A new arena couldn’t come soon enough for the Sacramento Kings. A bat flew loose around Sleep Train Arena before tonight’s match-up between the Kings and New Orleans Pelicans.
How the bat got into the arena is anyone’s guess, but it caused quite a stir among players, coaches, fans and even media like me just trying to capture the footage. The bat flew low enough to the ground to cause Rudy Gay, Travis Outlaw and Derrick Williams to run off the court during their pregame warmups.
After multiple failed attempts to capture the bat using towels and other means, it was finally caught by John DeGrace, Senior Manager of Facility Maintenance at Sleep Train Arena, who used a net to stop the bat in its tracks. To celebrate its capture, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson took and tweeted the following picture of the bat in the net.
This is the second time a bat has caused a nuisance at a Kings game. A bat flew wild in San Antonio five years ago during a match-up between the Kings and Spurs on Halloween. You can watch pregame bat incident in the video down below. (Warning: you may wind up chuckling at my play-by-play of the ordeal.)
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-r8Ufjr-t0&w=560&h=315]Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
