Bird’s flub gives Span frightening fish story
Spring training games won’t start until next week, but the first error of the Grapefruit League season already has been committed.
A large osprey dropped his dinner smack dab in the middle of center field at the Washington Nationals facility in Viera, Fla., on Thursday.
The bird was carrying a fish while flying low over the stadium when the prey slipped from the osprey’s talons and flopped to rest in the grass.
Perhaps even more bizarre was the reaction of one of Washington’s newest players. Outfielder Denard Span admitted to the Washington Post’s Brad Horn that he does not do well in nature.
“I’m from Florida, but I’ve been fishing maybe twice in my life,” Span said. “I’m scared of fish, scared of birds. The only thing I’m not scared of is probably, like, an ant or something like that. I don’t know what it is. I don’t like to get my hands dirty, other than clay and dirt.”
That was made abundantly clear when Span began screaming and making noises from his spot in the outfield where he was shagging fly balls. Span saw the bird circling and wanted to make sure it didn’t get any ideas about swooping back down to recover the fish.
“I kept thinking, ‘That’s his dinner. That’s his food,’ ” Span told the Post. “As I was looking down at the fish, I didn’t want him to think that I was trying to take his dinner and have the bird come from behind me or come from the sky and try to attack me. I kept my head on a swivel and made sure the bird didn’t catch me slipping.”
Shortstop Ian Desmond saved the day by tossing the fish over the outfield wall.
It’s not the first bizarre spring training incident involving a bird. Randy Johnson famously killed one with a fastball after the bird made the mistake of flying between the pitcher’s mound and home plate just as he unleashed a pitch.
There was nothing Desmond could do about that.
■ ONE-WOMAN TEAM — Amber Edwards scored 32 points as Madison Park (Mass.) dropped a girls basketball game to Charlestown 56-32 on Wednesday.
Yes, that’s correct. Her 32 points came in a 56-32 loss.
The senior scored all of her team’s points.
Edwards and her twin sister are both 1,000-point scorers, a milestone they reached on the same night this season, according to Justin Rice of the Boston Globe, but in one of the most obvious statements ever, their coach says the team doesn’t have much of a supporting cast.
“Don’t get me wrong, the twins are phenomenal, awesome, but they don’t have any girls around that can help them,” Carla Hands said.
Even Kansas coach Bill Self called to tell her to take it easier on her team.
■ ROO THE DAY — The LPGA tournament in Australia went through a dreaded kangaroo delay when a mob or troop (yes, we looked this up) of kangaroos took over the fairway just as Karrie Webb waited to tee off at the ninth hole.
A dingo also had planned on eating a baby, but was concerned about being called too stereotypical.
COMPILED BY ADAM HILL
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
