Aspergers + Performing as a mascot = WIN

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This past August, I found a job that my Asperger's Syndrome is actually very useful in!

I live in the town of Brockton, MA. We have a minor league baseball team called the Brockton Rox. Beginning in the 2003 season, they got a mascot: an anthropomorphic boxing kangaroo named K-O (the reason for the kangaroo is because of Brockton's legacy in Brockton, including Rocky Marciano.) For a while back I was thinking, "Hey, that could be fun."

I researched a bit about the character. In 2011, I began working for the Brockton Rox in concessions and maintenance. But I began to move up after a while. Then, one night in August, it was the final "regular" game of the season, and fan appreciation night. K-O's regular performer was unavailable, so the staff decided to give me a shot. In the end, they all said I did a great job, and I'm pretty much K-O's main performer for now!

(Yes, that's me as K-O in the photo!)

Getting into the suit was initially a hassle, though.The body has plastic hoops and a little padding so K-O can keep his shape, and the back on the version I wore closed via buttons and Velcro. Getting into the shoes was a little tricky too, and they had to be tied pretty well. The mask has a helmet of sorts inside it, and is strapped to the body and stuffed underneath K-O's jersey. After a while I began to learn how to work the suit pretty well.
The costume was very hot, not surprisingly. I was initially pretty sweaty, and it reminded me a lot of when I'd wear my Big Bad Wolf mask on Halloween, but at least I had better vision, and I learned how to walk really well with the big shoes on.
What kept me going, though, was all the attention I received. Most of the kids LOVED me. It was almost like being one of the Beatles; I kept being mobbed by fans wherever I went. One part I loved was visiting the skybox suites; at one of them I gave the kids a really special up-close and personal experience.
During the "base race" after the second inning (when K-O races a small child), I had a little problem. My shoe came flying off by mistake! Luckily I managed to pull it back on quickly without ruining the magic enough. The staff didn't mind, and thought it was actually a GOOD thing, because K-O is supposed to let the kid win (I was initially wondering how I'd screw up until I lost my shoe!) A few of the guys thought I did it on purpose, but I said it was an accident, and a good one!
There were a few kids that tried pulling my tail. I acted as if it hurt, and waved a "disapproving" finger at them, and they got the message. Another kid wound up swiping the marker I used to sign autographs. One of his friends said "You'd better give it back or he'll go all kangaroo on you!" Of course I wasn't being mean, but I did pretend to throw a few fake Scrappy Doo-esque punches to show that I really did mean business as a kangaroo! Then I got the marker back.
At first I wondered how I'd manage to get through the shift (they really need a mirror in K-O's dressing room!) but by the end, I had fun. My mom and dad even came to the game when they heard the news that I was K-O, and took plenty of pictures!









The second time I was K-O, it was for a playoffs game (the Rox sucked at it, unfortunately.) My brother and his girlfriend came to watch me then. At one point they had a T-shirt promotion thing where the fun team and K-O toss out T-shirts to fans in the crowd. I tried to toss a couple of them to my brother, but failed (others got them, and there was one punk that was a fan of the other team that was really rude to my brother.) At least my brother understood that I was trying to help
I also made the rounds on the concourse, posing for pictures, high-fiving and hugging kids, and signing autographs. Again, I LOVED the attention I got from kids, teens and even adults. There were only a couple tail-pullers this time, but of course I simply wagged a disapproving finger at them I also loved visiting some of the families on the skybox suites. Imagine the sight; me knocking on the door, and then a kid opening as he and the others gasp in delight and want to be all over me! I wanted to make the visit up-close and personal for each family.
Since the Rox were doing lousy, whenever the rival team would score and/or the Rox fans in the crowd would boo, K-O would make "Nyah-nyah" gestures and hold his nose at the other team. As K-O, I know a far greater openness and have a much stronger inclination to try new things and expand outside the bounds of my personality.
A couple of times, the loudspeakers suddenly started playing a familiar tune I never heard them play before: the Baby Elephant Walk! I remembered the old Simpsons episode when Homer became Dancin' Homer, the mascot for the Springfield Isotopes, and so I performed the same dance moves that Dancin' Homer did! The crowds loved it, even if they didn't know what I was referencing. And then somewhere in the eighth inning when the Rox got a run, I jumped right up onto the concourse and began dancing to "We Like to Party" as if I was a more tame version of Mr. Six! That got the crowd going too!
Also at one point, an old woman pulled me over and whispered to me that one way she could tell the K-O performer was different from last year was because I was much more friendly with children than Steve or Jim were! I practically blushed inside the mask

I have also played K-O for three off-season events so far, including one on Halloween day, and another at a book fair at an elementary school in Taunton. It's loads of fun, and I think my kangaroo alter-ego is a great way to express myself in non-verbal ways I normally can't do...

Glad you enjoy it.

That's awesome! I'm glad you have found your calling.

That is a great job!

That is a great job! I think we actually do better with kids than a lot of NTs.

congrats! brockton isn't always the most aspie friendly place either...

Yay! I wanna be a furry!

Big difference between having fun in a mascot suit (I'd love it!) and the "furry" life, where they really take on whole new personalities, etc! I know a couple of 'em... they're.... odd.

You totally need to strut down the highstreet dancing i nthat outfit .

I was actually thinking about this last night at a hockey game: I would LOVE to be a mascot and would make an excellent one. I'm very child like and not afraid to be over dramatic and kids love my personality. I always look at mascots and shake my head: many have NO idea how to deal with children or adults properly while wearing the suit.

This would be one of the few times where adults would appreciate my unique personality. Too bad I'm so insanely tall that I would never fit in a suit!

Before Brad Pitt was famous one of his jobs was working as the El Pollo Loco chicken mascot.

I love it!

That is so awesome!

I'm terribly self-conscious in front of even small crowds, but I've recently been wondering if wearing a costume would make it any easier. Very interesting.

Congrats! I am glad you have found something fun you can do and enjoy. Best of luck!

Update time!

Yes, I am still K-O's main performer, doing off-season stuff for now, and the 2013 Brockton Rox season is getting closer. I have been having more fun as K-O, too!

(This was taken just yesterday.)

It could be worse. My high school alma mater, Red Lion is a , wait for it, Lion.

My undergraduate university are currently known, deprecatingly among us older alumni, meaning those of us that graduated before y2k, as the crimson canaries, er crimson hawks. A lot of us older alums, especially those of us in the Marching Band from the Danny DiCIcco and Charles "Uncle Chuckie" Casavant eras (the two golden eras of that world famous organization, since they played the home games of the Steelers, Colts, Foreskins, er Redskins during the Dr. DiCicco era, and the Steelers, Iggles (Eagles, for those of you that don't get the Filthydelphia accent), the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the French Bicentennial parade in the mid 1980's in Paris under Dr. Casavant.) are still pissed off at the NCAA for forcing us Division III schools to lose their long time mascot, the Indian. What really gets the alumni's goat is that Division I schools like Illinois (The Illini and Chief Illiniwek) and Florida State (The Seminoles) still get to keep their mascots unscathed. My graduate School alma mater, Shippensburg State (where the Appalachian Trail runs parallel to the western boundary of the University's Campus, was also forced to give up their mascot, which was also an Indian. Shipp, as the university is commonly called, was known as the Red Raiders. At least the only had to change the mascot, which is now, wait for it, a schooner. The only change they made to their nickname was dropping the word Red. The also changed their recruitment advertising at the time to, wait for it, again, SHIPP HAPPENS!! ! Those of you that are in a scatalogical frame of mind can substitute Shipp with the vernacular form of feces.