Fredbird!!!

Ever since I was a little girl, I've admired the mascot for the St. Louis Cardinals. 

that's not me

Fredbird is without a doubt the coolest MLB mascot in the game. Here's some info on him from the St. Louis Cardinals' website in case you aren't familiar:

FREDBIRD'S STORY:

Fredbird was born in April of 1979...from the day he was hatched, Fredbird loved going to games with Mom and Dad Bird. He loved the crowd and the game itself, (he also like the popcorn, hotdogs, and soda too.) Before the games he was always playing around on the field with the players, umpires, and ushers. While watching the games he liked to have fun with the fans around him. One day Fredbird got up on the dugout and started dancing in between innings when they played music. Fredbird did this at every game and the fans loved it. As Fredbird got older he did more and more around the ballpark, dancing, playing with his watergun, playing jokes on the umpires, and shooting t-shirts out to the crowd. The Cardinals noticed how much the fans loved Fredbird and decided to give him a life-long contract as their mascot. Look for Fredbird at EVERY GAME that you go to, you will find him driving his truck, dancing on the dugout, or beaking a few fans' heads. Watch out, you might be next to be beaked!

I've admired Fred from afar for years now, always longing to meet him and maybe one day, if I'm very lucky, get beaked. I've even put "Meet Fredbird" on my bucket list... 

 Well last night, I had my chance. My brother-in-law gave me his tickets for seats right behind the Cardinals dugout and in the 5th inning, Fredbird came out to play.

He and the lovely ladies from Team Fredbird were doing their thing right in front of us - dancing to "Whoop There It Is" and tossing out t-shirts... I was distracted from my mission to hug the big furry bird, because I realized one of the two girls (the one closest) was in my sorority! I was busy trying to get her attention to give her a wave (and obviously snapping pictures) and I didn't notice that Freddie was cruising on by...

The time was now. If I was ever going to meet him, this was my perfect opportunity.

But I couldn't. I was glued to my chair.

No literally - I was stuck to my seat. It was about 109 yesterday and by the time the sun went down it cooled off to a refreshing 98. Everyone was soaked in sweat and using whatever they could find to fan themselves off. So when it came time to leap out of my chair to wave him over, I realized the skirt I was wearing was drenched and everyone behind me would have seen my sweat-soaked posterior. Laugh all you want - it was hot as balls.

So as I sat there silently cursing the hot temperature and the leather seat to which my ass was stuck, Fredbird swiftly got away.

He took a couple pictures with fans, put his beak over a couple of their heads (sob) and put his red plush tail in some old man's face, and all I could do was watch. Watch, and die a little inside as I continued to use my ballpark napkins to mop up my sweat. And tears.