Last road trip ritual has Reds rookies decked out in women's duds

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[size="5"][b]Last road trip ritual has Reds rookies decked out in women's duds
[/b][/size]Last Updated: 1 hour and 55 minutes ago


By: Dennis Janson

CINCINNATI - Reds pitcher Logan Ondrusek is a big man: 6 feet 8 inches tall with Texas ears to match. He looks like a cab with the back doors open, able to hear things discernable only to an AWACS aircraft or police canines.

So to see him hauling sheer black nylons over his wooly legs this afternoon was something of a disconnect for the uninitiated. Especially since he wasn't the only one.

Everywhere you looked in their clubhouse Thursday, Reds rookies prepared to board the team's charter flight to Houston, by donning women's clothing.

And this was after a 3-1 loss!

What might have appeared to some a blasé attitude to losing was to others a welcome first glimpse of a team finally loosening up after a long tough slog to the top.

Bronson Arroyo explained that with nine or 10 rookies on the roster, he and fellow veterans felt that "22-year-olds with cottage cheese residing on their hindquarters" needed to take stock of such. And how better to underscore the physical expectations of Major Leaguers than to squeeze, reconfigure or otherwise enhance their shortcomings in women's clothing.

From garish wigs to bustiers and on down from there, Bronson explained that the cross dressing is a standard prank marking the start of the final road trip of the year.

And the Rooks were to remain so adorned on the bus, on their charter flight to Houston, through the hotel check in process and so on. Perhaps until Midnight or after according to Arroyo. "That’s in case Dusty wants a late night pizza picked up and delivered to his room."

The infliction of such good natured mortification, albeit on those least able to repel hazing, is the first sign of collective relief this team has exhibited all season.

Prior to today, the Reds, publicly at least, exhibited a mien more suited to a waiting room at the IRS audit center. The fact that the ice breaker came after a second frustrating loss to the Diamondbacks made it all the more noteworthy. But no less necessary considering how tightly wound and tight lipped they've been as this magical season unfolded.

Heretofore, they may have dared to dream. They are now emboldened to live it.


(Video in the link)


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