By now, you’ve probably seen ‘The Freeze.’ He’s the Atlanta Braves’ mascot and superhuman runner who takes on fans in a footrace between innings.
In the team’s “Beat the Freeze” promotion, a fan runs from foul pole to foul pole along the warning track and even gets a significant head start on The Freeze.
Then, when signaled by the public address announcer, a spandex-wearing Freeze takes off in hot pursuit.
It really is one of the most entertaining 30 seconds in sports right now.
Take a look:
this is the funniest thing that will happen at a sporting event this year pic.twitter.com/f6Yq9lErin
— Joon Lee (@iamjoonlee) June 10, 2017
So, who is The Freeze? According to The Washington Post, the “man behind the ski goggles” is Nigel Talton, 26, a grounds crew member since 2012 and former collegiate track star.
Talton ran for Iowa Wesleyan, where he broke a 23-year-old record during his freshman year before transferring to Shorter University. The first chance to showcase his running prowess for the Braves organization came during one of the final games at Turner Field last season, in another between-innings contest — usually reserved for fans — called the stolen base challenge.
To win, fans had to run from the left field corner, grab a base in the outfield behind second and bring it back to the start within 20 seconds. Talton had plenty of time to spare.
Talton did the challenge in about 13 seconds, so the Braves kept him in mind for their new stadium challenge. When asked to be The Freeze, he signed on without hesitation.
But, don’t think that’s his only “job.” Talton works full-time as a nighttime security guard and then hits the track to at 10:00 a.m. each day to train. His ultimate goal is to make the U.S. track and field team.
“I just want to inspire people not to give up on their dreams no matter what, even if your path is detoured,” said Talton, who noted his “path was detoured” from the Rio Olympics to his new aim, the 2018 world indoor championships in England.
Now that’s a mission and a mascot to root for.