Saturday, July 18, 2009

Railcats Mascot

Last night we went to a Gary Railcats baseball game. They have a nice stadium, lots of entertainment, some pretty good baseball, and last night ended with a really good fireworks display. They have two mascots providing lots of diversion, Rusty and Rascal.

They did lots of cute fun antics that had the crowd enthralled. Rusty seemed especially proud of his pelvic thrusts I mean dance moves.


It was all in good fun but there was one thing that haunts me yet today. Rusty held out his fist for a fist bump toward a little boy about 6 or 7 years old. The little boy came running up and just as he put out his own fist Rusty turned his back. The little boy seemed hurt and confused and walked back to his seat but Rusty relented. He came back, held out his fist, the little boy's mother encouraged him to go get his fist bump, and the little boy returned with his fist out only to have Rusty turn his back as soon as the boy got there. Ahhhhh. Good times. Very entertaining for everybody except the little boy AND his family. And me. I felt like it was a humiliating experience for the boy and he didn't know quite how to handle it.

For the most part it was an enjoyable evening but this one little incident kind of put a damper on it for me. Am I being overly critical?

4 comments:

  1. Was Rusty doing this on purpose???? If so, then no, you're not being overly critical. If he did this on purpose then he shouldn't be doing this job. Good pictures, though....

    AmyA

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  2. Definitely not being overly critical. Think about going to the Railcats website and emailing. They may think it's funny and not even think about what a little kid would feel. I feel so sorry for him. Glad you had a good time though.

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  3. Um no, what the hell was Rusty's problem?

    Obviously an 18 year old boy is under the mask with no idea what it means to be sensitive AND fun all at the same time.

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  4. I can say that it appears the RailCats have addressed this issue. We went to multiple games this past 2014 season. Only once on a busy weekend did Rusty not come to greet our children in our seats. Each time he took a minute or two with the kids, even watching a few batters with our son on his lap. Talk about making our little guys day! Any idiot can dance and act like a fool on top of a dugout, but this personal touch is something special. Lets just hope they have the same person back this year.

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