to observing what they’re into, their trends and likes, and it’s a way for us to connect to that and hopefully have them connect to us in a fun way when they’re experiencing it here,” Bennett said.
The Hornets’ cam is mostly limited to kids days and weekend games so it doesn’t get old. Michael Robinson, who attended a game between the Hornets and 76ers with his 6-year-old son, Abel, said it’s nonstop at home.
Abel said he learned about it from his friends and on YouTube.
“It’s just cool,” Abel said. “It’s fun.”
The ‘6-7’ originator can’t believe its reach
The origins of the “6-7” boom are Skrilla’s 2024 song “Doot Doot (6-7).” 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.
No one is quite sure what 6-7 means, and Skrilla kept it that way when asked for a definition.
“Everybody created their own meaning,” he told The Associated Press. “The teachers created their own meaning. The football teams created their own, the basketball (players). ‘6-7’ is global. It’s bigger than me now. So ‘6-7.’ Shout out to ‘6-7.’”
The nonsensical meme has its own hand gesture, too — flip your palms up, and alternate lifting your arms. Charlotte forward Miles Bridges made the gesture several weeks ago after hitting a 3-pointer against the Indiana Pacers.
Bridges also is 6-foot-7.
“I think that’s the team’s 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’s a great sport about it as well,” Bennett said.
‘6-7’ is big on basketball courts everywhere
Fans have been on 67-point watch at games across the country. It seemed to bubble up first at women’s college games, including at Oklahoma. Now, fans there hold up signs handed out by the school.
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.
Oklahoma center Raegan Beers said the team enjoyed giving the fans that moment.
“That’s why I love this game (with the kids),” she said. “I know a lot of us love this game here, just to have that energy in the building, and obviously lean into what’s 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.”
Daniel Durbin, director of Southern California’s Annenberg Institute of Sports, Media and Society, attended USC’s women’s 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, the crowd erupted into what Durbin called the loudest cheer of the game.
Durbin said it falls under the long history of arbitrary sports traditions fans have created to feel more connected to the action.
“Think of all the superstitions fans have during games, rituals that they enact to ‘help’ the team win,” he said. “As 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 ‘luck.’”
Adults are doing it, too
Even the coaches are in on it. On Maryland’s annual Field Trip Day game, Terrapins coach Brenda Frese wore a jersey with the number 67 on it before tipoff. LSU women’s 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.
Mulkey said her grandson got upset with her after a game because LSU skipped 67 points and went straight to 68.
TCU’s women beat Baylor 83-67 on Feb. 12, and Olivia Miles scored 40 points and Marta Suarez scored 27 — a combined 67. With the two at his side in the postgame media session, Horned Frogs coach Mark Campbell got sucked in.
“For a duo, I’ve never been a part of a duo that scored 67 points in one game,” he said.
As Miles did the hand gesture and Suarez laughed, Campbell pointed at Miles and said, “That’s crazy. ‘6-7,’” as he added the hand gesture.
The trend has impacted the game on the court at times, too. After Maryland took a 64-18 lead against Central Connecticut State in December, the Terps attempted five straight 3-pointers before Yarden Garzon finally made one to give Maryland exactly 67 points.
The craze is perplexing to parents, but Bennett said the Hornets have embraced it to bring joy to young people.
“Overall, it’s been positive,” he said. “No way to make a negative out of something that’s just really nothing attached to it, just fun.”
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This story has been corrected to show that a quote about the Hornets embracing the 6-7 craze that was attributed to fan Michael Robinson came from Seth Bennett, the team’s chief marketing officer.
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AP Sports Writers Brett Martel in New Orleans and Steve Reed in Charlotte, North Carolina, contributed to this report.