Reply With Quote
Not bad mcdonald. rgood read and good information
Bat makes Ginobili a Web hit
Jeff McDonald
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.
Not bad mcdonald. rgood read and good information
I don't think what Manu did was all that unusual - he just applied the technique used to swat a fly to a bat. The unusual thing is that he got it on his first or second swipe!
first swipe. and no, it's not a big deal
A lot of quotes the reporters seem to be getting now are from Twitter. I like that they're just crediting it directly as what the player "said" and not "[XYZ] posted on his Twitter account last night, 'blah blah blah cu l8tr'"
How amazing the bat thing was, it's pretty sad that writers such as McDonald can't find anything else to write about. What McDonald does, thousands of bball fans can as well. If you cover stories based on twitter, Spurstalk and other nba sources from ESPN through yahoo, without giving any extra spurs information, inside news then that's pretty sad if u ask me.
I am glad people are still talking about the bat swatting.
I thought the whole thing was awesome and so fun for Halloween!
I have never laughed so hard and long at a basketball game before.
yankees should sign him....
I uploaded one of the videos to FailBlog.org (as a Manu Ginobili WIN). We'll see what happens.
I just realized, AT&T people must be really happy. They should pay Manu some extra money or something.
Manu "batman" Ginobili
manu's new nickname.
Awesome. Didjoo make that, too, jal?
No Fpoonsie, it is not mine!
I'm still going to be laughing about this when I am 75 years old and when I do, I will be thanking the heavens I got to see the great Manu Ginobili play.
I put the newspaper article clipping in my Spurs scrapbook.
See why Manu had to do it!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgretch...89/?likes_hd=1
awesome find Jal!
LMAO Theo's attempt to kill the bat
I was on Huffington Post the other day and the piece on Manu had well over 100 responses. LOL, even the PETA whackos chimed in
Manu Ginobili and the little things
By Henry Abbott
If you have an internet connection (and I know you do) then you have undoubtedly already seen the amazing Manu Ginobili defending innocent NBA games from evil Halloween bat assaults.
It's a great thing. I mean, honestly, have you ever been in an enclosed space with a bat? Did you bare-hand it out of the sky? Did it even occur to you to try? We live in a world that addresses that by opening the window and leaving the house. Or pillow cases and lacrosse sticks and all that. But just snagging it? That's what Kobe Bryant was talking about in "Kobe Doin' Work." When Manu appeared on the screen, Bryant says, with meaning, "that's a bad boy right there."
Watch again, and this time look at Kevin Martin, raising his arms in self defense. That's what any normal human would do.
There are three parts of that video that I feel are especially important:
* Ginobili lulls the bat into a false sense of security by pretending to scratch an itch on his neck. (In fact, that's a total lie. He had no idea where that bat was. Then he reacts and pounces before the bat could fully exit the range of his arms. On his first try. Not even cats can do that. Somewhere in there is why he's in the NBA and you -- and your cat -- are not.)
* After hitting it, it's down. Stunned, or dead, depending whom you ask. But it's lying there on the court. I'm thinking a lot of people, at this point, would appeal for help, literally not wanting to get their hands dirty. Not Manu. He's over there to finish the job. No hesitation. Picks the little potential-rabies-carrier up, grins, and celebrates. He's no neat freak. (Side note: In May 2008, there was a mouse in Manu Ginobili's laundry in the Spurs' locker room. At the time Mike Monroe quoted Ginobili on MySanAntonio.com saying "I guess I’ve got to do laundry more often.")
* The hand sanitizer. Honestly, that's what I'd buy stock in these days. For one thing, it's riding a tidal wave of swine flu-induced popularity. But that's not enough. "After saving the whole town from invasion, and with little regard for my own safety," they could have Ginobili saying in the commercial, "just a couple of squirts and I'm on my way, germ-free."
It's Crazy how it hit world wide, oh and that's my vid that got the big hit on youtube just to let yah know : )
www.youtube.com/undergroundfame
Can't wait for the start of next season, Spurs seem to make big news on the first week.
Start of 08-09 season
First week of 09-10 season
10-11 season
?????????????
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
