During a game thread over at CougCenter, a few intrepid commenters noticed Arizona forward Kyryl Natyazhko making some kind of weird motion on the bench during the Wildcats' blowout win over Duke. Arizona took it to the Blue Devils in the Sweet 16 and it appeared Natyazhko was blowing off a bit of steam by celebrating in a unique way. Upon closer inspection, it dawned on me: Natyazhko was doing "The Bernie."
Check out the gif below. Click it for a bigger, better view (via Yaaaardsma at CougCenter).
Look closely: Natyazhko leans his head back, lets his body hang limp and flails his arms around. In other words, he does "The Bernie" from Weekend at Bernie's. For another explanation, see this music video that may or may not be safe for work -- no bad words, but it's a rap song that explains The Bernie.
Yes, that's a 6-foot-11 basketball player doing Bernie's dance at the most amazing time possible.
Among everything else in that game -- Derrick Williams' dunks, Duke schadenfreude, Pac-10 pride -- Natyazhko's Bernie elicits the biggest cackle from me. Never did I expect to see a goofy Ukrainian center, whose name is the hardest thing I've had to spell, do the Bernie on national television.
Just another reason Thursday night's Arizona win was awesome.