Presidential Try Outs

Today was the tryouts to be one of the running presidents for National's home games. Unfortunately they requested that no pictures be taken by non media attendees, and also have asked that if we are selected we not publicly announce it. So when I hear one way or the other I will simply post that I have heard but will not specify and I can either tell you in person or via email (Julie, looking in your direction) assuming that wouldn't violate the policy. Ok, here we go.......

I arrived at RFK around 8:30 this morning bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to don the presidential robes. It was pretty funny to see that all the other potential presidents looked pretty much the same as I do and seemed just as excited. By that I mean they were predominantly slightly scruffy guys in their mid to late 20's, dressed either in jeans or warm up pants and trying in earnest to eat the shit eating grins on their faces (as was I). There were only two women and to my amazement one had her arm in a sling. I have no idea how she navigated the weight of the costume with one less appendage. So I got to the business of sizing up my rivals. It wasn't long before my judging glares were interrupted by a reporter from the Washington Times who asked to interview me. He asked why I was trying out, where I was from, pretty much what you would expect but for me the day was just getting better. I was already excited to be there and now I get to be in tomorrow's paper (albeit a paper I never read).

Once I finished up with the interview it was time to go into the stadium. That's when I saw it up close....the field. It's hard to describe the feeling of being able to walk on a the field of a major league park, even a recently retired one. It was half pure wonderment and half sadness since I knew that RFK's glory days have come to an end. That experience was cut short as we had to make our way to the locker room but Let me tell you, seeing RFK from that angle made me feel as excited as a ten year old kid.

Once we made it to the locker room we had to fill out the expected waivers just in case anyone snapped a femur trying to prove that he or she was the real deal. After that we all sat around and listened to a very friendly Nationals staff give us a run down of the costumes and a lecture of what we could and couldn't do in the suit and what we could or couldn’t do if we were selected. Really everyone seemed pretty cool, staff and the people trying out. There was a lot of friendly banter amongst the hopefuls once the staff was done talking and as we waited for late arrivals. Of course this was a competition after all, but it really seemed like everyone was there was having a great time.
Finally it was time to suit up. I don't think I should go too much into detail about the actual mechanics of the costume since the staff seemed pretty adamant about the press not taking pictures of them before we put them on, but what I can tell you is that those things are damn heavy! We were told ahead of time that one of the prerequisites for trying out was the ability to run in a forty pound suit, but I still had no idea how awkward it would be to carry such a top heavy load. Naturally I volunteered to go first. Well, the truth is I had to go first because I had to get back to work today...but I digress. A staff member suited me up in the Thomas Jefferson costume and lead me and two others out on to the field with the rest of the thirty hopefuls and a bunch of media in tow.
There I was, dressed up as Thomas Jefferson lined up ready to race past the visiting team dugout against Abe Lincoln and George Washington (Teddy was mysteriously not in attendance)....literally....I had such a big grin my face hurt. And then we were off. Running in the costume turned out to be a hell of a lot harder than I had imagined. The head kept bobbing around on me and I could hardly see anything but I did manage to finish the race a very close second, although I think just the ability to run in the damn thing is all they really cared about. After the race they had us ham it up a bit and do some shtick. As a former actor this was my forte and I think I did a pretty good job, but who knows.

The last part of the tryouts consisted of an interview with more Nationals staff members. I liked these people a lot. They seemed like the type of people that I would have been friends with even if I wasn't trying to make a good impression. Although I guess if your job is working in baseball and you love it its pretty easy to keep a good attitude.

So that's it. I should find out in a week or two. Wish me luck because this was so much fun today I am still smiling.