Oakland A's players and fans who love the "Bernie" dance will be able to see the creator up close on Saturday as actor Terry Kiser will throw out the ceremonial first pitch against the Boston Red Sox.
"This is going to be big, like watching the Roger Bannister four-minute mile or Usain Bolt and his Olympic medals," Kiser said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Bernie pitch."
The A's players started playing the song in the clubhouse this season after hearing Infinity SoAwesome release a rap song called "Moving Like Berney," based on the character of the "Weekend at Bernie's" movies. A's center fielder Coco Crisp started using the song every time he came to bat, and the fans went crazy.
"The reasons players love him is because he's a role model," Kiser said of his Bernie character. "He never gets hurt. He feels no pain. He gives 100 percent -- of nothing."
Kiser might be joking about this weekend's event, but he was a star athlete in Omaha, Neb., in the late 1950s. He played running back alongside Washington Redskins great Pat Fischer and was all-state in football and all-conference in basketball.
"Everyone was focusing on stopping Fischer, so I would just be able to walk into the end zone," Kiser said. "We were nicknamed the 'Touchdown Twins.'"
And don't think the Bernie franchise is totally dead -- literally.
Kiser has written a script for a new movie called "Bernie Does Extreme Sports."
"I do have one thing to say before I let you go. I need to stop this terrible rumor about Bernie," Kiser said. "He is not juiced.
Formaldehyde is not on the list of banned substances. Please tell your audience that."