The Clippers Charter Plane Being Struck By Lightning While Flying To Denver Is Absolutely Terrifying

Juan Ocampo. Getty Images.

Uhhhhhhhh I'm sorry, what? I had to double check and make sure that was a real account because that's pretty terrifying. Why hadn't we heard about that until now? Seems like a pretty big deal if you ask me. Why were they cleared to fly if the weather was terrible and there was a risk of something like this? I'll concede I'm not a huge plane guy and I imagine they are built to withstand lightning strikes, but even still it seems crazy.

What's interesting is if you look at the Clippers schedule when this happened, maybe it makes a little more sense

I don't think it's a stretch to suggest maybe mentally the players were a little fucked up after thinking they were probably going to crash. That has to mess with you mentally on some level. Getting back on that plane would stress me the hell out and to go from a situation where you think you're about to die to then having to lock in and focus on basketball had to be pretty tough. 

It goes without saying of course that luckily nothing serious happened and everyone came out OK given what the alternative could have been. What kind of insane is I would think the team contacted the league and let them know what happened, so the fact that the NBA didn't postpone or reschedule the game is kind of wild. The Clippers almost deserve some credit for even getting that thing to OT.

The fact that planes even exist in the first place is crazy. When you step back and think about what you're doing when you make the decision to get on a plane, it's pretty fucking nuts. We just sort of accept it as normal and go about our lives, but it's really pretty crazy. After experiencing something like this, I wouldnt blame any of those guys if they didn't want to get on a plane again. Sure that's maybe a problem given how the NBA works, but man. Scary stuff.