What Are the Odds?

So I'm walking past Romeo's room (my son) with a cup of water in my hand. He's in there with a nerf basketball taking half court shots from the far corner when a rebound kicks out to me. I toss it back to him and call for an alley-oop.

For any imaginary readers who are not familiar with the term, an "alley oop" is a pass over the rim where your teammate (me in this example) catches the pass and dunks the ball in one fluid motion. I think the rule is, if you can do this in High School, you get to take a cheerleader to the prom.

Anyway, I'm standing near the basket, cup of water in my left hand and my right hand raised up near the rim, ready for the slam (and the cheering imaginary crowds). To execute this play, Romeo would need to slightly overshoot the hoop, ensuring that the ball would reach me on the far side of rim. However, he uncorked a floating shot, with perfect arch and backspin, that swished through the hoop while barely touching the flimsy net. I never touched it.

Thereafter, the ball dropped directly down and lodged into my cup of water. Long odds, for sure.

Landing in my cup was highly unlikely given that the diameter of the spongy ball was greater than the diameter of my cup and anything but the perfect shot would have bounced out. But there is more to this story...

Naturally, I was not about to walk away following a failed alley-oop, so I kicked the ball back out to half court and called the play again. However, this time, I reached my left hand out into the hallway, around the corner, to prevent any accidental water spilling if a similar result were to occur.  I also initiated a vocal countdown of the play-clock "3...2...1..." to add some drama to the situation and give the imaginary crowd more joy when we undoubtedly triumphed.

Romeo, ever tuned in to the play clock, gathered my pass and hastily jacked up an off-balance attempt. It was offline and I had to reach to the right to get a hand on it. Alas, it was a little out of my range and the most I could do was deflect it. Which I did. Right into the hallway. Around the corner. Into my cup.

Two for two. And I never spilled a drop...