Manu Ginobili sniffs his shoes while Boris Diaw nods and approves

First I must begin by telling you that I am a sucker for these kinds of clips. Remember the pranks that Manu. Tony and Tim played on each a couple of seasons ago? Experiencing little snippets of awesome Spurs bench footage is one of the great things about being alive.

So when I ran across this bit of I-don't-know-what-to-call-it, there was no question that I'd be posting it.

Allow me set the scene: it's a preseason game against the Houston Rockets, and the San Antonio Spurs' Manu Ginobili is on the bench sitting between Boris Diaw and assistant coach Ime Udoka. Everyone else on the bench seems to be either bored silly, or absorbed by the free throw stroke of an as yet unidentified Rocket.

But Manu is engaged in some activity that almost defies description. Is it a new stretching technique? An odd ritual? A response to someone's comment about his kicks? It's impossible to guess. All I can say is that he appears to be pulling his foot to his face and placing his nose directly to the toe of each shoe while inhaling. Boris watches intently through this whole process, and when it's complete he gives a definite nod, before looking away.

I've never seen him do this before, and after 13 years as a Spur, you don't see something new all that often. But that just piques my curiosity, it doesn't explain what's going on.

Finally, Manu stretches his legs out, settles into his seat and appears as if he's starting to tickle Boris on the knee. The whole thing couldn't be any more random or inexplicable. Check it out for yourself and comment with your own theories on what's happening here.

huge H/T to redditor hawaiidesign without whom I'd have never seen this brilliant bit of Spurs ephemera