Tommy Hunter soaks up Craig Sager
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Apparently, baseball types aren't as familiar with Craig Sager as the basketball crowd.
Case in point: As the Texas Rangers waited for the Tampa Bay Rays to finish batting practice before Game 5, Sager walked out of the dugout and onto the field, and strolled in front of Rangers pitcher Tommy Hunter. Sager, the flamboyantly fashion-blind sideline reporter for the NBA on TNT, moonlights on sister-station TBS during the baseball playoffs.
Sager, who stands well over 6-foot, was wearing tan-ish dress slacks and a bright yellow button down with a multi-colored neon-type tie. No matter where Sager goes, he stands out. Hunter was talking to a club personnel member when he spotted Sager. He couldn't take his eyes off him. Hunter picked his jaw up off the artificial turf and asked incredulously, "Who is that?"
"Who is that?" a reporter asked rhetorically. "You don't watch the NBA, huh?"
"No," Hunter said.
"That's Craig Sager," the reporter informed him. "He does NBA sideline work on TNT. He dresses that way all the time. Sometimes worse."
Now, fast forward to the jubilant Rangers clubhouse after they beat the Rays in Game 5 to clinch the ALDS. The players were dancing and singing, hugging, high-fiving, whooping and hollering, spraying champagne on each other and sneaking up on teammates and coaches and front-office staff and dousing them with 16-ounce cans of Bud Light. Basically, they were immersed in their own euphoria.
And then Sager, dressed in the same flashy attire, walked in and Hunter's world must have stopped. The burly right-handed hurler, in particular, was living in the moment, enjoying every second, shaking a leg in ways he might not if not for the circumstance of having just won the franchise's first-ever playoff series. So, he spots Sager, which, again, is not hard to do, and it quickly becomes apparent that Hunter has hatched a plan.
He grabs several cans of Bud Light from the neatly stacked coolers on wheels stationed around the clubhouse for easy access. Then Hunter made his move. He stalked Sager, and once he got within firing range, he shook and fired. Like a firehouse of barley and hops, Hunter doused Sager, spraying him from his neatly brushed hair down to his some-sort-of-animal-skin loafers.
Sager, at a total loss, took the soaking without saying much of anything, seemingly stunned with a look on his face that said, "Hey, what'd I do?"
Then came the kicker. Hunter, his beer barrage finally over and Sager literally drenched, gave a whoop as he turned away from Sager and then shouted: "I don't even know who you are!"
Craig Sager looked at Hunter in what can only be described as disbelief. He sort of shook his head and exited the clubhouse, well aware of who Tommy Hunter is.
103.3 FM ESPN PODCASTS
Play Podcast Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus joins Galloway & Company to discuss having Scott Boras as his agent, his new contract and having Jurickson Profar in the lineup.
Play Podcast Rangers manager Ron Washington joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett for his weekly visit to discuss Yu Darvish's pitch count and how he spends time in the clubhouse during weather delays.
Play Podcast Nolan Ryan joins Galloway & Company for his weekly visit to discuss the latest Rangers news.
Play Podcast Reid Ryan joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss his new position with the Houston Astros and whether he could see his dad, Nolan, joining him there in the future.
Play Podcast ESPN MLB Insider Jayson Stark joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss if the Rangers are the best team in baseball, what makes them so good and if he thinks the team will trade Jurickson Profar.
Play Podcast Jim Bowden joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss Ron Washington's decision to send Yu Darvish to the mound for the eighth inning Thursday night and how he would handle a situation like that if he were still a GM.
Play Podcast Randy Galloway, Matt Mosley and Glenn "Stretch" Smith discuss the latest Rangers news, including the Yu Darvish-Justin Verlander matchup.
Play Podcast Nelson Cruz joins Galloway & Company to discuss the Rangers' series in Oakland, his ups and downs at the plate and if the PED talks before the season were a distraction.
TEAM LEADERS
| WINS LEADER | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Yu Darvish
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| OTHER LEADERS | ||||||||||||
| BA | I. Kinsler | .302 | ||||||||||
| HR | N. Cruz | 11 | ||||||||||
| RBI | N. Cruz | 33 | ||||||||||
| R | E. Andrus | 29 | ||||||||||
| OPS | M. Moreland | .905 | ||||||||||
| ERA | Y. Darvish | 2.84 | ||||||||||
| SO | Y. Darvish | 91 | ||||||||||
- There are no games scheduled for today.





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