The Y Guy

Sunday night was Wool E Bull's birthday! To celebrate, he had all of his mascot friends come to his birthday party. Well, Stephen got to be the representative for the YMCA and accompany Wool E at his birthday party as the Y Guy!

 He had a blast! The heat around here has been scorching lately. So, they moved the game from 5pm to 7pm. The Y Guy and all the other mascots had their picture made with Wool E before the game started. (Which, I don't have a copy of) The Bulls' staff began printing them immediately and the mascots got to sign them all for the kids to have. Then, the mascots got to greet guests at the gate. Several people The Y Guy knew came through, including one of the YMCA's campers!

I was told I would get a free t-shirt for being The Y Guy's guide. He has a hard time seeing and an even harder time knowing how wide his Y is. He hit several people in the head with the top of his Y as well as got stuck in several hallways. Anyway, I wore khaki shorts to look somewhat professional and the shirt I would wear to the game as a spectator (the blue one in the picture). Well, no free shirt was there so I walked around in this outfit all night. No big deal, except for the fact that every Durham Bulls employee wears a blue Durham Bulls shirt and khaki shorts. So, people came up to me all night long asking questions. At first, I tried to explain I didn't really work there, but that got complicated. So then I just started answering questions like I knew what I was doing. Other than a few eye rolls when I didn't know the answer, I did a good job fooling people.

The Y Guy also got to play in a game of tug of war. Of course the birthday boy's team won!

The mascots were divided into teams for all the activities to make sure they had plenty of breaks. Other mascots did a dizzy bat race and another group ran in the base race against Wool E. Finally, Wool E won a race! Usually he runs against kids and those small children always beat him, but tonight he took the victory and out ran all of his mascot friends!

During the breaks, we helped ourselves to a lot of Rita's frozen ice! And, as you can see Stephen was drenched...this picture was after being out for the first round of greetings. By the end of the night, everything on him was soaked with sweat. But, it was well worth it and I think he'd do it again anytime the Y Guy is needed to make an appearance!

Then, all of the mascots lined up in the main plaza to greet fans and take pictures. Look at this line...

Thankfully a storm was rolling in and there was a breeze accompanied by some sprinkles. So, greeting everyone in line wasn't too miserable.

Then, we got to enjoy the rest of the game as regular spectators. We had a great time! And, the Bulls won!

Overall, I think Wool E had a GrEaT birthday! Happy birthday, Wool E!