SAN ANTONIO – It’s customary for San Antonio sports champions to celebrate on the River Walk — but the San Antonio FC took it a jump further.
SAFC defender Mitchell Taintor celebrated in the San Antonio River during their parade at the Arneson Theater on Tuesday night.
Video from the parade showed Taintor with the USL championship trophy before he disrobed and jumped straight into the river. He then swam to the sidewalk — where the crowd was losing their minds — and then chugged a Michelob Light.
See the wild moment in the video player above.
The boat’s driver picked up Taintor on the edge before the teammates went up on the stage for a presentation and speeches.
Of course, Taintor couldn’t get enough of the river — even with temperatures in the upper 40s/lower 50s.
Taintor and attackers Ignacio “Nacho” Bailone and Justin Dhillon jumped in, this time with the trophy.
The SAFC players were celebrating the franchise’s first title after beating USL powerhouse Louisville City FC 3-1 on Sunday night.
“We knew that we weren’t going to lose at home,” Taintor said after the game. “We knew that it wasn’t a matter of if we were going to win, it was a matter of how much. These fans give us so much confidence, and it’s a truly special place to play in the playoffs. There’s no other place like it.”
SAFC is the first club in USL Championship history to finish with the best overall regular season record and win the title. The club also won the Copa Tejas, the Copa Tejas Shield, the Regular Season Champion Shield, the Western Conference Championship trophy and the USL Championship Cup.
And for those of you wondering — yes, according to a San Antonio city ordinance, it is illegal to swim in the River Walk and violators could be fined up to $500. But something tells us that even if the players were to be cited, they’d still have smiles on their faces as they paid up.
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