Posted on 11/02/2009 7:18:19 AM PST by laotzu
By now, the video has flown around the world, which is more than can be said of one of its stars. The bat that Spurs guard Manu Ginobili swatted from midair during Saturday's game at the AT&T Center won't be flying very far anytime soon.
The supposed snuff film, however, lives on.
Yahoo.com's NBA blog had the video up within minutes. Web surfers from Buenos Aires to Beijing have downloaded the clip on YouTube. Ginobili's random act of pest control was the talk of the national highlight shows.
“When you can't dunk anymore, you've got to find some way to make it to the news,” Ginobili said.
In a bizarre turn of events, Ginobili — one of the NBA's top trick-shot artists — has re-emerged as an Internet sensation, not for his basketball chops, but for his extermination skills.
Ginobili, of course, didn't go all Chuck Norris on the rogue bat because he thought it would make good film at 11. He just wanted to play basketball.
The Halloween night game against Sacramento had already been bat-delayed once in the first quarter. When the animal swooped in again, nearly recording a block of Kings guard Kevin Martin, Ginobili figured something had to be done.
Using his left hand as a tennis racket, Ginobili batted the bat from its flight pattern, then picked up the wounded animal and handed it to an arena worker for disposal.
Perhaps bracing for the inevitable PETA protest, Ginobili swears he didn't mean to kill the bat, and doesn't think he did. He said afterward the bat was still moving when he scooped it up.
“I just stunned him,” Ginobili said.
Reports conflict as to the ultimate fate of the bat. Saturday night, multiple arena sources confirmed the animal's demise. Sunday afternoon, team officials reported the bat had actually recovered and flown away.
Whatever its fate, Ginobili's teammates left the AT&T Center on Saturday shaking their heads once more at what Ginobili had done.
“Unbelievable,” Tony Parker said. “The thing is, he hit it. He's good at interceptions and stuff. But then he grabs it and puts it in the garbage.”
Parker shook his head. “He always does crazy stuff.”
It wasn't the first time some Spurs players had seen a bat behaving badly during a basketball game. Roger Mason Jr. recalls a bat interrupting a pickup game in Las Vegas this summer.
“You had these big, tough guys, like Chauncey Billups and Rudy Gay, running for cover,” Mason said. “And then there's Manu, swatting it like it was a fly.”
As it is with every great legend, there are skeptics. Without exactly calling the incident a hoax — without accusing Ginobili of being some kind of bat-battering Balloon Boy — a few Spurs players wondered if the whole thing were some sort of fan-generated setup.
“I have a feeling that bat didn't actually get into the arena on Halloween by itself,” Richard Jefferson said.
Others figured it was some sort of promotional stunt put on by the team (it wasn't).
“Well, The Coyote was dressed as Batman,” Matt Bonner said. “I guess it was just a coincidence.”
The way Ginobili sees it, he was just auditioning for a post-basketball career. He's 32 years old. The NBA won't be an option forever. It's time for him to start considering his future.
“I'm going to be retiring soon,” Ginobili said. “If anybody has a pest problem ...”
Manu's Pest Control?
In cyberspace today, streaming on laptops from San Antonio to Saigon, are the makings of a pretty good first commercial.
Play stopped again after that, and something out of a bad Hollywood camping movie broke out. Referee Courtney Kirkland grabbed a towel to try to wrestle the bat. Another official asked, improbably, for a net. Sacramento coach Paul Westphal grabbed his clipboard.
Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair simply scurried away as if his hair was on fire.
Over on the Spurs bench, they knew what was about to happen.
“If that thing gets anywhere next to Manu,” one veteran Spurs player told the person next to him, “he's swatting it out of the air.”
Seconds later, before anyone else could blink, that's what happened.
“I guess in Argentina, bat hunting is part of everyday life,” Kings center Spencer Hawes said. “Somebody had to do it, and it wasn't going to be me.”
Ginobili seemed unfazed by the flying pest.
“It's just a mouse with wings,” he said.
What a strange thing!
We take a ball of aluminum foil out in the street in the evening and throw it up in the air...the bats fly all around it, all the way down to the ground! Curious about what it is, I guess?
Maybe that is what this bat was doing? Seeing what the ball was?
The vision of bats are not very good. They depend on the sonar for their flight. Apparently Manu disrupted the sonar system with his hand swat.
That was good!
As Charles would say “GINOBLI!” He has mad skills an plays for the classiest team in the NBA by miles.
I get a kick out of bats...we have one of those blue bubble-like swimming pools and if we sit in it in the evening, the bats will swoop right down in front of us and drink out of the pool!
an = and...
You forgot to post the link. Here it is for those who want to see it :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT-F5QznjrA
Ginobilli is now in trouble with PETA.
The bat is pinin' for the fjords.
Not bad for an Argentinian.
Awwww. That poor little critter must’ve been terrified.
Damn it!! That was the whole point of posting it. Thanks.
I'll have to remember that one for next year.
One hot summer night when bats were flying around, we threw tennis balls straight up as high as we could, and the bats would swoop in and hit the balls. I guess their radar couldn’t tell the difference between a tennis ball and their normal targets.
“AWESOME! GIGANTIC bug!!”
*tump*
That’s what we do! Except with aluminum foil balls. A neighbor down the street said she did it when she was growing up (her parents also live on our street). We tried it and sure enough!
If your experience was like ours, it would take a few throws to get their attention.
I think I’ll try the tennis balls next year...the aluminum foil was a bit light and hard to throw straight up.
Although that game didn't take place around Halloween, it took on a spooky character later, as seen in the video...
Wow! Very cool!
Especially the part where the Flyers lost!! ;^)
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