A snake hanging out with reporters. What's unusual about that, you might ask? Birds of a feather flock together and all that...
As the Associated Press reports from Florida:
A three-foot black snake sent reporters scurrying in the press box as the New York Mets defeated the Cleveland Indians 6-5 in a spring training game on Tuesday. As the snake slithered across notebooks and laptop computers in the bottom of the fourth inning, fans stood up and laughed as they gazed into the press area. A grounds crew member accustomed to such occurrences at Chain of Lakes ballpark, was summoned. He grabbed the snake and released it in the parking area behind the complex.
Mike Conley of Cleveland.com was on the scene. In his Tribe Tracker blog, he explains...
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the press box received an unexpected guest. A black snake made its way down press row, conveniently stopping and posing for several pictures along the way. I just happened to have my camera handy at the time and snapped these images. I was next to The Plain Dealer's Paul Hoynes throughout the process, until he took off screaming, finally landing a spot on the top row of the open-air press box.
What do you expect from a sports writer? Cable and telecom reporters are much tougher, of course.
Would this guy scare you at your desk? Really, he looks like a piece of coax with eyes. Where's the F-connector?
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"Hey, Hoynsie! What's so frightening about this little fella?"
— Michael Harris, Chief Herpetologist, Cable Digital News