Fans of some teams have terrible towels. Others have rally monkeys.
At Omaha Storm Chasers games the past six weeks, fans have been inspired to "Stir Up The Storm" by a guy swirling a plastic juice bottle that he's converted into a makeshift megaphone.
Season-ticket holder Jan Huff, a 57-year-old Papillion resident, has become a bit of a Werner Park sensation since the team began featuring him in a short video that it plays on the stadium scoreboard to conjure up late-inning rallies.
"Our staff is always looking for that next promotional thing in the park," said Martie Cordaro, the Chasers' president and general manager. "And it's not necessarily to focus on Jan. It's more about getting fans into the game."
Huff is a former defense industry worker who has served on the Papillion Board of Adjustment and run for city council. He attended games occasionally with his family when the Kansas City Royals' Class AAA team played its home games at Rosenblatt Stadium. But he and wife Patty purchased season tickets last year when the team moved to its new stadium just a few minutes from their front door.
"I know some people think, 'There's the drunk guy,' but I'm just having fun," said Huff, who usually drinks only water at games. "I like getting everybody involved, and when they do, it makes my heart melt."
Two small allotments of T-shirts with Huff and the "Stir Up the Storm" slogan have sold out, with many of the fans having Huff autograph them. Fans ask for pictures with him and wonder if he actually works for the team. Huff passes out mini juice-bottle megaphones to kids - other fans have started to bring their own to games.
Another video, featuring Darryl Strawberry, calls upon fans to Stir Up the Storm. Cordaro said similar videos are planned featuring other people.
It all started with Huff, who drew the attention of fellow fans and Chasers employees last season, when his seats were behind the first-base dugout. He would often appear on the video board cheering, dancing or posing during promotions.
"Some people pay good money to exercise like this at fitness centers," Huff said.
This season, after Huff moved behind home plate, players started noticing him, too.
He said his "Stir Up the Storm" rallying cry evolved from one of the motions in the "Chicken Dance," a frequent between-innings activity at the ballpark. Huff holds his juice bottle over his head and twirls it in a circle while exhorting all to Stir Up the Storm.
He started using a juice-bottle megaphone years ago, when his kids were playing soccer. Son Jimmy is now one of the batboys.
By late June, the Chasers made Huff their unofficial cheerleader after the debut of the video, in which he adds a "Hey-Ho, Let's Go." The weekend of the Fourth of July, it became obvious they'd hit on something.
During fireworks night promotions, those attending games received hand-held fans that doubled as 3-D glasses for fireworks viewing. When the crowd was urged to "Stir Up the Storm," perhaps 5,000 of those fans were being twirled around.
"You never know if fans will want to do something that you're developing," Cordaro said. "But watching that from the upper suite level that weekend, that was when you knew we could build on it."
When not working the crowd with his variety of exhortations - he'll use his bottle like a telescope and point to particular fans to get them to join in, or he'll break out a "Superman" pose - Huff also peppers the players with personal support.
He's got a short message for all of them, such as "Go-Go Lough," for outfielder David Lough. He'll needle opponents by calling them by the wrong first name.
"It's all fun and games," he said. "I'm real cautious not to do anything stupid."
Often he'll offer up just a plain, old "Stir It Up." Usually, various other "Stir It Up" calls follow from other spectators.
"We kind of laughed when we heard him start telling us to stir it up," first baseman Clint Robinson said. "But it's creative. He's a good fan who is always here supporting us. It gives a little bit of a rallying cry for the fans to get behind us."
The infectious slogan has spilled into the home team's dugout, too. Caps and towels have been seen stirring it up.
"When we've got guys on base, we do say it," Lough said. "We're saying 'Stir up the Storm' and 'Let's stir it up.' We'll get into it sometimes when they play it on the board. It's pretty fun."
Cordaro said the team is still working out the particulars of when and how often to start stirring up the storm on the video board. Though the message played less frequently on the last homestand, Cordaro said the cheer is here for the foreseeable future.
Huff, who grew up in Dayton, Ohio, attending Cincinnati Reds games featuring Pete Rose and Johnny Bench, said he's not interested in getting a cut from any of the merchandise the Chasers might make because of him.
"I'm just a fan having fun at the game," he said. "I'm not looking for anything like that. If one day I'm not there but they can keep that video and the T-shirts going, that would be great."
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