Amid Victor Wembanyama’s Disgust, Manu Ginobili Knocking Down a Loose Bat in the Stadium Resurfaces

The Frost Bank Arena, home to the San Antonio Spurs, is seeing an annual tradition of bats flying into the stadium during live NBA games. It happened last night when the Spurs faced the Minnesota Timberwolves. However, they had a mascot ready, dressed as Batman with the face of a coyote, to help catch the animal. The bat interrupted the play and was first identified by the Spurs’ No. 1 pick – Victor Wembanyama.

The Frenchman immediately pointed towards the animal and was seen making a disgusted face. The referees immediately took stock of the situation and halted the game. As soon as the play came to a halt, the half-bat-half-coyote mascot ran to the floor with a net to capture the animal.

It took the mascot several unsuccessful attempts before he captured the animal. His actions led the fans and players to give him a huge ovation. This included Manu Ginobili, who was in attendance for the game. Coincidentally, Ginobili faced a similar situation in 2009 during a game against the Sacramento Kings. This led to the NBA’s official Instagram handle sharing the video in a post.

 

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In 2009, however, Ginobili did not need the mascot to take care of the animal. During the game, when everyone was trying to get away from the bat, a fearless Ginobili casually knocked the bat out with one blow. He then proceeded to pick up the bat and hand it over to the workers on the sidelines. The actions of the Spurs’ legend left the crowd amazed as they gave him a rousing applause.

Bats have entered the Spurs’ arena on previous occasions

Bats seem to have a fascination for Spurs basketball as they have often interrupted games in the San Antonio Arena. In 2019, during a game between the San Antonio Spurs and the New Orleans Pelicans, the animal entered the arena and had the players running helter-skelter. The referees were forced to halt that game again.

This time around, Manu was not there to save the day, but the arena had the mascot ready. The mascot was wearing the exact same costume as was observed in last night’s game. It took Batman with a coyote face just two attempts to capture the bat and have him removed from the arena. At this rate, the San Antonio Spurs organization may have to give the mascot a permanent job catching bats.