It’s not often you can share a family inside joke with a stadium full of people.  Saturday at Nationals Park, we did just that with a scoreboard birthday message.

We have a partial season plan, which to the Nats still somehow makes us “season ticket holders.”  Part of that distinction is a package of perks, including one free message.  We talked for a while about what we could get up there that would be both funny and actually permitted.

Early candidates were birthday greetings to either Fred Copleston or Yuri Bolshevik — names my brother I have used either for video game characters or in one of those instances in which a company insists you provide a name and email to access something online.

But then a far better plan presented itself in the form of an actual baby in our family.  As I write this he hasn’t been born yet, but he is overdue.  We’ve known his name for a while, but before we did, we all took to calling him Jebez Wallerand — both first names of ancestors from my dad’s side of the family

He may have a real name when he actually joins us, but since he refused to follow the timeline, we think it’s perfectly acceptable to welcome him as we please:

Initially we thought people would see Jebez Wallerand (despite my video comments, this is the correct spelling) and think that was a crazy name.  But if you look closely at the one right after him, is his name really that out of the ordinary?

So welcome, Jebez, whenever you wish to be a part of our family.