When it comes to protecting yourself from rabies, it seems as if hand sanitizer won't cut it.
San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili -- three-time NBA champ, Olympic gold medalist, NBA All-Star, exterminator extraordinaire and scourge of PETA -- has been required to get shots for rabies, the San Antonio Express-News reports, because of his quick reflexes and a chance encounter with a bat on Saturday night:
Ginobili took four shots Monday in the hip and arm, and he is scheduled for four more such sessions over the next month. "It was pretty funny at the time," Ginobili told the San Antonio Express-News. "Now it's not. I got like a million shots for rabies."
Manu Ginobili had a recent encounter with a bat at a recent Spurs game, the video of which has since been broadcast on almost every blog you can find. And in commenting sections on these sites across the world, people joked about how PETA would respond.
And now they have -- and it is exactly what you would expect from them.
You're going to have to forgive us here in the early season for a bit. If we don't report on trends that are developing, we're ignoring what we're seeing. If we do tell you what we see, we're over-emphasizing games that are so young in this season that they can't even legally get into a screening of New Moon.
Basically, that's my way of imploring you to remember that we do take these things with a gigantic mountain of salt, but here's what happened. And trust me, the Spurs are going to want to brush this one off.
FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.
It would be facile and possibly inaccurate to anoint Manu Ginobili as the most important comeback player of the 2009-10 season. After all, the success of the Wizards and Timberwolves surely depend on the health of Gilbert Arenas and Al Jefferson respectively more than the Spurs depend on Ginobili.
But -- while I would never endorse a bias of hype toward the greatest teams in the league -- it should be noted that Gil isn't going to take D.C. to parade level, and even Big Al won't land the Pups in the playoffs. Ginobili, though, could plausibly push his Spurs to the very top of the league. If Manu feels right, this is a legit championship team.
Tony Parker, training with the French national team in advance of the Eurobasket 2009 qualifying tournament, suffered what appeared to be a minor ankle injury during a scrimmage against Austria last week. He left the gym on crutches, but an MRI executed by the French and overseen by a Spurs official on location revealed no ligament damage. Parker planned to be ready for this Wednesday's tournament opener against Italy.
It feels strange to even type it, but it's true: the Spurs have been eliminated in the first round, losing to the Mavericks on Tuesday night 106-93 and ending a streak of eight consecutive seasons in which the Spurs won at least one playoff series.
At least there's no confusion about what the Spurs need to do this summer: get deeper. This team never bounced back from the loss of Manu Ginobili, as even huge games from Tim Duncan (30 points, eight boards) and Tony Parker (26 points, 12 assists) weren't enough to keep this game competitive.
Sure, it's possible the Spurs can put together a nice effort on their homecourt in Game 5 on Tuesday night and push their series against the Mavericks to a sixth game in Dallas.
And maybe the Spurs could even follow that up with an unlikely Game 6 win on the road and make their first-round series a seven-gamer.
Mavericks vs. Spurs, 9:30 PM ET Dallas leads series, 3-1 | Preview
The time has come. Playoffs. And you know what that means. No, not obnoxious commercials that dig into your skull. FanHouse Live Blog Fun Partytime! We'll be here all night, with two live blogs to keep you entertained on a Saturday night!
It all starts with Mavs at Spurs at 8PM EST. Can the Mavericks continue their hothand into the playoffs against a wounded Spurs team? Can the Spurs pull one more run out of their hat, even with Manu Ginobili on the floor? Join us at 8PM EST and we'll find out.
It's trophy time in the NBA, and the FanHouse crew has submitted its ballots. Find out which players deserve to take home the hardware and which ones don't, in our NBA Awards series. First up: Sixth Man of the Year.
The Sixth Man award, as you probably have guessed from its name, is given to the player believed to have the biggest impact for his team coming off the bench. Over the past couple of seasons, the discussion is one that's been dominated by two names -- Manu Ginobili and Leandro Barbosa. This year, however, we have a new group of players in the conversation, and, while the voting was close, we were able to come up with a clear cut choice.
When it comes to protecting yourself from rabies, it seems as if hand sanitizer won't cut it.
Manu Ginobili had a recent encounter with a bat at a recent Spurs game, 
You're going to have to forgive us here in the early season for a bit. If we don't report on trends that are developing, we're ignoring what we're seeing. If we do tell you what we see, we're over-emphasizing games that are so young in this season that they can't even legally get into a screening of New Moon. 
FanHouse previews a 
It feels strange to even type it, but it's true: the Spurs have been eliminated in the first round, losing to the Mavericks on Tuesday night 106-93 and ending a streak of eight consecutive seasons in which the Spurs won at least one playoff series. 
One question for the San Antonio Spurs: Now what?
The time has come. Playoffs. And you know what that means. No, not obnoxious commercials that dig into your skull. FanHouse Live Blog Fun Partytime! We'll be here all night, with two live blogs to keep you entertained on a Saturday night! 
It's trophy time in the NBA, and the FanHouse crew has submitted its ballots. Find out which players deserve to take home the hardware and which ones don't, in our 
