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Justin Upton hits homer into $1 million Sherwin Williams paint can, but they won't pay up due to technicality
It's always a slippery slope when it comes to huge giveaways, or promises of donations involving five, six, or even seven figure numbers at sporting events. Free tuition for a half court shot? You better read the fine print first. Knock in a hole-in-one for a million? Hope the ball traveled far enough....
The latest of these "getting off on a technicality" situations came at the Los Angeles Angels game on Tuesday night, when Angels outfielder Justin Upton hit a home run to deep left center. Sitting over the left field fence is a giant, Sherwin Williams paint can that reads "ANGELS HOME RUN IN THE CAN - $1,000,000". The building material company agreed at the beginning of the season to donate the one million to the Angels Baseball Foundation if any Angel hit a home run in the can.
It took 150 games, but it finally happened, when Upton's blast took one hop into the can. Check it out:
Amazing stuff, right? Wrong. According to ESPN's Darren Rovell, Sherwin Williams won't be paying up, because the rules said the ball had to enter the can on the fly, not on a bounce.
Not the best look for Sherwin Williams, a company that made $12 billion in revenue per this unbelievably punny tweet Rovell shared soon after:
Owned.
But seriously, this PR-nightmare of a situation can be so easily avoided by just making good on the donation.