Stacy Conradt
The Quick 10: 10 Times Critters Have Delayed Sporting Events
by Stacy Conradt - November 5, 2009 - 2:28 PM

q10

You’ve probably heard about the Spurs’ Manu Ginobili snatching a bat out of the midair with his bare hands at a game a couple of days ago – and if you haven’t, don’t worry, there’s video below. It’s certainly not the first time there’s been a creature distraction at a sporting event, although it might be the most impressive quick reaction to one (not necessarily smart, but definitely fast). Check out these 10 critter-related delay of games. And thanks to the fabulous Steven (MoroccoMole on Twitter if you’re looking for a fun new person to follow) for the Q10 idea!

1. Squirrel interrupts Cleveland/Chicago game. I found this and was like, “If I wanted to watch three minutes of an annoying squirrel, I’d go sit on my front porch.” And then I ended up watching the whole thing and laughed all of the way through it – the commentators are very dryly funny.

2. Seagull steals a golf ball. And then drops it in the water hazard. Whoops! So is that a stroke against the golfer or the bird?


3. As promised, Manu Ginobili catches a bat.

DOG4. Dog craps on field. The Greensboro Grasshoppers minor league baseball team have a dog as a mascot for some inexplicable reason. It usually works out OK, but when the dog made his usual between-innings appearance on the field, he decided he could no longer hold it and took a big dump right on the field. The ump then ejected him from the game (seriously).

5. Randy Johnson annihilates bird. Ever wonder what would happen if a bird was hit by a 95-mph fastball? Here you go:

6. Hawks’ mascot wants to be put in the game. The NBA’s Atlanta Hawks have a pre-game ritual of letting their Hawk mascot fly around for a second and impress the fans. Usually it does its thing and comes right back to the handler – but this time, he flew around the arena and settled on the backboard. The handler was eventually able to coax it back into its cage as the audience cheered.

7. Dog craps on court. Dog mishaps don’t just happen outside. During a Pistons/Magic halftime, a charity organization received a donation. While his owners were receiving the check, a seeing-eye dog decided to go #2 on the court. It took three minutes to clean up the mess, so the Pistons got an extra three minutes of warm up time.

8. Black cat on field in Chicago. It wasn’t Halloween, but it was probably still a bad omen when a black cat ran onto the Chicago White Sox field during the eighth inning of a 2002 game against the Texas Rangers.

ducks9. Ducks line up for Wimbledon. Technically this one didn’t delay the game, but it’s too cute to pass up: in 2007, a duck and her ducklings waddled across the court at Wimbledon about five minutes before a match was due to start. Awww.

10. Bear uses golf course as playground. During the Senior U.S. Open in Colorado last year, a bear hops on the course and begins frolicking around like it’s time for recess.

I know there are others – apparently a baboon once interrupted a golf tournament in Japan – so share your animal interruptions in the comments! Personal stories are welcome as well.

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Comments (14)

  1. I remember seeing a video of bird vs. pro tennis players. It didn’t end well for the bird, but one of the players stopped and prayed over it.

    posted by Julia on 11-5-2009 at 3:02 pm

  2. If you type in “Pigeon Stars for the Raiders” on YouTube, you can see a vid from the Oct. 18th game vs. the Eagles. It’s quite humorous!

    posted by sarah on 11-5-2009 at 3:50 pm

  3. I’m not certain where or when (within the past fifteen years or so), but I seem to recall a game was postponed when insects swarmed the lights. If I remember correctly, it was a stadium with a retractable roof (I want to say in Seattle?) and the game was postponed while the roof closed and the bulk of the bugs were shut out.

    During the delay, the stadium scoreboard showed a b/w animated cartoon — of bugs playing baseball!!

    -”BB”-

    posted by Bicycle Bill on 11-5-2009 at 3:50 pm

  4. Bicycle Bill,

    There was an occurance just like that I think a couple year ago I believe during a baseball game (playoffs) where Jaba Chamberlain of the Yankees was pitching through swarms of beetles.

    Another bat interference happened during a 70′s Stanley Cup match between the Flyers and Sabres. A player whacked it right out of the air with his stick and killed it instantly. Later during that very same game, a mysterious fog rolled in and blanketed the arena. The game went on and the Flyers lost. (that video can be found on youtube as well.)

    posted by Steven on 11-5-2009 at 4:04 pm

  5. Sarah – that pigeon thing is interesting too because the Raiders had a player die last year. One of the Raiders thought it was that former player ‘visiting’ as it flew down the field in the spot on the kickoff coverage team where that player used to play. Weird.

    posted by Scott on 11-5-2009 at 4:32 pm

  6. Gnats!!!

    Bicycle Bill- I remember that game quite well, and I’ve seen a few other instances of it too. They were definitely gnats, and there were millions (if not billions) of them.

    posted by ian on 11-5-2009 at 4:38 pm

  7. Just a month ago, the World Cup qualifier between the Mexico and El Salvador was halted after a swarm of bees came on the field near the El Salvador goal. They had to stop the game and spray the whole area to drive them away.

    Sadly, the only video I could find just shows the spraying, not the bit beforehand:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiRa3Kpvm-8

    posted by Megan on 11-5-2009 at 4:58 pm

  8. The dogs at the Greensboro Grasshoppers’ games are so much fun! The sister of the offender in #4 is the “bat girl” for certain innings. I look forward to going to games much more because of them! :)

    posted by Lesley on 11-5-2009 at 5:13 pm

  9. A Kangaroo vs V8 Racing Car at Bathurst Australia: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=372_1191660655

    posted by Mara Jade on 11-5-2009 at 6:47 pm

  10. Here’s a fanciful account of the Randy Johnson incident, written from the bird’s point of view.

    http://www.flipflopflyin.com/flipflopflyball/info-randy.html

    posted by mjm on 11-5-2009 at 7:47 pm

  11. There was an incident at a baseball game in Toronto at Skydome where Dave Winfield threw a ball in from the outfield and it hit a seagull in flight. He was arrested under Canadian animal cruelty laws.

    posted by PartiallyDeflected on 11-5-2009 at 8:39 pm

  12. Partially Deflected – I don’t think he was arrested, I believe it was just a fine. That’s the first one that came to mind for me though.

    posted by Bert on 11-6-2009 at 9:49 am

  13. Back in 2000, USC was playing Oregon State in Corvallis, OR and a possum ran onto the field and scored a touchdown!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj4Xtsgm1_0

    posted by Emil on 11-6-2009 at 1:40 pm

  14. I remember having been shown a video of some racecar driver hitting a large bird which came through the windshield and hit the back window. Can’t remember any more details than that – does that sound familiar to anyone else? I’m sure that would have caused a delay…

    posted by ab on 11-6-2009 at 4:10 pm

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