Seniors Cosmo Taylor and John Van Liere are two super fans that have brought a whole new level of wittiness and determination to the baseball bleachers. This dynamic duo operates off the field in the bleachers or on the hill in left field during home games, banging on instruments and heckling the opposing team’s players.
“It’s all about deception and confusion,” Taylor said.
The baseball team’s two loudest fans will do whatever it takes to give their team the edge.
“Being a musician, I always keep a lot of miscellaneous instrument equipment in my automobile,” Van Liere said. “One day we were discussing ways to mess with the opposing teams so we went to the baseball game and I brought all of my equipment and cow bells, Cosmo brought the chairs and we just went to town.”
Since then, the pair has attended seven other games. The baseball team has lost only once when they were in attendance.
“As a basketball player I remember being hollered at a lot, especially comments directed at my hair. So that’s how I rationalize the playful banter that we engage in,” Van Liere said.
Taylor’s rationale isn’t as complex. According to Taylor, he just really enjoys annoying people.
“It perks my interests and I just felt like this was a natural thing for me,” Taylor said.
When Redwood took on Marin Catholic on the road, Van Liere and Taylor stood on a flatbed truck just beyond the outfield fence and yelled at the Marin Catholic left fielder. Soon enough, one of the Redwood coaches asked the two to stop. But, the Redwood players seem to feed off of the pair’s energy.
“It’s fun and amusing having them there,” said senior catcher Trevor Foehr. “They actually cheer us on.”
Baseball isn’t the only sport where Van Liere and Taylor partake in their drum-banging behavior. According to Van Liere, the track team appreciated their support, even offering them free t-shirts.
Favorite moments:
“My favorite moment is when we made a kid mess up very badly. It was in the Tam game, it was a huge pop up into deep center field and I thought he caught it but we were cowbelling and everything. He dove out for it and I yelled, ‘Oh, he dropped it’ and I think he dropped it when he heard it because he thought that’s what he was supposed to do,” Taylor said.
According to Van Liere, the origin of the cow bell dates back to Ross Valley Little League.
“This woman would show up to every one of her son’s games with a cowbell and would just absolutely beat the crap out of the thing,” Van Liere said. “Because of this they had to make a no cowbell rule for Ross Valley Little League and I’m hoping to make it become a rule for MCAL.”
The two of them will continue their shenanigans throughout the playoffs and hope the team will continue its success with their biggest fans in attendance.
