Fox Sports Indiana
Friday’s Hot Clicks: Pacers Staffers Fail Miserably to Capture Bat on Court
The bats aren’t just in San Antonio
I guess if you’re a bat, the place to hang out in the winter is an NBA arena. Two consecutive Spurs games in San Antonio were disrupted last week after bats swooped down on the floor, and Thursday night we had a bat delay in the Pacers-Clippers game in Indianapolis.
The bat made its grand entrance in the middle of the first quarter and showed that the Pacers were woefully unprepared to deal with an invasion by a flying mammal. Various Pacers staffers attempted to dispatch the bat by wildly flailing at it with towels, to no avail. The bat circled the court for nearly four minutes before it receded high enough into the upper levels of the arena that the refs were comfortable getting the game going again.
But then the bat came back during the third quarter. This time a Pacers employee had a comically large net to trap it in, but the net proved too unwieldy for a capture.
Indianapolis Star photographer Matt Kryger captured some incredible shots of the chase, and of players attempting to defend themselves.
The other guy trying to kick the bat in that photo with Myles Turner is Bojan Bogdanovic, who said after the game that it was his favorite part of the 116–92 blowout win.
The lesson here is that the Spurs’ mascot should teach an annual seminar on how to capture a bat.
This was the weirdest story of yesterday
Apparently we’ve been spelling Zach Britton’s name wrong all these years. Baseball fans have known him as Zach since the Orioles drafted him in 2006, but it turns out his name is really Zack. It’s kind of like how Kendrys Morales was erroneously referred to as Kendry in his first five MLB seasons.
As the Associated Press points out, the Orioles wrote down “Zachary G. Britton” when they drafted him. But various government sources (voter registrations, auto registrations and the California Birth Index) identify him as either Zackary Grantantero Britton or Zackary Grant Antero Britton.
I’m glad we got that sorted out.
The best of SI
Tom Verducci’s obituary of Frank Robinson is predictably outstanding. ... Which NBA teams did the most to improve at the trade deadline? ... For the second year in a row, Florida State didn’t sign a quarterback. Is Willie Taggart in trouble?
Around the sports world
The Alliance of American Football, the new pro league kicking off this weekend (or, actually, not kicking off because the rules of the AAF eliminate kickoffs) has a rule that would have avoided the mess we saw in New Orleans a few weeks ago. ... MLB is renaming the disabled list the injured list, because of the implication that disabled people can’t participate in sports. ... Kyler Murray looks less likely to play baseball after reportedly deciding to attend the NFL combine.
Rondo. Buzzer-beater.
Incredibly, Rondo hit a nearly identical shot earlier in the afternoon while messing around on the court with his son.
LeBron had a lot of fun with the All-Star draft
Here’s the whole draft, if you’re curious
Let the umps have fun, too
Belichick was very concerned about the status of the roof
Reminder: Vince Carter is 42
Oh yeah, it was the rim’s fault for sure
Thoughts on these Lightning jerseys?
No arguing these are amazing
Not sports
An Italian man was arrested in Romania for posing as a plastic surgeon. ... A Georgia man is accused of stealing a golf cart, driving it with his pants off and pooping in its owner’s gargage. ... An injured cat found frozen in a Montana snowbank thawed out and is happy and healthy once again. ... A Canadian hacker treated themself to five days of fast food feasts by hacking a woman’s McDonald’s app. ... A Canadian man was not allowed to get an “Assman” vanity plate—even though his name is Assman.
Steve Buscemi finds out about his creepy Jennifer Lawrence video
The deadly race to the South Pole
What happens when the queen dies
A good song
Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.
