# Best or Most interesting Mascot? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 25, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226 "2014-05-25T04:31:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/1 "2014-05-25T04:31:59Z")
Sometimes the best part of a sports game is the antics of the mascot. College to pro these guys can be pretty funny. IMO the best was the first - The Famous San Diego Chicken. Before he started doing his thing in the 1970’s I read most teams didnt have a mascot or the mascot didnt really entertain much. But the Chicken really made his act part of the game. According to his site: “His impact is such that The Sporting News editors named him as one of The Top 100 Most Powerful People in Sports of the 20th Century. He’s on a list that includes Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth, Jesse Owens, Pete Rozelle, Ted Turner and Wayne Gretzky among others.” Link: [http://www.famouschicken.com/biography.html](http://www.famouschicken.com/biography.html) Mascots are also basically an American thing. You wont see them in Europe or Asia. Here in Kansas City the biggest 2 are “Slugger” for the KC Royals and “KC Wolf” for the Chiefs. My favorite is the Wolf because he often gives inspirational talks where he takes off his costume and talks to kids. Other interesting mascots are for food companies like “Twinkie the Kid”. So in your opinion who/what is the most interesting mascot and have you had any special experiences with a mascot? ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/2 "2014-05-25T04:48:15Z")
[University of Northern Colorado](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Whites) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/3 "2014-05-25T06:26:13Z")
[Aubie the Tiger (Auburn)](http://www.auburn.edu/student_info/student_life/aubie/) ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/4 "2014-05-25T09:07:28Z")
Going to move this over to the Game Room. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/5 "2014-05-25T09:33:54Z")
The Phillie Phanatic, hands down the best. Frankly, most are pretty lame, generally clumsy, garish moving bobble-heads, with noggins the size of Barcaloungers. Their expressions are cemented and their movements limited, so they never let you suspend your “this is a guy in a suit” perception. They wander slowly around the stadium with an unchanging expression, waving and high-fiving the kids. And that’s it. The best mascots create personas, they have a range of movement, they create an impression of changing expression somehow. They’re funny and physical. The Phanatic is large, funny, animated, immature, unsophisticated, and I still laugh at him and I’m 53. From the [New Yorker](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/sportingscene/2014/01/why-is-baseball-so-bad-at-mascots.html): > [@](#): > > There are thirty M.L.B. teams but only two good mascots: Mr. Met and the Phillie Phanatic. Mr. Met is credited with being the first live-action, costume-wearing mascot in baseball, having made his début in 1964, when the Mets moved into Shea Stadium and were not above engaging in a bit of carnival nonsense to win new fans. He makes perfect surreal sense: a humanoid with the head of a baseball. The Phanatic first appeared in 1978, and set a standard for both physical oddity and on-field antics. (His great forbear in the hijinks department, the San Diego Chicken, who appeared at Padres games during the seventies, was never an official team representative.) The rest of baseball’s mascots form a motley crew, mostly literal animal characters so boring as to be beneath mention. The Kansas City Royals have a lion mascot that spells its name Sluggerrr. Several have no obvious connection to the teams they represent: the Colorado Rockies have a dinosaur, the Arizona Diamondbacks have a bobcat, and so on. Others are merely lesser approximations of the Phanatic—strange creatures that are unlikely to do anything but terrorize children and bother adults. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/6 "2014-05-25T13:09:59Z")
St Joseph’s University mascot, the Hawk, never stops flapping its wings during a basketball game. That’s gotta count for something. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/7 "2014-05-25T13:15:33Z")
Big Al [http://www.rolltide.com/sports/c-cheer/spec-rel/big-al.html](http://www.rolltide.com/sports/c-cheer/spec-rel/big-al.html) > **[Big Al (mascot)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Al_%28mascot%29)** > > Big Al is the costumed elephant mascot of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. > The origin of the mascot dates back to 1930. On October 8, 1930, a sportswriter for the Atlanta Journal, Everett Strupper, wrote about the previous weekend's Alabama-Ole Miss football game. He wrote, "That Alabama team of 1930 is a typical \[Coach Wallace\] Wade machine, powerful, big, tough, fast, aggressive, well-schooled in fundamentals, and the best blocking team for this early in the seaso... ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/8 "2014-05-26T00:45:46Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Mascots are also basically an American thing. You wont see them in Europe… Really? I bring you [Wolfie v The Three Little Piggies](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQokPUt8J8g)… (Wolverhampton Wanderers v Bristol City) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/9 "2014-05-26T02:00:41Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Sometimes the best part of a sports game is the antics of the mascot. College to pro these guys can be pretty funny. > > IMO the best was the first - The Famous San Diego Chicken. Before he started doing his thing in the 1970’s I read most teams didnt have a mascot or the mascot didnt really entertain much. But the Chicken really made his act part of the game. He was not the first. [Mr. Met](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Met) started appearing at Mets games in 1963 and certainly did entertain. And, of course, he would be my choice. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/10 "2014-05-26T04:16:39Z")
He was only around for one year, but San Francisco Giants fans will never forget [Crazy Crab](http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/history/sf_history_timeline_article.jsp?article=31). ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/11 "2014-05-26T05:32:12Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > The Phillie Phanatic, hands down the best. Frankly, most are pretty lame, generally clumsy, garish moving bobble-heads, with noggins the size of Barcaloungers. Their expressions are cemented and their movements limited, so they never let you suspend your “this is a guy in a suit” perception. They wander slowly around the stadium with an unchanging expression, waving and high-fiving the kids. And that’s it. This. The Phillie Phanatic is the best mascot in any sport. It should be the only mascot permitted in MLB, and for that matter, all sports, as mascots in general are lame. It cracks me up that The New Yorker has to throw in Mr. Met as a mascot on par with the Phanatic. Yes, I realize that the New Yorker is written for a New York audience, and countless New Yorkers grew up loving Mr. Met, but come on. It’s not even close. I am a Pittsburgh Pirate fan, for crying out loud, and my DNA is written to hate all things related to Philadelphia sports teams, especially the Phillies. And I love the Phanatic! ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/12 "2014-05-26T11:46:08Z")
> [@mascaroni](#): > > Really? I bring you [Wolfie v The Three Little Piggies](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQokPUt8J8g)… > (Wolverhampton Wanderers v Bristol City) Are mascots pretty new over there? I read some Australian Rugby teams also have them. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/13 "2014-05-26T11:47:25Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > This. The Phillie Phanatic is the best mascot in any sport. It should be the only mascot permitted in MLB, and for that matter, all sports, as mascots in general are lame. > > It cracks me up that The New Yorker has to throw in Mr. Met as a mascot on par with the Phanatic. Yes, I realize that the New Yorker is written for a New York audience, and countless New Yorkers grew up loving Mr. Met, but come on. It’s not even close. > > I am a Pittsburgh Pirate fan, for crying out loud, and my DNA is written to hate all things related to Philadelphia sports teams, especially the Phillies. And I love the Phanatic! I’ve heard the Phanatic is pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/14 "2014-05-26T12:55:01Z")
[Highlights of Berlino the Bear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG66G4Jj0eE), the mascot of the 2009 Berlin World Athletics Championships. Whoever was in that costume was great. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/15 "2014-05-26T13:25:52Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > It cracks me up that The New Yorker has to throw in Mr. Met as a mascot on par with the Phanatic. Yes, I realize that the New Yorker is written for a New York audience, and countless New Yorkers grew up loving Mr. Met, but come on. It’s not even close. I agree. Mr. Met is the textbook personality-less, bobble-head mascot. I can’t find a cite for it now, but I once read a short piece by Dan Quisenberry (a pretty entertaining athlete) who said that the Phanatic was ML ballplayers’ favorite mascot–and then qualified it further by saying, he was the ONLY mascot big leaguers liked and actually watched do his schtick. The rest they considered lame. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/16 "2014-05-26T13:27:56Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Are mascots pretty new over there? > > I read some Australian Rugby teams also have them. Relatively new, probably over the last twenty years or so, when soccer’s become a more family friendly place to go. Years ago there was a chap called Ken Baily, who was regarded as the England mascot. More stories of misbehaving mascots from Britain [here](http://www.anorak.co.uk/315062/keyposts/a-history-of-the-great-british-football-mascot-from-ken-bailey-to-sex-and-violence.html/) ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/17 "2014-05-26T14:00:40Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > [Highlights of Berlino the Bear](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG66G4Jj0eE), the mascot of the 2009 Berlin World Athletics Championships. Whoever was in that costume was great. He really got into the part, it must be difficult to do all that stuff, not only because of the body suit, but also what I would assume would be a very limited field of vision. I forgot in my previous post regarding British soccer mascots… [The Mascot Grand National](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki3FXJQoFrI), always a keenly contested race. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/18 "2014-05-26T14:05:22Z")
Scottsdale Community College in Arizona has **Artie the Artichoke** The local hub-bub when that name was submitted and voted on was nothing short of hysteria. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/19 "2014-05-26T15:27:17Z")
I’m assuming the OP is about current mascots otherwise the San Diego Chicken wins. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226/20 "2014-05-26T15:50:11Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I’m assuming the OP is about current mascots otherwise the San Diego Chicken wins. Came in to say exactly that. Though I like the Phillie Phanatic second best. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-or-most-interesting-mascot/689226.md?page=2)