Sometime during the first intermission, engineer Ryan Schulte hid a remote-controlled grasshopper behind Vitale's iPad. Then, with the game underway again in the second period, Schulte summoned the grasshopper directly into Vitale's view.
"Oh $%&^!" Vitale exclaimed as he pushed himself backwards and tossed off his headset in fear.
Thank goodness board operator Grant Francis hit the cough button.
The moment was captured on-camera by Schulte and intermission show host Alex Ferrario, who were prepared with their cell phones rolling. You can watch the video above.
You can also listen to the moment as it originally aired on 101 ESPN below.
No one knows yet who came up with the prank, but it's likely the culprit was on the team's flight home from the Sept. 24 preseason game in Wichita, Kansas. On that flight, witnesses saw a grasshopper flying around the plane's cabin, and at one point, it landed on Vitale, causing him to jump in fright and nearly spill his drink.
To be fair, Vitale probably wasn't expecting a grasshopper to show up during Monday's game, so we'll cut him some slack.
After all, there are plenty of spooky things out on Halloween night. We just didn't know a grasshopper was one of them.
