NASHVILLE, Tenn — While team executives zeroed in on trade and free-agent targets at the winter meetings on Tuesday, Chicago Cubs manager Dale Sveum described what it was like being between the crosshairs of a former teammate and Hall of Famer.
Sveum said old friend Robin Yount shot him accidentally in the right ear and in his back with BBs when they were out on a recent quail hunt.
(Say, when are these guys ever going to heed the wisdom of Ralphie's mom from "A Christmas Story"?)
Sveum described the BB-removal scene as "bloody" to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, but emphasized that "it's not that big a deal":
Sveum said Yount was about 50 yards ahead of him on a hill, and Yount lost track of where he was, shooting at a bird behind Yount.
"He pulled the trigger, and I was like, 'Uh oh,' " Sveum said. "Luckily I was just kind of climbing, looking for birds myself when it was behind me. So I got drilled with pellets in the back and one stuck in my ear."
Sveum is all wrong about the severity of this incident. It's a "very big deal" on the comedy scale. Now, before you say "Dick Cheney," Sveum already has, nicknaming Yount after the former vice president, who famously shot his friend Harry Wittington in the face, also by accident, also while hunting quail. (Not Dan Quayle.)
Not only that, but Yount also came away with the bird, Sveum said. What a pal! Shouldn't it be part of the hunting rules that guy who gets shot accidentally also gets to keep any game?
The lesson for Sveum going forward is to hunt with a former Cubs player next time.
There's a much greater chance the shot would have missed him entirely.
I guess this kinda deserves its own thread :lol:
