Watching Jeff DaVanon

So yesterday brought the triumphant return of photo day. The day when the fans are allowed on the field (a thrill in itself) and the players and coaches are paraded in front of us, ostensibly for the purpose of taking photographs, but in reality, taking pictures would require them to pause on ocassion, so it is more of a parade/meet and greet/ experiment in becoming a member of the paparazzi.

There were a lot more fans on the field this year, and there were also a bunch more PR staffers. I unfortunately picked a spot near the PR staffers, who would prove to be the photo nazis. I think they are in several of my pictures, nudging players to move faster, or even dragging them by the arm.

The presence of the photo nazis meant that when Jeff came my way, I didn't feel like I could ask him to pose for a picture with me. I got him to stop for a regular picture, and then this happened:

Jeff (walking towards me): "hey, what kind of camera is that?"

Me (having a "file not found" moment): "um, it's a camera..."

Jeff: "Is it digital?"

Me (sort of looking at my camera as if I'd never seen it before) : "yes"

Jeff: "And that part swivels out to take the picture?"

Me: "Um, yeah."

Jeff: "Cool."

What the hell? I am left with three options:

1) Jeff is shopping for a new camera and decided that taking a survey on photo day would be an excellent way to collect information.

2)This was a subtle code worked out beforehand with the PR people, meant to alert them to the fact that the smemi-crazy jeff website person was here, but apparantly too stupid to be considered anything but harmless.

3) Noticing that I was wearing his t-shirt, he felt obligated to initiate a conversation with me and the "random smalltalk generator" that lives in his brain produced the camera business. Reference previous Jeff encounters which have almost always included random smalltalk.

Of course, Jeff was one of the first players to come around, so I spent the rest of the parade with one part of my brain still in "what the hell?" mode.

But I am happy to bring you the following exciting updates:

Tim Salmon put in an appearance. I was tempted to ask if the uniform fit OK. While waiting in line earlier, one fan had said "I sure hope Salmon will be there." I laughed and said "What, like he has someplace else to be? You know he'll be here. He has to be sure no one forgets him." He took his time making the loop of the field, shaking everyone's hand, chatting. It's like he was trying to get elected to the team.

Kevin Gregg made funny poses, which made me like him a lot more. They should all do that. When I do fan events I always say that it's about the illusion of access, and part of the illusion is feeling like you winessed a moment that showed a person's real personality.

Vlad made the rounds with his hat backwards. This was a smart move, you can see more of his face and you don't have to deal with the hat-shadows.

I highly recommend participating in photo day at least once in your life. What I find most telling is that it takes less than 30 min of actual time, but it is more satisfying and less stressful than the fan festival thing.

And then came the part where I had to pretend I didn't know my husband. But I'll let him tell you about that.