Ian Desmond will steal your opponent's soul, then your batting helmet.

You know, I always find myself watching every Nats game. I don't think it's healthy, really, but it keeps me from walking alleyways and punching strangers in the head and face, so there's that. Anyway, if I'm not at the game in person then I'm watching it on TV. Whether it's at home, at a bar, or at work, it's on. I find myself watching much more than just the action that takes place when the ball is in play, too. For instance, remember when I made that movie about Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham's home run celebration? (You don't? Can't say I blame you...)

Well, I picked up on something at some point during this season, and it's the fact that Ian Desmond likes to pluck the batting helmet from the head of a Nat that just hit a home run. I can't remember when I first noticed it, though, so I went back through all of the ten home runs hit by the Nats this season. The first home run came on 4/7/12, and it was hit by Adam LaRoche. Persusing the video evidence, we can see that someone does, in fact, remove his lid for him. We just cannot see who: 

Yes, Desi is behind him, but we can't see clear proof that he took it from his head. In fact, Desi's then seen high-fiving some dude I've never seen before a split second after LaRoche's head is exposed. Now, without further ado, let's explore the other nine home runs the Nats have hit after the jump, shall we? 

Okay, I lied. Or, more like misspoke. You see, there aren't dugout reception shots from all of the ten Nats home runs. That, and the fact that Desi himself has two of the remaining nine home runs leaves only seven more to look at.

4/8/12  -  Danny Espinosa HR. No dugout reception video on the replay up at mlb.com.

4/10/12 - Adam Laroche HR. Again, no look on the replay.

4/10/12 - Ian Desmond HR. He took off his own helmet.

4/13/12 - Xavier Nady HR. Desi was on deck, so he couldn't take off Xavier's helmet.

4/16/12 - Wilson Ramos HR. Ramos takes his own helmet off upon approaching the dugout.

4/19/12 - Ryan Zimmerman HR. A HA! VIDEO EVIDENCE:

  

Yup, Desi scoops the bucket from Zimmy's noggin.

4/20/12 - Rick Ankiel HR. Video Evidence: 

Desi is, indeed, the head undresser.

4/21/12 - Jayson Werth HR. Video evidence:

There's Ian exposing Jayson's cantaloupe.

Most recent HR - 4/21/12 - Desi himself. And no one defrocked his melon.

What can we gain from this footage? We can gain an appreciation for me looking at stupid things, and then spending hours documenting them. And we can also gain an appreciation for how much fun this squad (and Ian in particular) is having. Watching ball is awesome this year. Unless you're Ian Desmond. He doesn't know what watching ball looks like. You see, he's swung at the first pitch he's seen in 44% of his at-bats.*

Hey! Do you like to buy cool t-shirts? Welp, nothing to see here, but if you like to buy mediocre t-shirts, you're in luck! The term K-Street for the 2012 Nats rotation has been circulating through the media lately, and although no one really "owns" the term (it's for all of Nats Town to share) it seems to have been propelled to the Twittersphere by David Huzzard. His tweeting about it, and the subsequent twitter references by other Nats Town folks, led to questions about when a t-shirt might come out. Well, I decided to put a few questions up on Twitter, got a lot of feedback, and ended up with a design that went to press. There are two design colors, and while they're on red and blue shirts in the store, please keep in mind that you can change the shirt color, if you so choose. Click the picture of the shirt below to take a gander. (And thanks for allowing me to shove all these shirts on you all. I appreciate you not hurling tomatoes back at me. I really do.)

*That's the hands-down winner for worst forced pun of 2012 by anyone, anywhere. I'll accept my reward at anytime.