MLB

Padres Game Interrupted By Earthquake, Fans Love It

Where earthquakes are concerned, there’s an oddly fine line between “deadly, tragic bringers of complete destruction” and “rollicking good time.” Fortunately, the earthquake that shook San Diego’s Petco Park during a game last night between the Padres and Toronto Blue Jays only provided a glimpse of the latter.

The magnitude-5.7 earthquake, which was an aftershock of a more severe quake that occurred in the same area on Easter, only briefly halted the game and was centered about 85 miles from San Diego. Luckily, this one didn’t do anything worse than shake the foul pole and provide a bit of excitement for the sparse crowd. Blue Jays pitcher Shaun Marcum, who was in the clubhouse when it hit, didn’t seem too traumatized:

“First earthquake. That was pretty fun. I didn’t feel it until they said something on TV. The TVs were moving a little bit and I started floating back and forth a little bit. That’s always fun.”

Nor were the presumably more earthquake-savvy fans, who actually cheered loudly when the stadium shook, just happy for something out of the ordinary during a mundane mid-June game. As you’ll see in the video below, the announcer also seemed excited for it, saying, “We just had an earthquake, boys,” and “Oh, there it goes! Oh yeah, you betcha!” when the ground shakes again.

And when he jokes that he thought the tremors were due to his broadcast partner doing the funky chicken, you can’t help but wish every earthquake were that mild.