If you are in the mood for one of the most bizarre and hilarious stories you will ever hear, you’re in luck on this fine Tuesday afternoon. Wait until you hear about the time Manu Ginobili was supposed to receive a new contract from the San Antonio Spurs while he was at home in Argentina but it never got to him because the person delivering it fell victim to a bird attack.
That’s the story Jere Longman of the New York Times relayed to us in a piece about the success the Spurs have had with international players. He tells it much better than I can:
Hours before the Spurs’ intern was to fly home from Buenos Aires, team officials said that he was strafed by a bird in a park. As he tidied up at a fountain, his backpack disappeared. Inside were Ginobili’s signed contract, along with the intern’s passport, cellphone and laptop.
Luckily, an international sports crisis was averted. An assistant traveling to Buenos Aires soon after brought a fresh contract and returned it to Texas without incident.
‘No birds got to him,’ Sean Marks, the Spurs’ director of basketball operations, said with a laugh. ‘We were all waiting for Manu’s contract to show up on eBay. It hasn’t yet.’
You’ve probably heard it all now, right? If you thought signing international players was difficult before, this story about Ginobili’s contract should give you an entirely new perspective. Getting attacked by a bird is a much more acceptable reason for a contract flub than what happened with Baltimore Ravens defensive lineman Elvis Dumervil over the offseason.
H/T Deadspin
