Say what you want about Dwyane Wade’s statue. But that 8 foot bronze marvel of meme greatness has its practical uses. It was effectively demonstrated by the creative minds behind the Jumbotron at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium tonight. The Columbia Lions met the Yale Bulldogs in New York and in the clash of the Ivy League titans, the Lions went to interesting lengths. Their stunt not only won the game, but also the Internet.

Shortly before halftime, Yale had scored a touchdown and was in the lead by 6-3. Columbia needed a Hail Mary to save this. Someone came through and that person was not on the field.

As Yale lined up to take the extra point, the Jumbotron blared the viral image of Dwyane Wade’s Laurence Fishburne likeness statue. It was low. It was a distraction. It was genius.

It was also slightly ineffective. ESPN commentators covering this game in New York said, “The point after is good, there was no throwing off Nick Conforti [Yale’s kicker] with the Dwyane Wade statue on the Jumbotron.” It however distracted the commentators who went on a tangent about the “scary-looking picture.”

The commentators hailed the Yale’s young star’s “great focus.” They even joked Conforti had more focus than the sculptor had on D-Wade while making the statue.

But it may have thrown off the Bulldogs a bit. The Lions turned the tide to win 13-10 and broke the Bulldog’ four-game winning streak.

Dwyane Wade has found himself on the defensive foot over the high point of his storeyed career. Perhaps the Lions gave him the opportunity to demonstrate his statue’s utility.

Sculptor behind Dwyane Wade’s statue breaks his silence

It was supposed to be the high point of Wade’s 16-year career. Miami Heat wanted to give their 3x champion Hall-of-Famer a monument fit for his accomplishments. But it’s faced the same tragedy as Cristiano Ronaldo and a few others. The lack of resemblance between the statue and the real deal has given a week worth of punchlines and beyond.

After the NBA world – including Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal – and outside it commented, Dwyane Wade had defended the statue himself. Now even the sculptor spoke up.

“To the critics, there’s a lot that needs to be understood,” Oscar Leon of Rotblatt Amrany Studio told the media a week after the backlash. He explained that the facial features are off because of the tedious processes behind it, including adding a protective finish on the statue. “That does create a funny little side effect of being glossy in areas that we are not used to seeing when we look at somebody in the flesh.”

Despite being trolled and criticized, Leon was lighthearted saying the sculpting process created, “a little bit of, um, a misunderstanding to the eye.”

That misunderstanding to the eye contributed to the Lions’ win on Friday night. So that’s a win there.