The Los Angeles Lakers spent a couple of nights in Oklahoma City over the weekend, and according to Los Angeles Times reporter Tania Ganguli, it was an interesting visit.
"Metta World Peace said a ghost touched him inappropriately at the famously haunted Skirvin Hotel, where the Lakers stayed the past 2 nights," Ganguli reported Sunday night, via Twitter.
A luxury hotel in downtown Oklahoma City, the Skirvin Hilton has the site of numerous reports of ghostly activity. The most notable examples occurred in 2010, when the New York Knicks famously blamed their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on the haunting and the Chicago Bulls reported doors slamming shut on their own and strange sounds outside their rooms.
On Monday, World Peace told Mark Medina of the Orange County Register that he didn't mind at first.
"The ghosts were all over me. I just accepted it," World Peace said. "They touched me all over the place. I'm taking one of the ghosts to court for touching me in the wrong places."
"I was watching a good movie [Money Monster] and I was tired. I didn't want to move."
Nevertheless, some of World Peace's teammates didn't want to risk it.
"Lou Williams and Larry Nance Jr., uninterested in risking ghost encounters, stayed elsewhere," Gagnuli tweeted.
Understandable. After all, autograph protocol for ghosts is difficult. Do you just sign their sheet or hope they brought their own pen?
Hugging it out
Who doesn't like a nice hug? NFL referees, that's who.
Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas is on the other side of things. He loves hugs. As SB Nation's James Dator puts it, "There's nothing wrong with this. Hugs are great and the world would be a much nicer place if everyone hugged a little more. Unfortunately, the NFL doesn't quite agree with that -- especially if you hug a referee."
Thomas got a flag for hugging during Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints, and it came from the official he hugged. "That's a stab in the back," Dator wrote.
This isn't the first time Thomas has hugged an official. It's kind of his thing. In fact, just last week he hugged a ref, but he wasn't flagged for it.
Just to be safe, maybe next time Thomas should ask first. Or get one of those "Free Hugs" T-shirts.
Man among boys
The founder of a Rhode Island youth football team said its season is ending early after the coach put a man into a game against 13- and 14-year-old players.
Capital City Buccaneers founder Alexandra Diaz said she had stepped away from the game last week in Scituate when the coach let a young man, believed to be at least 18, take part in several plays before getting kicked out.
WJAR-TV reports the Providence team had been losing when the incident occurred. Parents spotted the man suit up on the sideline.
"We noticed his arm tattoos, facial hair. Not like a normal eighth-grade student," said Kevin Stockwell in an interview with WPRO-AM in Providence, R.I.
"The kids, unfortunately, lose out, if they have a coach that messes up the rules and is not ethical in their play," Diaz told WPRO. "But there's a safety issue here."
TBS's Conan O'Brien had a different take.
"On the bright side, Tim Tebow scored 12 touchdowns."
Quick hits
• From Canadian national news site GlobalNews.ca, the frontrunner for most Canadian headline of the year: "Curling broom controversy leads to sweeping changes."
• San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich, to TNT, when asked if he's come to terms with Tim Duncan's retirement: "Tim is being fined $2,500 a day every day he doesn't show up."
• Chicago Cubs fan Ray Styrlund, 105, of East Moline, Ill., to WQAD-TV, when asked if the Cubs will win this year's World Series: "They better. I'm not going to wait another 100 years."
Sports quiz
When did Ron Artest legally change his name to Metta World Peace?
Answer
2011
Sports on 11/01/2016