FOXBORO, MA – DECEMBER 28: Brandon Spikes #51 of the Buffalo Bills warms up before a game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on December 28, 2014 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
NFLBy Alex Putterman on

Well, we’ve found the weirdest sports story of the day.

According to ESPN, Buffalo Bills linebacker Brandon Spikes is fighting a lawsuit filed against him by an aquatics services company called The Fish Guy. The Fish Guy says that Spikes didn’t pay them (it? him?) for transporting Spikes’ home aquarium from Rhode Island to Buffalo nearly three years ago. Spikes says he didn’t pay because The Fish Guy sold him a bad aquarium and killed some of his fish.

The whole situation is actually pretty complicated, but this seems to be the timeline, as reported by ESPN:

  • March 2014 – Spikes, a former second-round pick out of Florida, signs with the Buffalo Bills, hires The Fish Guy to move his aquarium
  • December 2014 – The Fish Guy files lawsuit against Spikes, seeking $4,045
  • February 2015 – Spikes’ lawyer told The Fish Guy’s lawyer that Spikes didn’t pay for the move because The Fish Guy had previously sold Spikes an aquarium that “proved to be inadequate for the type and number of tropical fish owned by Mr. Spikes.” Spikes’ attorney also claimed that The Fish Guy owed Spikes $2,500 for killing some of Spikes’ fish during a previous, unrelated move.
  • May 2015 – An Erie County, New York judge ruled that Spikes owed The Fish Guy $4,990 for failure to appear for the lawsuit.
  • June 2015 – Spikes was released by the Bills following a hit-and-run car crash. He was suspended four games by the NFL and did not play in the upcoming season
  • August 2016 – Spikes re-signed with the Bills but had all his paychecks garnished as part of the suit.
  • January 2017 – Spikes still owes The Fish Guy $3,000, but a judge ruled that collection be halted. The case will return to court Thursday.

Got all that?

All of this leaves a lot of questions, but one thing has me especially confused: If Spikes kept having so many problems with The Fish Guy, why did he keep going back to them? Is there no one aquatics services company in Rhode Island that can help transport a home aquarium 450 miles?

Hm, come to think of it, maybe there isn’t.

Spikes, for his part, seems to have no regrets.

[ESPN]

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.

View all posts by Alex Putterman