Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
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SALT LAKE CITY — Sports delivers every day: heartwarming moments, incredible feats, and even cat pictures feature in Thursday's news. Welcome to today's From Left Field!
1. Notre Dame walk-on gets surprised with a scholarship
Notre Dame football announced that its players will be wearing new, all-green uniforms for their game in Fenway Park this season, and coach Brian Kelly turned to walk-on running back Josh Anderson to be the model for the team.
As a walk-on, Anderson didn't have a scholarship, until Kelly surprised Anderson with the news that he earned one with his play. His teammates mobbed him in a super-cute moment:
Is it legal to call moments involving football players super-cute?
2. Behind-the-back home run
This is a new level of softball talent I didn't know was possible. Renaud Lefort, who plays for a softball team from Montreal called Les 4 Chevaliers, hit a home run on a crazy, spinning, behind-the-back swing. It's super-cool:
Apparently, this team is like the Harlem Globetrotters of Canadian softball, which is a niche I didn't know existed, but I'm glad it does. Thanks, Les 4 Chevaliers.
3. But that's not the only cool behind-the-back play!
This one comes from the world of tennis, where Yoshihito Nishioka hit this ridiculous behind the back winner:
Nishioka pasándose el mundo ayer en Aptos. pic.twitter.com/5pYUKj2oV9 — José Izquierdo (@JoseIzquierdo_) August 13, 2015
Even cooler, this (unlike the home run above), happened in real competition, in the Aptos Challenger tournament. Huge bonus points for the racket drop after completing the shot.
4. NBA player starts Twitter and Instagram accounts for his cat
Russ Smith, drafted in the second round of the 2014 NBA Draft and now playing for the Memphis Grizzlies, didn't get a lot of playing time in his rookie season.
He did, though, get an adorable cat, which he's quite proud of — so proud of, in fact, that he created Twitter and Instagram accounts for his cat, Mr. Quackers.
#Meow — Mr Quackers (@_mrquackers) August 13, 2015
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This is a tremendous moment in the social media history of the NBA.