Sitting with my family at a local pizza joint a few weeks back when the owner walks up to our table and declares, “I know who you are”. I smile, ask “who told you?” and introduce myself. I’m never quite sure what to say. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it happens enough that it’s no longer a surprise when it does. Believe me, I’m no celebrity, but I did have a very public profession and the fact that I was wearing a mask seems to have made it all the more intriguing to people.

There were a lot of things to get used to when I started performing, and even more when I got the job with the Boston Celtics. The first thing I noticed was that when I was out in the arena during a game it seemed like EVERYONE was watching me. While that wasn’t quite true, there were always hundreds, if not thousands, of eyes watching my every move. Talk about an odd sensation. That, I came to not even notice. By the end of my first season I had stopped even noticing that people were watching, although I was always conscience that I was constantly performing.

The questions were so frequent that after a few seasons I decided to have a t-shirt created with the answers to the Top 10 Most Frequently asked questions on the back. Over the course of that season I shot more than a thousand of those into the crowd during the games with my t-shirt cannon. It didn’t help. The questions still kept coming. (keep an eye out for a blog with those top 10 answers) Don’t get me wrong. I completely understand the questions. It’s a very curious thing. Why a grown man with a wife a 4 kids would be dressed head to toe in orange spandex is worthy of a question or two. The most common question was “Is it hot in there?” I guess there are a bunch of really dumb questions with obvious answers that just must be asked. Maybe it’s because there are times when you just can’t think of anything else to say. Like when you walk inside from a blizzard and proclaim “Cold one out there today, huh”. You immediately feel dumb for saying it, but next time you’ll likely say the same thing again.

While I eventually did get used to all the questions, I never have failed to notice them. The questions come in 2 different categories. Questions I got asked in costume & questions I get asked in person once someone finds out was the mascot. There is a BIG difference between the two. One you don’t have to answer and the other you do. Questions asked of a mascot in costume won’t be answered because mascots don’t talk… or aren’t supposed to. It’s a shame too because conversations between NBA mascots on the court are some of the funniest conversations I’ve ever been a part of. But when someone asks you a question in person you answer. Fortunately I’m a people person so I really enjoy connecting with new people.

The first question for a lot of folks was the same. How did you get THAT job? Most people would ask if I had been a gymnast or stunt man. Then there was the “Were you the mascot in college?” Eventually I started to wonder myself. How DID I get this job? I wasn’t all together sure. It seemed like it somehow found me. As though I just woke up one morning in Boston with a costume in the corner of the room and I had to leave for the arena at 1… oh, and don’t forget that costume. Of course that wasn’t true. Unknowingly I’d been preparing for this job for many years.

Then there was the question I asked myself over and over throughout the years. In fact, I still find myself asking it… usually as I got ready to do a stunt or show in a large arena, “How did I get myself into this?” Ever heard the phrase your mouth is writing checks that you body can’t cash? That’s kind of what I did for a living. Surprisingly my body would do it’s part 99% of the time. What about the 1%???? That usually required surgery of some kind (that’ll be another blog post). I remember very clearly my first season doing half-time shows standing in the tunnel at an Indiana Pacers game watching the clock tick down to the end of the first half. When that clock hit 00:00 we had to run out on the court with our mats & mini trampolines to do our show. I was TERRIFIED!!! I had two questions running through my mind. First, ‘how did I get myself into this?’ immediately followed by ‘How can I get myself out of this?’. I thought about faking an injury, but we hadn’t done anything yet. I thought about just running and never coming back, but I would never leave my teammates like that. The game clock soon did hit 00:00 and it was show time. I was shaking with terror but went out there anyway. We struggled through and pulled it off. Sitting back in the locker room after the show I was dizzy with excitement. I’d never experienced anything like that before. The rush was incredible! Adrenaline was still pumping through my system at max production. I didn’t think I would be able to sleep for a week, and I’m not sure I did.

Life is full of teachable moments. Eventually I began to see certain moments as teachable. I started to see that there were lessons to learn from being approached with questions on a regular basis. Hopefully, I learned how to be gracious and answer the same questions over and over again being thankful, and even flattered, that people were interested in something I did. All the questions also prompted me to be a little more introspective and try to understand just how it was I got there. There were 2 things that became very obvious. One, there was a long line of people who gave me opportunities that in many cases I really didn’t deserve. And secondly, that if God hadn’t wanted me here there was no way I’d be here on my own. God had opened doors that I simply had to be prepared to walk through. It was the people in my life that encouraged me and pushed me to be ready when those doors opened. My motto was, and still is, pray like everything depends on God, but work like everything depends on me.