Ninh explains the Top 10 Strangest Moments in Sports
Sports are amazing. But sometimes, the strangest things can happen that nobody would ever see
coming. Before I get into it: subscribe to my channel
and click that notifications tab to see my new vids as and when they come out. Shameless
plug, I know. #1 Hitting birds. Randy Johnson, the Big Unit,
terrified the world of baseball for over two decades with his blistering pitch speed. He
could throw so hard and so fast that he can pluck birds out of the air … quite literally.
During a spring training game against San Francisco, Randy threw a fastball and an unlucky
dove flew in its path, killing it instantly in an explosion of feathers. And before any
PETA nut jobs start disliking the video … calm down, it was an accident, this isn’t classed
as animal abuse, no need to start a protest outside Randy Johnson’s house now.
#2 Shrinking the strike zone. Whilst we’re on the subject of baseball, some teams will
do anything to try and win. Including hiring midget players so that the opposing team can’t
strike them out. Meet Eddie Gaedel, all 3 foot 7 inches of him. In his only plate appearance
for the St Louis Browns in 1951 – he was instructed to not swing at any pitch. The
opposing pitcher couldn’t hit a strike zone so small and walked him on four consecutive
pitches. To add further insult to injury, he wore the number 1/8 to highlight his diminutive
size. It doesn’t end well for Eddie though, as he was followed home and beaten to death.
Lacking in height AND beaten to death … wow, what a crap deal.
#3 The Band is on the field. In American Football’s most infamous incident, a 1982 game between
California and Stanford, the California Golden Bears stunned the crowd with a last second,
lateral filled, almost impossible play to win the game. And for some reason, the marching
band had decided amongst themselves that the game was already over and promptly marched
onto the field … whilst the game was still going on! They got in the way of everyone,
including the California players who had to run around them and the Stanford players knocking
over people carrying trombones to try and tackle the ball carrier. I have no idea how
this play was allowed to stand, but it did. # 4 Being stabbed in the back. Monica Seles,
was the top female tennis player in the world – beating the likes of Steffi Graf on numerous
occasions. One of Steffi’s fans, took exception to that. In quarterfinal match in Hamburg
Germany, Gunter Parche ran up to Monica during the break and proceeding to stab her with
a boning knife between her shoulder blades. Obviously the dude was arrested and she was
taken to hospital. And even though it only took a few weeks to heal, Monica never played
competitively for another two years by which point her best performances were clearly behind
her. And what happened to her assailant? Virtually nothing. Gunter was deemed to be ‘psychologically
abnormal’ and escaped prison in favour of psychological treatment. Monica vowed never
to play in Germany again. Understandably. #5 Fan Man. During a heavyweight fight between
Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield, the fight was interrupted by someone who decided to
parachute into the ring attached to a giant fan. James Miller claimed that he landed accidentally
due to mechanical problems. But Evander Holyfield’s entourage didn’t care, as they proceeded
to beat the crap out of him, and plenty of fans, presumably all boxers themselves, did
the same. If you’re going to interrupt an event, don’t do it at a boxing match where
people know how to fight. Years later, James ended up killing himself. Boy there’s a
lot of deaths in this video so far. Congratulations, you’re halfway through
the video. Subscribe already! #6 Struck by lightning … mid game. Speaking
of deaths, how unlucky would it be if you got struck by lightning whilst playing your
favourite sport? That’s exactly what happened in a football match in 1998, where a bolt
of lightning struck the field and several players went down. Some suffered from burns,
others from shellshock. Nevertheless the match was abandoned and mass panic ensued trying
to get the injured players off the pitch, before Zeus decides to throw another bolt
from the heavens. Even though the video footage isn’t clear, you can actually see some of
the earth being dug up by the lighting right here.
#7 Chicken invasion. During a game between Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic, fans
protesting Blackburn’s owners (who are an Indian poultry company) decided to release
a chicken onto the field to show their disdain. This chicken stopped the match and was finally
caught by the opposing goalkeeper. I have two questions: 1) how on earth do you sneak
a live chicken into a football stadium and 2) do they actually make chicken sized Blackburn
Rovers uniforms? In any case, the chicken was awarded ‘man of the match’ because
Blackburn and Wigan’s players are awful. #8 Bat man. What happens when a bat comes
and invades your basketball game? That’s easy, just call Manu Ginobli. During a Spurs
game, a rogue bat was swatted out of the air and captured with Manu’s bare hands. This
earned him applause from the fans, a new nickname, the batman theme song being played everywhere
he went … and the anger of Peta nut jobs worldwide. Seriously guys, you should really
calm the hell down. Ironically, some bats carried rabies, and Manu had to have several
rabies jabs following the incident. #9 The end is nigh. The last thing you’d
expect to see at any motor race is someone running down the track. Try telling that to
Neil Horan – who ran on to the track at the 2003 British Grand Prix to tell everyone
that the world was ending, whilst wearing slogans from the bible. And he was only saved
by a race official who’d chased him down and pushed him off the track. Obviously he
was arrested, imprisoned and presumably kicked in the balls when no-one was looking. Rather
unsurprisingly, Neil used to be an Irish priest but was excommunicated due to his crazy behaviour.
Crazy behaviour … you don’t say?! 10) Beaten with your own shoe. Ice Hockey
is the most violent of team sports, so it pays not to anger the players. But after a
game between the Boston Bruins & New York Rangers ended on an ugly note, a fan managed
to reach over the glass, hit one of the opposing players and steal his stick. Maybe that fan
should have paid attention to my first point because the Bruins then proceeded to climb
into the stands to hunt him down. Other fans tried to sucker punch the Bruins, the Bruins
retaliated. Including Mike Milbury here, who famously stripped the shoe of a fan and proceeded
to beat him with it. This remains the greatest single highlight in Bruins history. Those
Stanley Cup victories are a distant 2nd. Honourable Mentions go to Nancy Kerrigan,
who had her leg broken by a rival’s husband, Monica Seles style. Evander Holyfield having
his ear bitten off by Mike Tyson during a fight. The malice in the palace, an ugly basketball
brawl that makes the Mike Milbury thing look tame.
And Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers mascot who’s the strangest, scariest and possibly
coolest mascot in all of sports. When he’s not terrorising you in your dreams, he’s
displaying typical Philadelphia style behaviour, shooting his own members of staff with a t-shirt
gun and getting into fist fights with little children. Best mascot ever.
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other strange stuff happen in sports? Comment on the comments section below.
Ninh Ly - www.ninh.co.uk - @NinhLyUK