The 2012 Season
The 2012 Season was a banner year for the Washington Nationals, Roger Bernadina, and the Sharkadina phenomenon. The Nats made the playoffs, Bernadina hit .291/.372/.405, and more and more people (including players) started doing the "Shark Chomp."
​Other Nationals fans started wearing Shark hoods to the park and we got more and more media attention throughout the season. We made our own shirts and passed 1,000 followers on Twitter.
​Early in the season, we hosted an event at The Big Board DC. Dozens of Shark fans packed the upstairs bar and basically willed The Shark to hit his first home run of the season with a rousing "Shark!" chant.
​The Shark made national headlines later in the year with an amazing catch, showing off how he got his nickname in the first place. Dan Steinberg covered the National's reactions to The Catch.
​His popularity continued to grow, especially during Shark Week. Discovery Channel tweeted about Bernadina and the DC-based restaurant California Tortilla ran a Shark themed contest that we lost for a second year in a row.
​The Nats got on board with the Shark Week fun the following year and in 2013 chose to officially acknowledge the nickname (in something other than a tweet) by creating a limited edition Shark T-Shirt. It featured a drawing of Bernadina (complete with dorsal fin) doing the Shark Chomp in front of his new number, 33.