In extremely important sports news to me, Cleveland.com is reporting that Cavaliers mascot “Moondog” was taken to the hospital after a good natured game of pre-game man-to-dog roughhousing got out of control and nearly cost him an eye. The injury came courtesy of Indiana Pacers forward David West, so of course when I read “Cavs mascot sent to hospital by West” my first thought was that Delonte West had rolled back into the 216 on his tri-ped superbike, tore open whatever flower box he’s using to conceal his machine guns and shot the poor dog to death.
The club did not update his status for Sunday’s game against Orlando. It’s unclear whether the Cavs, already without Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao among others, will need to promote a mascot from the NBA Development League.
“He jumped at me so I thought we were playing around and then the next thing I know he went down,” West told reporters after the game. “It was definitely an accident.”
Moondog was spotted running through the hall, his dog head removed, clutching a towel to his eye. The mascot occasionally has fun sparring with opposing players before the game or during a timeout. Moondog and West exchanged some playful punches and apparently one caught him hard enough to do damage.
Also of note is the adorable follow-up, with West feeling increasingly guilty as he’s asked about it and asking people to “make sure he knows [he’s] sorry”. I wouldn’t know how to feel if I encountered an anthropomorphic basketball playing dogman and accidentally blinded him. Pretty sure Dave just violated the Prime Directive.
In a related story, Jeff Pendergraph took a wrong turn in his van and manslaughtered Lake County Captains mascot Skipper.
