Buy me some tacos and cracker jacks...

Having spent a larger portion of my high school years in stirrup pants than I'd like to admit, I'm not really accustomed to attracting the attention of cheerleaders, and am generally a little nervous when I do. But the part of my brain that recognizes potential public disgrace was, tragically, silent today.

So when a Guerrerita (a cheerleader for the local triple A team -- Go Guerreros!) approached us at the stadium today and asked if eight of us would be willing to accompany her for a special task, I was more than happy to oblige. We were all aware that our selection may have had something to do with racial profiling. The stadium wasn't exactly packed, and we were definitely the largest (if not the only) group of gringos in the joint.

The potential for being subjected to humiliating behavior was clear, but what's life without adventure? Not only did I agree to complete some anonymous task, I actually strong-armed some of my friends into coming along.

"What's the worst that could happen?" I asked. "We face catastrophic humiliation and make asses of ourselves in front of dozens. So what's the big deal?"

And so eight of us left our seats and happily followed the friendly stranger into the unknown.

I'm not going to tell you what happened next. I really think Holly had the best on-the-ground perspective of the whole scene, so I'll leave that to her. Suffice it to say that the stadium seemed a lot fuller on the walk back to our seats. The interminable walk back to our very, very distant seats.

On the bright side, the Guerreros trounced the Yucatan Leones, 7-1, and everybody got a free hat. Holler!

I'm not going to accuse the cheerleaders of applying a double standard, but it is worth noting that the two chicos who volunteered got a completely different assignment, which was fairly incomprehensible. I believe it involved carrying a heavy sack for some distance, but in the video below (which I can post confidently, since Mike still hasn't figured out how to log in and cannot remove it) shows the action.

It kind of looks like he's taking out the garbage, but I assure you it was much more dramatic at the time.