Parachutist Claims He Didn’t Know He Was Landing Right in the Middle of a Soccer Game

In Wednesday’s Hot Clicks: A soccer game in Italy is disrupted by an airborne intruder, the Raptors’ two biggest fans get rings and more.

Incoming!

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Mapei Stadium, home of Italian soccer team Sassuolo, was built with an extremely unusual feature to make sure fans can’t get out on the field. Ringing the entire pitch is a water-filled moat deep enough that you can catch fish in it. 

The defenses are impenetrable. But what if the invader comes not from the stands but from above?

Sunday’s game between Sassuolo and Inter Milan was delayed briefly because a man wearing a parachute glided down onto the field right as Romelu Lukaku prepared to take a penalty for Inter. The man was whisked off the field by security and the game was able to continue. 

Now we know a little bit more about the man and why he decided to land in a stadium full of more than 20,000 people. 

Italy’s ANSA news agency reported Tuesday that the man is a 36-year-old from Milan who took off from a nearby airport wearing a wingsuit. Police have begun pursuing charges against the man for violating Italy’s law against creating danger at sporting events. 

The man claims he experienced a minor problem while in the air and had no idea the patch of green he saw below him was a full stadium hosting a game in the nation’s highest soccer league. 

I’m no expert on jumping out of plans but I don’t think I believe him. The stadium is on the outskirts of town and surrounded by areas of farmland far bigger than the 23,000-square-foot soccer field. 

He went right to the showers but didn’t even work up a sweat

A goalkeeper in Turkey set a record for the fastest red card in league history on Monday when he caught the ball outside the box for no reason whatsoever. Thirteen seconds is all it took. If I didn’t know better I’d say he was trying to get sent off. 

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Around the sports world

Oklahoma’s “Sooner Schooner” is out of commission for the rest of the season after crashing last weekend. ... A Michigan college student is going to be the bloomin’ onion mascot at the Outback Bowl after tweeting incessantly at Outback Steakhouse. ... An MMA fighter in Russia who gave himself freakish Popeye-like biceps with sketchy drug injections lost a fight in embarrassing fashion.

Looks like they’re back to using the juiced ball in the World Series

Shaq isn’t afraid to support Morey

Shaq on Daryl Morey/China "One of our best values here in America is free speech we're allowed to say what we want to say and we are allowed to speak out on injustices and that's just how it goes. and if people don't understand that that's something they have to deal with. pic.twitter.com/vefcHSPlMD

— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) October 22, 2019

Drake got a championship ring

The Raptors’ cooler superfan got one too

I don’t know how to put this in words. Thank you to the greatest organization in sports for how much they care about their fans. I accept this championship ring on behalf of every @Raptors fan across the globe. Words do not express what this means to me. pic.twitter.com/iA5VE10V1K

— Nav Bhatia Superfan (@superfan_nav) October 23, 2019

Is that Black Panther or Ant Man?

get the man a phonebook pic.twitter.com/zgP6x3cZgv

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 23, 2019

Always let the gator play through

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Kawhi is a Terminator

Not sports

Tourists are flocking to the set of stairs in the Bronx from Joker and locals are not happy. ... Scientists are shocked by a species of monkey in Malaysia that eats rats. ... An England man lost the wedding ring his wife hand-made while swimming in the ocean but it was found thanks to a fish. ... America is sitting on a stockpile of 40 million pounds of bacon. 

Just looking at this makes my palms sweat

Living on the edge: Fishermen float close to ‘plughole’ on a reservoir in England pic.twitter.com/cfcME3dt1c

— Reuters (@Reuters) October 22, 2019

Down goes Barney!

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.