Goosed by success, Padres embrace fowl of various feather

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Remember the San Diego Chicken? Well, the long-ago iconic mascot of the Padres has some competitors.

There’s a brand new fowl on the town. The Rally Goose.

The Padres and their followers adopted the goose as a good-luck appeal after an actual one landed within the Dodger Stadium outfield throughout their upset of Los Angeles within the NL Division Series.

The goose appeared on the enormous videoboard within the eighth inning of the NL Championship Series opener Tuesday evening, however he couldn’t revive the Padres. They misplaced 2-0.

Fans waved blow-up photographs of the goose within the stands. The Padres already offered Goose Island IPA at Petco Park, however the stand in left subject now encompasses a photograph of the Rally Goose with a Padres hat superimposed on its head.

A metropolis that hasn’t been within the NLCS since 1998 is clearly goosed by the Padres’ shocking success. Upsets of the New York Mets within the wild card collection and the big-money Dodgers have followers digging out T-shirts and jerseys courting to the membership’s founding in 1969.

And then there’s the Rally Goose.

The Pad Squad held up a hand-lettered Rally Goose signal earlier than the sport. A person dressed as a fowl in brown felt with a crimson beak mugged on the video board. The fowl has its personal mural through which it’s tagged because the San Diego Gooose on a constructing in close by Chula Vista.

William Deal, a 22-year-old from close by Carlsbad, plopped a duck hat with black felt feathers on prime of his Western-style hat. Standing 6-foot-8, he towered above the throngs of followers sipping beers and munching on every thing from tri-tip nachos to quick rib tacos to acai bowls and smoked beef brisket earlier than Game 1.

“When the goose landed on the field, I thought it was going to be a Dodger omen because they always beat us. We’ve always been terrible,” stated Deal, a Padres fan since age 5. “I feel like more championship teams that come from adversity, they have something that gets the fans going.”

Even a few red-clad Phillies followers endorsed the goose.

“It’s cute,” stated George Beebe, a Philadelphia native who moved to close by Solana Beach just a few years in the past.

His spouse, Maureen, added conspiratorially, “We’re Padres fans when the Phillies aren’t in town.”

Johnny Florentino, a 26-year-old Philadelphia native now dwelling in Las Vegas, was desperate to dive right into a pile of cheesesteak fries earlier than Tuesday’s recreation. He selected the gooey snack over the $15 cheesesteak sandwiches that featured American cheese or Cheez Whiz.

“They got the Whiz,” he stated. “If you got the Whiz, you’re all about Philly.”

Florentino and his 28-year-old girlfriend, Shawna Salamanopoulos, had been among the many small variety of Phillies followers within the crowd of 44,826.

“We’re diehard, but I’m not going to talk (crap) to these people,” he stated.

A smiling Salamanopoulos added, “But they’re talking (crap) to us.”

Nearby, Mike Morrell strolled the Petco Park concourse carrying a canine toy duck with actual pheasant feathers connected to a baseball cap. The 64-year-old from San Diego has adopted his hometown workforce since he was 5.

“It’s bringing good luck to all the San Diego sports teams,” he stated, mentioning how the goose appeared at a latest San Diego Wave FC ladies’s soccer recreation. “It’s a little bit different.”

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