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SALT LAKE CITY — Three more stories from the world of sports in today's From Left Field.
1. Lillard honors Ogden with new ‘Wasatch Front’ shoe
Weber State alum and Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard took advantage of Portland ending its first half of the NBA season in Utah. Lillard lingered in the Beehive State and stopped by his old stomping grounds Thursday night, taking in a game between the Wildcats and Northern Colorado.
The WSU grad has paid tribute to his time in Ogden in several ways since moving on to the NBA. He wrote a song for his debut album that released last year entitled “Wasatch Front” and has previously released shoes that have ties to Weber State.
The Letter "O"gden.
— adidas Basketball (@adidasHoops) February 16, 2017
The Wasatch Front 🏔🎓 #Dame3 drops Friday. pic.twitter.com/IDKgBRtzbq
#WeAreWeber@weberstatehttps://t.co/dKzcAGO3Oc
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) February 16, 2017
His latest tribute is the “Wasatch Front” version of his Dame 3 signature shoe line, which was released Friday.
The shoe has plenty of touches to Ogden, including a purple logo on the sole of the shoe.
“The colorway is named for the mountain range bordering Ogden that rises to create the Wasatch Front, a stretch of land that spans across cities in north-central Utah,” according to SLAM Magazine.
The new shoe is priced at $115.
2. Fans rush the field after team's first touchdown
Salt Lake Screaming Eagles played its first game in the Indoor Football League Thursday and plenty happened in the team’s first game. Fans made play calls on their phones, lots of points were scored and comedian Norm MacDonald — a co-owner of the team — showed up at the game.
However, the most peculiar moment had to be when MacDonald initiated a field rush after the Eagles scored their first touchdown in franchise history.
Fans, mascots from various Utah-based teams, selfies with players — it was a crazy couple of minutes.
This is bats! The fan-controlled Screaming Eagles offense scored its first TD in history and fans rushed the field https://t.co/7CZ8thRd5Bpic.twitter.com/5pah1mtlxv
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 17, 2017
Salt Lake, however, wound up losing its debut game to Nebraska, 78-47.
3. Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux pranks Kris Bryant
Last year, Red Bull released a video in which Kris Bryant pranked the Mesa Community College baseball team by posing a mid-season transfer from Europe.
He then took batting practice and blew them away with his power.
This time the Chicago Cubs MVP slugger became the victim of a prank in a video posted by Red Bull Thursday. In the video, Bryant was taking batting practice thinking it was just Red Bull filming him.
Little did he know that Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux had gone incognito as a pesky sound guy who started giving him tips to swing harder before stepping in as the emergency batting practice pitcher and fooling Bryant with his curveball.
Finally, Maddux reveals himself to Bryant, catching him off-guard.
The two actually have a connection. Both Maddux and Bryant grew up in Las Vegas, which Bryant points out in the video before realizing Maddux was there.
