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Cyclones double-dip with 2nd ‘Seinfeld’ Night

Cyclones double-dip with 2nd ‘Seinfeld’ Night
Photo by Steve Solomonson

Cyclones fans got to see their team win, watch one player set a team record, and meet some of the faces from their favorite show. They got it all!

Not even the immutable laws of physics could stop fan favorites like Kenny “the real” Kramer, or Steve Hytner — the actor who played Kenny Bania — from making their way to MCU Park on June 5 for the Cyclones’ second Salute to Seinfeld Night, where fan didn’t just watch a baseball game; they also got to watch some bad dancing and people eating out of the garbage.

“I just love the episode with Elaine dancing,“ said Elaine Dance Contest winner Andi D’Angelo, who took home the first prize of a big salad in honor of Elaine Benes and the episode “The Little Kicks,” where the character dances awkwardly. “I hurt my foot recently and I was kind of limping around all week. That may have given me the advantage.”

D’Angelo, who competed in the event a year ago but lost, said that watching the entire “Seinfeld” series with her husband was one of the couple’s first activities after marriage, so it’s no surprise that he competed in the Mr. Pitt Relay Race — in which competitors had to hand off a Woody Woodpecker toy to one another as they race around the bases.

Other nods to the iconic sitcom included a contest for throwing Jujyfruit candy into an urban sombrero, a muffin-top eating competition, a pair of Crazy Joe Davola clowns who threw out a ceremonial pitch, and a fan of the episode “The Bris” who came dressed as the mythic pigman.

The evening also featured an eating out of the trash contest inspired by the episode “The Gymnast,” where George Costanza helps himself to the most recently deposited piece of food inside a kitchen wastebasket. The man who won the contest — and took home the first prize of trash bags and a Play Now rubber ball (another Costanza reference) — insists he didn’t practice leading up to the event, but childhood eating habits helped him achieve victory.

“I’ve always been a fast eater since I was a kid,” said Bill Fell, who bested four other contestants in devouring four chocolate treats from the bottom of a wastebasket filled with toilet tissue. “Whoever ate the fastest usually got the most.”

Fell’s daughter entered the retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel in the contest when she bought him tickets to the game, his first time seeing the Cyclones, as a Father’s Day gift. Fell, currently the interim director of athletics for the United States Merchant Marine Academy, said he loves “Seinfeld,” and that Seinfeldian moments always seem to come up at his office. He plans to come back to MCU Park soon.

“Kudos to the Cyclones,” Fell said. “They were great hosts. We’ll definitely be going back to see another game.”

Reach reporter Eric Faynberg at (718) 260–2508 or by e-mail at efaynberg@cnglocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericfaynberg.