Snakes on a Halladay
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Snakes on a Halladay
Matt Gelb
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Somehow, a story this winter about Roy Halladay helping tow a naked man's boat during a fishing excursion in the Amazon became the plot to the next Indiana Jones movie.
"I was not wrestling snakes," Halladay said. "I was nowhere near snakes."
So there. Halladay did not leap into the water with a knife and murder an anaconda.
Halladay was with Chris Carpenter and B.J. Ryan on a fishing expedition organized by Skeet Reese. We'll let Halladay tell the story in his own words:
"We had been fishing all day and we were on the boat driving back and we happened to see a guy sitting on the shore line without clothes. We couldn't talk to him. The guides had to talk to him. They were speaking Portuguese. He had been attacked by a snake and escaped, but it had ripped the engine off the boat and left all his stuff out in the middle of the river. So we picked up his stuff and drove him back to his tribe, I guess you would call it."
"What he was doing is he had nets underwater because he was diving for Aquarium fish. When he was diving for the fish the snake bit him on the backside and started wrapping him and when he was getting away from it, it pulled the shorts off him. So he swam to the banks and I guess the next closest thing for the snake to grab was the boat engine."
Halladay then questioned whether the naked man was in the right state of mind.
"I guess," Halladay said, "they have native trees down there. The bark is a little potent when you smoke it. I think he had been partaking in that, too. It was interesting. Definitely an interesting situation."
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Just wondering how he knows the bark is potentwhen you smoke it??— rickm- He's a baseball player. They all smoke the bark— mangomike
- Did he catch any fish? What was he fishing for? Did he use a fly rod? Did Carpenter catch one more than Halladay? C'mon, Matt! Get the details. What else is there to read about until they start playing?— Iron Giant
- Trying to get anyone to believe this tall tale is in a manner of speaking, Barking up the wrong tree !— phineas
- Rickm, I'm sure the guides told him, get real dude, just sayin'...— DJ
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- That's a pretty boring story Roy. You need to spice it up a little.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- I wish he would have fed Chris Carpernter to the snake about 6 months ago . . .— Justicek
- Just what a snake-bitten city needs; a snake-bitten superstar.— Bobby G
