UCLA Bruins mascot drops shorts, spanks behind to distract foul shooter
The UCLA Bruins got a huge home win over the Oregon Ducks Thursday night, but the real MVP might have been their mascot, Joe Bruin.
Thursday’s highly anticipated Pac-12 college basketball matchup between the No. 5 Oregon Ducks and No. 10 UCLA Bruins didn’t disappoint, but the best highlight of the night may have come from a mascot.
With the Bruins leading 80-77 with 19.1 seconds left, Ducks forward Jordan Bell was fouled and went to the free throw line to pull his team within one point. After making the first free throw, the Bruins’ mascot, Joe Bruin, decided to get creative to try and distract the free throw shooter.
What followed was a crime against basketball, bears and basic decency.
I am SCREAMING at the UCLA Bruin dropping his shorts & smacking his ass at Oregon's FT shooter pic.twitter.com/tbbVlMBx9e
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) February 10, 2017
As you can see from this hilarious footage, Joe Bruin turned away from the action, bent over, dropped his basketball shorts, grounded himself by leaning his head against the basketball stanchion and started spanking himself to try and grab Bell’s attention.
Nobody had to look for the bear’s bare necessities, that’s for sure.
Somehow, despite the sight of a furry stuffed bear spanking his butt being in his peripheral vision, Bell sank the second free throw to pull his team within one.
As some sort of karmic act for this ballsy and 100 percent hilarious attempt to distract the shooter, the Bruins were able to pull out the 82-79 victory at home despite trailing by as many as 19 earlier in the game.
Lonzo Ball led UCLA with 15 points and 11 rebounds, along with a clutch three-pointer from NBA range that may have served as the final dagger. Aaron Holiday chipped in 15 points off the bench, while Bryce Alford and Thomas Welsh added 12 apiece.
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However, in the waning moments of an excellent college basketball game, it was a mascot who stole the show. Lonzo Ball may be heading for the NBA Draft, and games like Thursday’s performance are a pretty clear indicator why, but for one night, it was the mascot who earned MVP honors.