The Spurs created an awkward kiss cam moment. Here’s what actually happened

On Tuesday, the San Antonio Spurs posted a video of a man and a woman in the AT&T Center stands before the previous night’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

It begins like most videos of fans realizing they’re on the big screen: the two see themselves on camera, wave, and look a little bit embarrassed, before the camera moves on to someone else.

But then the Spurs did something else: they put the camera back on the pair, San Antonio first grade teacher Kristin Hinojosa and Kyle Collins, a golf coach. The Spurs added the text: ‘First date?’ The couple squirmed, visibly uncomfortable with being on camera, as the Spurs added a new prompt: ‘Are you sure?’ At that point, Collins tried to kiss Hinojosa, who dodged him. ‘Well this got awkward,’ read the screen, as the pair tried to hide their faces before the camera panned away. The camera then returned to the couple one more time with a piece of cartoon mistletoe, under which the pair kissed at last.

It was not, in fact, Hinojosa and Collins’ first date: they’ve been a couple for nearly a year. And in a strange coincidence, their first date was indeed at a Spurs game in January.

“We were just sitting there and then they put the camera on us,” said Hinojosa when reached by phone Thursday. “We’re both super shy people, which is why we reacted the way we reacted. It was quite embarrassing.”

“I’m a teacher, so my first thought always is: are there students around?” she said. “You always see kids out as a teacher. What am I wearing? What am I holding? That kind of thing. So that was my first thought: Don’t do this!”

The dodge, she says, happened because she was thinking of her students. “I thought, if I have kids here, that’s inappropriate. I wouldn’t want my teacher kissing on the screen. I teach first grade, so they’re all 6 and 7 and they think kissing is gross.”

“We would probably be the perfect example of not wanting to be on the screen,” said Hinojosa. “But this is an experience we’ll never get again.”

“Hopefully,” she added.

Hinojosa laughed it off -- but it raises a broader issue. Why would the Spurs keep two people on camera who very visibly didn’t want to be there? Throughout the entire 65-second long video -- three separate instances of filming over the space of a few minutes, which Hinojosa said “seemed like forever” -- both of them look unhappy to find themselves on the big screen. Both try to hide their faces. Both gesture to the camera to indicate that they want the filming to stop.

It wasn’t explicitly the Kiss Cam, but the screen read ‘Are ready for kiss cam?’ [sic] when it started, and the implication was clear: the camera will be on you until you kiss, even after Hinojosa dodged Collins’ attempt. Hinojosa and Collins are indeed a couple, but the camera operators had every reason to think that they didn’t want to kiss -- whether because they were on the big screen or because they just didn’t want to. It was a bizarre and inappropriate attempt by the Spurs to force them to do so in front of thousands of people. The Spurs did not respond to a request for comment.

“We were just laughing about it. Our phones were blowing up,” said Hinojosa. “Everyone’s like, ‘oh, friendzoned!’ or whatever, but we actually know that we’ve been together for close to a year, and I think that’s why it’s more humorous.”

“Now, had we been on an actual first date, it might have been different,” she said. “It would have been interesting to see if there would have been a second one.”

The Spurs will have another chance to do better: Hinojosa and Collins will be back at the AT&T Center to see the Spurs face the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.