Manu Ginobili is many things: versatile guard, lover of alfajores, and now you can add "bat swatter" to his growing list of roles. As the Spurs and Kings played on Halloween night, someone had the bright idea to release a live bat at the AT&T Center. The bat tried to dive into Kevin Martin on a breakaway layup, and later delayed the game by flying low around the court before fluttering by Ginobili. Bad move, bat. (Update: PETA Responds, Comparing Manu to Michael Vick. Seriously.)
An alert Ginobili tracked it and smacked the bat out of mid-air, then handed it off to arena staff as the crowd roared in applause. After getting a spray of hand sanitizer, the game proceeded as normal. Earlier in the game, the Spurs Coyote tried to corral the bat with a net, but all they really needed was Manu.
After the Spurs' victory, Ginobili had this to say: "I didn't think it was a big deal. Then the whole arena started chanting my name."
Added Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich: "He's never ceased to amaze me the years he's been here. ... He just did it again."
Curiously enough, Brett Pollakoff tried to snag some video of the Manu vs. bat showdown from the League Pass broadband DVR feature only to be denied by censorship. Hopefully no fines will be levied in the aftermath.
Update: On his Twitter page, Sam Amick of The Sacramento Bee provided this one-of-a-kind official Spurs injury report for the fallen bat.
Comments (Page 1 of 11)
cue the PETA people in 3, 2, 1...
M U R D E R !
That was too cool. Nice reflexs. I just hope it wasn't Batman.
You know it.
HAHA, I was thinking the same thing. PETA will release a statement shortly followed by a protest, I'm sure!
I know, they are SOOOO f*ckin corny!!! PETA, why not defend people?!?
Peta will be all over this. They love to find a reasons that animals shouldnt be harmed if they think there is no real reason for it. Other than that, nice hit!!! The bat isnt human so its death shouldnt be made into a big deal.
Bats aren't easy to swat so Manu must have some hellacious reflexes. Anyway,Manu, don't worry, they'll make more bats and Mexican freetails aren't on the endangered list.
The reason for the Bat promotion (a shame they don`t have major league baseball in San Antonio) is San Ann has the most Bats of anywhere in the US (if it was a publicty stunt, not just a stray bat which got in accidentally). Count Dracula and Bat-Man might love the place. At least Manu didn`t do his Ozzy Osbourne impression, and literally bite the poor critter`s head off.
Poor Emmanuel. Apparently, the Aol report is false, apparently he did NOT kill the poor little bat. So some folks are villifying him about as falsely as bats are villified. In South Amercia, where Manu comes from, there are bats which drink blood, like all over the world there are insects which drink blood. But most bats eat plants or insects, so don`t generally bite anything large. Even though rabies makes animals more likely to bite, Jay pointed out, 99% of rabid bites are from cute little doggies, not bats or racoons, and even if a bat were to bite a human, there is only a 1/2 % chance of it being rabid. Thank the media, not only for the false report the bat was killed, but the false image of bats as dangerous to people. The fictional Count Dracula didn`t just shape shift into a bat. He had a variety of powers, and could go out in daytime, not just night. The horror came from bypassing censors. Dracula and his three wives drank a different kind of life fluid than blood, but it was edited by Bram Stoker to be blood, to get past censors. It was no coincidence he only converted females into vampires. Dracula was from eastern Europe, not South America, where the vampire bats are. The fictional Bat-Man is a hero, who doesn`t shape shift, and flies by piloting his Bat-Plane, not on his own. As the the Peta gals, they are most known for being cute and stripping for ads. They could strip in private for me, I wouldn`t mind. They could hug my tree, too! It is no coincidence this bat was loosed inside the arena on Halloween, not some other night. Just a lying publicity stunt someone rigged, apparently.
Damn Giles, why don't you write a book. It is true that bats from the mutitude of bat caves in South Central Texas are docile and will USUALLY not bite, HOWEVER, they WILL bite if they are provoked. This bat was apparently knocked out, at least temporarily, after Manu swatted it: Otherwise it definitely would have bitten him when he picked it up!!!
Funny how the brother eeked and backed off like a little girl....Lmao.
Manu 1 bats 0
The situation could have been handled differently. There was no reason to kill the bat. Imagine the poor thing's terror of being released into that noisy, bright arena. And to applaud afterward! Sickening... Not a good example for all the children in the audience. Animals should be respected, whether it be a cute puppy or kitten, or a nuisance bat.
zballref, you know that bats aren't all blood sucking vampires right? That bat was probably harmless.
Rockbottom543: That bat was "probably" harmless. Ur right, it probably was. If it wasn't though, how can we find out? I know, let the poor creature alone and if it bites someone and gives them rabies we'll know.
So if a baseball player swats a mosquito to death, he should be vilified by the media? The culprit is the idiot who decided to release the bat. What do you want them to do? Delay the game for 3 hours while Animal Services are called in? It's a bat for godsake.
I agree with you! No reason to kill the bat and ESPECIALLY no reason to cheer for it.
Chelsea I agree with you 100% I do realize that they can carry diseases and bite sometimes but honestly I think someone could have just caught it and released it outside. Amazes me how so many people just have no respect for anything living, I mean you see how humans treat each other. Its pretty sad really
Chelsea; Run, don't walk, to the nearest psychoanalyst and ask him/her to help you understand your phallic cathexsis. Then, maybe you will be able to comprehend the difference between a human and a bat.