News of the Weird

Compiled and Ridiculed by Joel Frady

Grab that bird!
The Atlanta Hawks were flying high in the NBA playoffs entering Game Two on Wednesday, April 22, against the Miami Heat - unfortunately, so was their mascot.

Spirit, the hawk that flies around Phillips Arena, didn't think that his pre-game ritual was enough - so he just kept flying around. He was perched on the scoreboard when the game tipped off and flew around the arena some during the first few minutes.

At some point, Spirit decided that he wanted a closer look at the game - and at the 8:28 mark of the first quarter, play was halted because Spirit found his perfect seat on the basket.

The game resumed once Spirit's trainer got him out of the building, but might have thrown the Hawk's mojo off - after pummeling the Heat 90-64 in Game One, Miami evened the series with a 108-93 victory.

But while the incident was distracting, it wasn't as bad as other mascot fiascos, such as the tragic Sunday in 1998 when the Jacksonville Jaguars mascot got loose in the crowd.

Worst day ever
Ashley Swendsen, a pregnant 26-year-old, was hiking on the morning of Thursday, April 23, on a trail in northwestern Colorado Springs when a black bear noticed her. Swendsen said the bear noticed her and began to follow her, keeping a distance of approximately 10 feet, so she started running.

As if being pregnant and chased by a bear wasn't bad enough, a slow-moving vehicle hit Swendsen as she crossed a road. She wasn't seriously injured, but she was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

A spokesperson for the Colorado Division of Wildlife said that the black bear was tranquilized and later euthanized. Despite the ordeal, this news didn't sit well with Swendsen because "the bear spared me, and then it had to die."

She said she would honor the bear by giving her child the middle name "Bear" whether it is a boy or girl, and also honor the car that hit her by nicknaming the child "Volvo."

Not pretending
A 23-year-old in Bloomington, Minn., is in stable condition after falling off a bridge and landing 30 feet below. Police said they received a call at approximately 5 a.m. on Sunday, April 19, from a caller who said his friend fell off the bridge on Highway 77.

The man added that his friend had been drinking and wanted to stop on the bridge to answer nature's call.

The caller said that his friend climbed onto the ledge of the bridge and pretended to fall - at which point he actually fell.

"It was pretty surreal," the caller told police, adding, "I'm just happy that he didn't pretend to fly and swing from the power lines like he normally does."

Lawyer bill
A teenager in Beloit, Wis., who was caught with a GPS system, nine CDs and seven video games he had stolen from cars said that he broke into the vehicles in an attempt to pay his lawyer, who was defending him on other charges.

The teen was caught after a local resident spotted the boy in his Chevrolet Camaro at approximately 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 16. The man tackled the teenager and held him until police arrived.

The teenager, who had previously been charged with drug possession and theft of movable property, has now been charged with felony burglary, possession of burglar tools and bail jumping.

One officer added that the teenager should probably just use the services of a court-appointed attorney, since he would "have to take a lot more than a few video games and a GPS system to pay for those shiny new charges."