Back in December, we spent some time exalting the weirdness of Mavericks guard Delonte West, who had just signed with the team. West is known for his ongoing mental health struggles, and his non-dalliance with LeBron James' mom. But he is also a noted weirdo whose quotes can reach Ichiro-esque levels of awesomeness.
Especially, it turns out, when he goes to the zoo.
ESPNDallas.com joined West and Lamar Odom on an outing to the Dallas Zoo on Monday, where they hung out with some local students. The presence of zoo animals apparently tapped the keg of goofiness in West's imagination, starting with when he was asked about the animals they'd encountered.
"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."
Later, he was asked whether he spent much time at the zoo growing up in DC.
"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."
The interview apparently ended there. Which makes me sad.
