Fairleigh Dickinson’s highly anticipated game against Long Island University was scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday. However, there was an unforeseen setback – which was entirely avoidable – that delayed the game dramatically. Read on to find out the ridiculous reason fans had to wait to see the delayed game.
A Poor Decision
Just past 7 p.m., Fairleigh Dickinson’s Twitter feed lit up with an unexpected announcement: the game was facing a 20-minute delay. This is because most of Fairleigh Dickinson’s players were trapped in an elevator. FDU’s locker room was just three floors above the court, yet 13 out of the 15 players opted to take the elevator rather than use the stairs. Little did they know, this choice would lead to an unforeseen predicament.
According to FDU coach Jack Castleberry, the elevator suddenly malfunctioned, leaving the players stuck inside. “Apparently the lights went out, it was extremely hot in there, they were shoulder to shoulder the whole time,” Castleberry recounted post-game. “There were a few claustrophobic guys who were rather uncomfortable.” Player Ansley Almonor recalls, “The lights went off and we were just like, ‘Oh, no.’ We’re trying to press the button and the button lights aren’t coming on. It was crazy. One of my teammates was in there with me, he was claustrophobic. He panicked a little bit, but for me, it wasn’t anything too bad. It was just getting hot though. It was getting really, really hot. We were sweating in there.”
The Rescue
Eventually, firefighters came to rescue the trapped athletes. Once the game actually started, Fairleigh Dickinson secured an 84–82 overtime victory. Afterward, FDU’s Twitter account managed to find the humor of the situation. After all, it’s a lot easier to laugh at these things after the fact. Almonor joked, “It’s probably a top-three most memorable night of my career. This is up there. This is a funny, funny, funny moment. I’ll never forget this one.”
Honestly, we can all laugh at the idea of super-fit athletes refusing to walk three flights of stairs. Maybe they were just trying to conserve their energy for the game. Something tells us that these basketball players won’t be opting to take an elevator again anytime soon.