It’s not every day when two giraffe-centric sports stories emerge simultaneously. Okay, maybe it is, and I’m just following all the wrong Tumblrs.
The first concerns San Francisco Giants rookie Brandon Belt, a man nicknamed “Baby Giraffe” because he looked like helpless animal fresh from the womb during his transition from first base to the outfield. Sports Illustrated For Kids presumably still exists and loves literally illustrating nicknames, so the Giants contacted Six Flags Discovery Kingdom about a photo op. The amusement park did them one better.
“As we like to say, it came out of left field,” Nancy Chan, the animal park’s communications manager, told KTRE. “The Giants called us about setting something up with Brandon Belt and our giraffes and we just so happened to have one born, so we decided to name it after him.”
And so we have “Brandon”, a baby male giraffe born just before noon on Friday. He is absolutely adorable and is easily the best Giants-themed animal at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom since they named a dying yak after Miguel Tejada.
If that isn’t giraffe enough for you, check out this video of Orlando Magic All-Star center Dwight Howard dunking on an 11-ish foot basketball hoop affixed to a life-sized stuffed giraffe in the middle of downtown Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills building complex, because “Japan”.
I think the video description says what we’re all thinking.
Deeply thanks for coming to Japan this time, Dwight. We all love your kindness.
More on these and other giraffe-related stories as they develop.
[h/t to SFGate Blog and SLAM Online]
