Lester clarifies his stance on Nacho Man
The words “Nacho Man” were barely out of the writer’s mouth Saturday night when Jon Lester cut him off.
“I need to clarify something about old Nacho Man here,” said Lester, who took a lot of socialmedia heat for comments barely a week ago regarding the sudden celebrity status of a Cardinals fan whose nachos were accidentally kicked from his hands when Addison Russell dove into the stands for a foul ball.
Lester’s corner of the clubhouse quickly filled with laughter as he indulged the conversation about Nacho Man — underscoring an apparent looseness in the clubhouse, even after the tough late- inning loss to the Nationals in Game 2.
“I wasn’t saying nothing about him personally,” Lester said. “I was saying [ the issue was] the fact that people were asking for his autograph and taking pictures and him doing interviews.”
Russell even presented the man with a fresh tray of nachos on his way to the field an inning later, pausing briefly for a selfie.
Even after the Cubs won that night, Lester seemed in no mood for such frivolity, saying, “A guy fell into him and got nacho cheese on his arm, and now he’s taking pictures and signing autographs. It shows you where our society’s at right now with all that stuff.”
Twitter was all over him as soon as the comments went digital for his curmudgeonly, get- off- my- lawn tone.
Saturday’s question wasn’t even about the nacho stuff. It was about the Cubs fan in Washington who caught Anthony Rizzo’s home run onehanded to become his own instant celebrity.
Not that Lester ever got to that part of the question.
“Look,” he said, a slight smile apparent. “I have no quarrel with Nacho Man.”