Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates stretches before the game against the Chicago Bears at Ford Field on Thanksgiving.
Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates stretches before the game against the Chicago Bears at Ford Field on Thanksgiving. | David Reginek-Imagn Images
All Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates wanted to do was stretch out a knot in his hip before having to kick again. The way he did it, with ESPN cameras capturing every expression, made for a viral moment we hope can be repeated when the Lions host the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football.
To recap: In the third quarter of the Lions’ 40-34 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football, ESPN showed Bates lying on his left side, slowly contorting with a look of both pleasure and discomfort on his face, with his tongue hanging out to one side.
It was as sensual a moment you’ll ever see on an NFL sideline.
Joe Buck appears to be into whatever Jake Bates is doing pic.twitter.com/LDacUcMQ1G
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 31, 2024
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ESPN announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were intrigued when the show morphed into “MNF After Dark” and got the lowdown from sideline reporter Lisa Salters:
“He’s OK now, he hasn’t gotten any treatment from the medical staff,” Salters said. “But he was on his left hip, he had a softball. You’ve probably done this at home when you’ve had a knot on your body. I asked him how he was doing, he said he was fine.”
“That explains the video we just showed,” Buck said as Aikman chuckled.
The video of what was the most-watched Monday Night Football game of the season launched a bunch of memes, not unexpected given what people watched. Even the NFL Bulges subreddit was on it.
One compared Bates to “Seinfeld’s” George Costanza posing in his underwear for a photo shoot he did with Kramer in a classic episode.
Who did it better? Jake Bates or George Costanza? pic.twitter.com/okj5fgvthc
— Tyler Roney (@TylerJRoney) December 31, 2024
Others referenced Kate Winslet asking Leonardo DiCaprio to “draw me like one of your French girls” in a scene from “Titanic.”
Jake Bates on the sidelines pic.twitter.com/xQ1xUZSRpu
— Andrew Brennan (@unofficialAB) December 31, 2024
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As for Bates, he took the whole thing in stride, saying, “My family and friends are having a field day with it already. It’s fun. I understand it.”
As someone who has used similar balls to work out a knot, I understand Bates’ feeling of ecstasy when relief is at hand, though I have never done it with millions watching. Whatever Bates did worked, since he nailed a 57-yard field goal shortly after.
All of us, and in particular the gay NFL fans, are rooting for an encore Sunday night.
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