Now here's a story that we don't seem to hear about every day. Prior to last night's highly-anticipated game between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics at Oracle Arena, a strange incident happened with Warriors superstar forward Kevin Durant and an elderly fan.
According to a story told on SportsCenter late last night by senior NBA writer Marc J. Spears of ESPN, Durant was messing around pregame and punched a basketball high into the air.
What goes up, must come down. And unfortunately for Warriors fan Joseph Franzia, the ball came straight down and hit him in the face.
“You could see a bunch of people go surround the guy. And I saw an old man with a veteran's hat on and I'm like ‘oh this ain't good,'” Spears said with a laugh. “It hit his glasses and it cut the man. Kevin ran to the stands, profusely apologized and left. His security guy came back, apologized and invited the man to come back to the locker room.”
What was Mr. Franzia's response to Durant? With an ice pack firmly pressed against his left eye to reduce the swelling, he had the perfect request.
Article Continues Below“Look, you'd better win the game now after doing that,” Franzia said, happily accepting to go back to the locker room after the game to meet with Durant.
Not only is Franzia a 75-year-old Marine veteran with three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star from his service in Vietnam, he’s also a member of the famed Franzia wine family and owner of the Bronco Wine Company.
A video of Spears talking about the incident, which was posted to Twitter by CJ Fogler, can be viewed below:
So Kevin Durant punched a ball into the air pregame and hit a fan in the head. Kevin apologized, brought the fan to the locker room later, signed some shoes (ESPN) pic.twitter.com/LUcupgfKbi
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) January 28, 2018
Spears also posted a photo after the game of Franzia smiling and posing with a pair of shoes that Durant signed for him.
Joseph Franzia is feeling a lot better now and is about to visit with Kevin Durant after pre-game accident being hit by wayward ball. pic.twitter.com/xzhibqhSlW
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) January 28, 2018
The Warriors beat the Celtics in a thrilling contest, 109-105, and Franzia reportedly invited Durant to join him for a glass of wine at his winery. What a crazy way to strike up a friendship. You've got to love stuff like this.