After suffering blowout losses in games 2 and 3 of the National League Division Series playoffs, Nats fan and “Rubber Chicken Man” Hugh Kaufman announced his plans to sacrifice a chicken at Nationals Park before Thursday’s Game 4.
Apparently, it worked.
The videos below show Kaufman leading a crowd including two stilt walkers (!) in the sacrifice before the game, and completing the ritual above the Nationals home dugout.
“What you want to do (first) is see: Is there evil eye on the dugout?” Kaufman explains. “In Italian it’s called the malocchio.”
Kaufman then brings out the beheaded rubber chicken to complete the ritual. “In the latin culture, there’s a religion called santeria, similar to the Jewish culture of Kaporos,” Kaufman says. “You put the animal over the area that needs help. You take the sins, and you put it into an animal, and you sacrifice the animal.”
Kaufman, has sacrificed dozens of rubber chickens since 2005 on behalf of his beloved Nationals, attracting the attention of fans and of pitcher Gio Gonzalez, and inspiring Chicken Mode t-shirts. With Gio on the mound Friday to start game 5, expect to see some Chicken Mode on display.
LET TEDDY WIN 