I’m not a fan of cruelty to animals, but accidents do happen. Unfortunately, birds just don’t stand much of a chance when it comes to fast moving projectiles (such as a Randy Johnson fastball). If you’re easily offended, a bit faint of heart, or simply an animal lover, please: DON’T WATCH THESE VIDEOS.
For the rest of you: Here’s some of the most bizarre incidents involving birds and sports.
Cricket
I don’t really understand the rules to cricket, so don’t ask what happens when a player throws the ball and it hits a bird mid play… I looked it up and it’s not in the rules anywhere.
Soccer
If you watch this one in slow motion, it looks like the bird did JUST enough to tip the ball over the goal. I’m not sure if I feel worse for the bird or the player who should have scored.
I’m not sure if this bird was already injured or just didn’t want to leave the field, but it pays the price at least once. Luckily, it survived the incident and was removed following a brief chase by officials providing some added entertainment for fans.
While it’s tough to see the impact in this clip, the result was pretty clear: the bird travels further than the ball, is stunned, then… (not for the faint of heart)
Tennis
The tennis player’s reaction to this tiny bird being hit by a tennis ball at velocity is touching. At least it didn’t suffer.
Golf
Even I saw this one coming…DOH!
In sports, timing is pretty vital. That’s not usually true for golf, but in this case it works against this golfer…and the bird.
Baseball
This has got to be the strangest strike out in the history of baseball. Not only did a bird get hit by the pitch, but since the player swung and missed with 2 strikes, he can try to run to first because the catcher “dropped” the ball. In the end, he’s out at first, but had he not been so stunned by the bird, he could have made it easily. Really, who can blame him?
This one is famous. Randy Johnson throws as hard as any pitcher in baseball (since Nolan Ryan). It’s no wonder the bird basically exploded when it was hit by this nearly 100 mph pitch. This clip is so amazing it needs to be replayed 4 times. Poor thing.
BONUS: Bat at a Basketball Game (Halloween Day 2009)
This clip shows why Manu Ginobili is a professional athlete. The hand eye coordination it takes to knock a bat out of mid-air with your bare hand is just ridiculous (especially when others couldn’t with large nets). I know it’s not technically a bird, but I just couldn’t leave this clip out…
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I was watching for a badminton clip, where a player would hit a real bird instead of the birdie. Good collection, though.
Nice collection; I could have swore I remember seeing a clip where the bird interferes with an outdoor sand volleyball match?