pirate44
03-17-2005, 01:33 PM
story
Referee Jess Kersey didn't think the Coyote was all that funny when he acted like he to wanted to go on the floor to fight.With 55 seconds left in the third quarter, Wally Szczerbiak knocked Spurs rookie Beno Udrih to the floor on his way to the basket and that's when things got a little strange.
Udrih went down hard and when Szczerbiak attempted to help him up, Bruce Bowen pushed Wally out of the way to help the 22-year-old Slovenian up himself. Bowen and Wally jawed briefly and both were assessed technical fouls, but neither player was ejected from the game.
Someone else was.
It wasn't coach Pop or another player. It was The Coyote.
Yes, The Coyote -- the Spurs beloved mascot.
In a routine that Spurs fans have seen many times, The Coyote was on the baseline acting like he wanted to go on the floor to fight, while someone pretended to have to hold him back. Apparently, referee Jess Kersey thought The Coyote was too close to the action and angrily tossed the mascot.
"I want the wolf out of here!" Kersey said. "He's gone! Now!"
The Coyote left the area and was not seen for the rest of the game.
The Spurs players and fans couldn't believe it. How could they throw out The Coyote?
"You can't get mad at the Coyote for doing that," said Robert Horry, who had a season-high 18 points. "He was just trying to get the crowd hyped. And that was bad judgement on the official's part."
In a game where an obvious traveling call on the Timberwolves was reversed into a foul on Tim Duncan, tossing out The Coyote was probably the second worst call of the night.
"That's the greatest thing I've ever heard," joked Duncan after the game. "That's the kind of toughness that we have on this team. They were afraid of The Coyote, so they had to toss him. That was incredible."
Referee Jess Kersey didn't think the Coyote was all that funny when he acted like he to wanted to go on the floor to fight.With 55 seconds left in the third quarter, Wally Szczerbiak knocked Spurs rookie Beno Udrih to the floor on his way to the basket and that's when things got a little strange.
Udrih went down hard and when Szczerbiak attempted to help him up, Bruce Bowen pushed Wally out of the way to help the 22-year-old Slovenian up himself. Bowen and Wally jawed briefly and both were assessed technical fouls, but neither player was ejected from the game.
Someone else was.
It wasn't coach Pop or another player. It was The Coyote.
Yes, The Coyote -- the Spurs beloved mascot.
In a routine that Spurs fans have seen many times, The Coyote was on the baseline acting like he wanted to go on the floor to fight, while someone pretended to have to hold him back. Apparently, referee Jess Kersey thought The Coyote was too close to the action and angrily tossed the mascot.
"I want the wolf out of here!" Kersey said. "He's gone! Now!"
The Coyote left the area and was not seen for the rest of the game.
The Spurs players and fans couldn't believe it. How could they throw out The Coyote?
"You can't get mad at the Coyote for doing that," said Robert Horry, who had a season-high 18 points. "He was just trying to get the crowd hyped. And that was bad judgement on the official's part."
In a game where an obvious traveling call on the Timberwolves was reversed into a foul on Tim Duncan, tossing out The Coyote was probably the second worst call of the night.
"That's the greatest thing I've ever heard," joked Duncan after the game. "That's the kind of toughness that we have on this team. They were afraid of The Coyote, so they had to toss him. That was incredible."