--- title: Jimmy Kimmel Sets Rules for Basketball Game Against Ted Cruz description: Jimmy Kimmel and Sen. Ted Cruz will go one-on-one on the basketball court on June 16 in Houston canonical: https://time.com/5303018/jimmy-kimmel-ted-cruz-basketball-rules/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-07T15:28:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:53:15.659Z og:title: Jimmy Kimmel Sets Rules for Basketball Game Against Ted Cruz og:description: Kimmel and Cruz will play one-on-one on June 16 in Houston og:url: https://time.com/5303018/jimmy-kimmel-ted-cruz-basketball-rules/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62d9b4ed9bbc1d75/69893287929fad0564bf0c91/jimmykimmelontedcruzbasketballgame.jpeg?branch=production&width=1106&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1106 og:image:height: 622 og:image:alt: JimmyKimmelonTedCruzBasketballGame og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jimmy Kimmel Sets Rules for Basketball Game Against Ted Cruz twitter:description: Kimmel and Cruz will play one-on-one on June 16 in Houston twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62d9b4ed9bbc1d75/69893287929fad0564bf0c91/jimmykimmelontedcruzbasketballgame.jpeg?branch=production&width=1106&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jimmy Kimmel Has Some Hilarious Ground Rules for His Basketball Game Against Ted Cruz > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=97974357-8fc0-4fe1-83f1-b8df7d0e40b5&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 7, 2018 3:28 PM UTC  by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 7, 2018 3:28 PM UTC As Jimmy Kimmel’s and Sen. Ted Cruz’s one-on-one [basketball challenge](http://time.com/5298457/jimmy-kimmel-ted-cruz-basketball/) is creeping closer to being a reality, Kimmel laid out a few ground rules for the face-off and Cruz had better avoid making any _Simpsons_ references if he hopes to win. While Kimmel originally said the game would only take place if Cruz wore short shorts from the 1980s—a condition Cruz passed on—the game is still going forward. Kimmel’s proposed ground rules include “no kisses longer than 12 seconds,” “at no point during play will Ted be able to transform into a cloud of bats,” the senator will not be able to get help from “soldiers in his goblin army,” and every time he uses a line from _The Simpsons_, Cruz loses a point. If you haven’t been closely following this unfolding drama, it all began when [Kimmel said Cruz](http://time.com/5301289/jimmy-kimmel-ted-cruz-basketball-2/) looked “like a blobfish” when he sat courtside at Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Republican senator’s local favorites, the Houston Rockets. (“In fairness to me, he looks just like one,” Kimmel said, later.) Cruz took to Twitter to challenge Kimmel in a game of one-on-one with the loser of the game being required to donate $5,000 to a charity of the winner’s choice, which could be a hard pill to swallow considering the opponents’ diametrically different political beliefs. While Cruz played varsity basketball in high school—while Kimmel played clarinet—the late night talk show host seems confident he can win, claiming: “Ted man walking.” The game is set to take place June 16 in Houston. > [](https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1002011542177579008) > [](https://twitter.com/jimmykimmel/status/1003973229231333376) Watch the full video below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5303018/jimmy-kimmel-ted-cruz-basketball-rules/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5303018/jimmy-kimmel-ted-cruz-basketball-rules/"},"headline":"Jimmy Kimmel Has Some Hilarious Ground Rules for His Basketball Game Against Ted Cruz","datePublished":"2018-06-07T15:28:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:53:15.659Z","description":"Jimmy Kimmel and Sen. 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