If he had ever met an angry black bear face-to-face, I'm sure his quote would be like: "I'd rather face a python than a black bear!"
Some people
Then again, those snakes are something I would consider too large for me to comfortably handle. I probably wouldn't go and pick it up either. But that doesn't mean I'm afraid of it.
Maybe if you had a narrower outlook on life and animals, these kinds of things would happen to you? Seems like these critters seem to always find the biggest skeptics.