Former Cleveland Cavaliers guard and fan favorite Delonte West was the recent subject of a trip to the Dallas zoo. West, along with teammate Lamar Odom, sat with area students during a 30-minute program in which zoo specialists brought out various animals such as penguins, alligators and a boa constrictor.
The highlight, per usual, was the on-the-record discussion with the eccentric West.
West seemed to thoroughly enjoy his first visit to the Dallas Zoo. His right hand was free of a bandage. The ring finger he gruesomely fractured Feb. 15 and needed surgery on a few days later remains a bit swollen and stiff, but he was more than ready to interact with the students and, well, the animals for that matter.
“Well, I think they noticed as soon as I came into the zoo my natural animal instinct, you know what I mean?” Delonte said, speaking of the actual animals. “I got a chance to eat with the lions, you know? They had Lamar playing with the penguins, but they needed me for the more animalistic-type of things, carnivore-type of things. So, I also had a chance to give birth to a baby cheetah today and I’m just overwhelmed with the experience to be amongst my own and my peers.”
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West, who grew up in Washington D.C., was asked if he spent much time at the zoo as a youngster.
“I just ran out in the woods, whatever I could find take it home as a pet,” West said, again stretching the boundaries of fact into pure fiction. “I had a pet raccoon once. No, I took my few field trips to the zoo, but like I said, I think we’re getting ready to go see some of the lions and gorillas, my own kind and hopefully we can have a nice bonding experience and they will accept me as the pack leader.”
Hot sauce is most certainly still in his bag. Literary gold, Delonte West. Literary gold.
