The Famous San Diego Chicken

For anyone who has followed mascot-related humor over the last 2 or 3 decades, this bird needs no introduction. It is the legendary San Diego Chicken. Ted Giannoulas has been performing as the Chicken since 1974 and is still going strong. He's performed at Elvis Concerts, for various US Presidents and at more baseball games than anyone can count. And last night, he was at the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees game. (Let me go on the record again to say that Mrs. Mascot Hunter is a very patient and wonderful person. You would expect to hear "six hours in the car in one day to go see a guy in a chicken suit?" But with her, I didn't really even need to ask twice.)

I won't drone on here about the history of the Chicken but if you've never seen his antics, take a few minutes to check out some of his highlights. While most mascots hang out on the dugout or wander through the stands, he is interactive with the players, the home mascot and (of course) the umpires. His between inning bits included a dance-off with the home mascot, the theft of a vendors bag of cracker jacks which he then distributed to the fans and the "hatching" of a practice baseball in which he stole the infield warmup ball, ate it, shook around and, let's just say, hatched it. He even served as the first base coach for a half inning and voiced his displeasure for the umpire's strike zone.

After his performance, which lasted from the second through sixth innings, the Chicken sat in the concourse behind home plate and made it a point to meet with everyone who wanted to meet him and sign anything and everything (for free). In a sports world where access to the performers is often limited, it's great to see that a legend of the game is willing to take the time to acknowledge the fans. I told him that it was an honor to meet him. He shook my hand and then tried to eat my head. It's a thing we have.

Life Magazine Names Creepiest NCAA Mascots

Since colleges are starting to get back in session, Life Magazine decided to contribute a slideshow of what it deemed the "creepiest NCAA mascots." I can't argue with most of these and I will admit a recurring nightmare that I've been having about the Providence Friar (he's the thing in the white robe in the first slideshow picture). Two of our buddies made the list - the Penn Quaker (above) and Deac (see visiting team mascot post). At first I felt bad for our friends but after giving it some thought I realized that if your chin is the size of a normal person's head (sorry, Quaker) or if you have a bow tie sewn to your chin and look like you should be wearing a monocle (got you on that one, Deac), it does add to your creepy factor a bit.

Sam the Minuteman Helping Out

Coming soon to an ESPN commercial break near you:
I really thought that everyone except for bored journalists and Viking fans had tired of the Brett Favre re-un-retirement watch but apparently Sam the Minuteman (University of Massachusetts) stopped by their studios to lend a helping hand getting the news out. On a completely unrelated topic, did you know if you spellcheck "Favre", "farce" is the second suggested spelling? Hmmm....

Allentown, PA - Ferrous and FeFe

04/26/09 - Lehigh Valley Ironpigs - Coca-Cola Park

As the country was coming to grips with the scope of the H1N1 (Swine Flu) outbreak, we decided to head to Allentown, PA to meet up with our favorite pigs, Ferrous and FeFe. They are the dual mascots for the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs, the AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. And honestly, I couldn't help but anticipate the conversation with the doctor. "...that's a nasty cough you have there. Have you had any close contact with pigs lately?" "Well, now that you mention it..."

This is a new stadium (team started play in 2008) and it has all the bells and whistles of a nice, high-minor league park - somewhere for the kids to play, somewhere for the parents to drink and a nice selection of food in-between. My favorite was the nachos covered with what must have been a half pound of pulled pork. We ordered tickets from the team about 2 weeks prior to the game and even though we were in the last section in right field, had a pretty nice view.

Despite the team only being in its second year of existence, Ferrous is already on his second name. His original name, PorkChop, lasted only two days until a small public uprising brought it to management's attention that this was a derogatory name towards an ethnic group in the area. They quickly changed it to Ferrous, which is a nod to the iron industry in the area. For all you science nerds, a little bonus stuff here: His female cohort, FeFe, is named after the atomic symbol for Iron (Fe) and Ferrous's jersey number? 26 of course - the atomic number for Iron. All this is quite clever but it still leaves me with a slight feeling that political correctness won again. PorkChop was actually suggested in a naming contest by a 5 year old and I kinda doubt he had any malicious intent.

Regardless of the name, we had a good time in Allentown. The game was a sellout and the community has obviously embraced their new team as people wandered the concourse sporting pig snout and shirts with curly tails embroidered on the back. And best of all, I never had to explain the trip to my doctor...

West Virginia Mountaineer Mascot Named

Congratulations to Rebecca Durst, who was recently named the West Virginia Mountaineer for the upcoming season. Unlike most schools, who choose to have costumed characters or live animals, WVU is one of the few colleges who have a person dressed in a specific attire serving as mascot. She will be only the second female to hold this position.

Berlino takes out World Champion

Berlino the Bear, the mascot of the just-concluding 2009 Track and Field Championships in Berlin, Germany, was a hit amongst all of the athletes. No one more than Melanie Walker of Jamaica, who had just won the 400M hurdles when she accepted this ill-advised piggy-back ride on Berlino during her victory lap. A few points of emphasis here:
1. When it comes to mascots, their field of vision may not be proportional to the size of their eyes. In other words, just because Berlino's eyes are as big as your head, don't trust that he has any clue where he is going.
2. You just won the 400 meter hurdles. Let me stress again - HURDLES. These represent additional obstacles in the way of your semi-blind friend.
3. No world champions or mascots were harmed in the making of this mishap (we think).

Welcome Mortimer J. Moose

A warm welcome to the world of mascots from us to Mortimer J. Moose, the newly introduced mascot of the Moose Jaw Warriors, which is a Canadian major junior ice hockey team. For those of you who have never heard of it, Moose Jaw is a town of 34,156 and is located in Saskatchewan, Canada, just north of the North Dakota/Montana border (we are here to educate). It's most famous draw - other than Mortimer, of course - is the underground tunnel system, which is a holdover from the days when Al Capone and his bootleggers came north from Chicago and needed a secret way of conducting business. Daily tours are available so next time you drop in to see Mortimer, be sure to check it out.

Visiting Team Mascots

Tonight's picture montage is in honor of all the visiting team mascots that we've managed to get our pictures with the last few years. This isn't the easiest task for a variety of reasons but if your favorite team isn't a local team, it's a chance to track them down without travelling clear across the country. A few rules:

1. This usually only applies for college sports and often only those college programs with the budgets to send their cheer squad to away games. Don't show up at an Arizona Diamondbacks game expecting to see the Philly Phanatic just because his team is in town - not gonna happen.

2. Stadium choice is important. Those stadiums with high walls around the field are great for keeping the view obstruction down for rows A-F but are terrible for trying to get a pic with the opposing mascot.

3. Keep in mind that people are trying to watch the game so try to use stoppages in play to your advantage. As soon as the usher asks you to leave, you're pretty much done so try to not give them a reason to do so.

4. Learn their names. Not the school nickname but the actual mascot's name. You'd be surprised how much farther "Yo, Deac" gets you than "hey, Wake Forest guy."

Sparty (Michigan State) taken at Penn State

Deac (Wake Forest) taken at University of Maryland

Harry (University of Washington) taken at Syracuse

Final 2 Mascot All-Americans Set

As a follow-up to last week's posting, Capital One has named Boomer (University of Oklahoma) and Hairy Dawg (University of Georgia) to join the 10 previously announced mascots on the 2009 All-American Mascot Team. No word yet on what the challenges will include to determine the winner but you can bet Boomer likes his chances if any of them end in a tie. Butch T. Cougar is the only previous winner in the field but the sentimental favorite has to be Big Red from Western Kentucky. He basically resembles a red trash can with a disjoint upper head (official medical term) and is listed at 6'1'' tall and 7' wide and his main talent is eating everything in sight. This will be his sixth appearance in the past eight seasons and I feel that his time has come. Go get 'em, Big Red!

-MH

Syracuse, NY - Otto the Orange

08/31/07 - Syracuse Orange - Carrier Dome

I love college football. If every day could be a Saturday in the fall, I'd be OK with that. The tailgating, the bands, the student sections - the fact that 6-8 times every fall, little college towns like Tuscaloosa, State College, South Bend and Blacksburg turn into small cities with fans and alumni coming in from miles around. As the 2007 season was preparing to kickoff, we did what we always do. We grabbed the schedule and sought out a part of the country that we wanted to see and found a game that interested us. In this case, I couldn't even wait until that first Saturday instead choosing a Friday night contest in Syracuse, NY between the Syracuse Orange and the Washington Huskies. And since sports travel isn't just about the game, we took a little detour to Buffalo and Niagra Falls.

For those of you who don't know, Buffalo Wings originated in Buffalo, NY and we went right to the original source - Frank and Teresa's Anchor Bar. They've been serving these up since 1935 and they don't waste their time with a zillion different flavors or a spicy so hot that it makes your nose bleed (don't laugh, I've seen it). The wings here are a basic mild or hot and come out with a crispy skin rarely found in the large-volume wing joints throughout the country. These were good. Real good. I've always said you should try every food where it was meant to be served before you decide if it is for you. Have a cheesesteak in Philadelphia, clam chowder in Connecticut and these wings here. If you don't like these, don't bother ordering them anywhere else.

Afterwards, we headed up the road and across the border into Canada to Niagra Falls. For those of you who have never been there, its something you should definitely see once. Granted, it's a bit touristy but it is an impressive sight. Take a ride on the Maid of the Mist, which will take you right under the falls. And look out your hotel room window at 3AM, just to make sure that the falls are still on even when there is no one watching. (I would be remiss if I failed to mention that Mrs. Mascot Hunter beat me at mini-golf north of the border. Even she will admit that this is not an every day occurrence and I think it has something to do with the exchange rate or the metric system. The scorecard said 15 meters, which I assumed to be somewhere around 40 feet but the dollar was weak against the yen that week and before I knew it I had a pocket full of square coins for change and a scorecard that said I lost by 3 strokes, which I figure to be at least 5 strokes back in the states.)

An afternoon drive across New York state got us into Syracuse mid-afternoon for the 8PM kickoff. They had a great party going on the quad with some quality tailgating fare and a performance by none other than Mini Kiss, a Kiss tribute band made up entirely of little people. It was here that we caught up with Otto, Syracuse's mascot who is (you guessed it) an orange. Syracuse University used to be named the Orangemen until 2004 when someone came along and saved us from our political incorrectness and changed it to the Orange, which we were led to believe was not a color or a fruit but a state of mind. Fortunately, they didn't feel the need to change Otto, who has been hanging around campus since 1980 and is truly one of the more entertaining mascots in the business.

We then headed into the on-campus stadium known as the Carrier Dome. A few things struck me as soon as I walked inside. First of all, I had never walked through an air lock to watch a sporting event before. It was kind of like watching a game from inside a big balloon. Secondly, it was uncomfortably hot and stuffy in there. Last time I checked, Carrier made air conditioners and it seems like they could have spared a few more for inside here. Maybe it's a home field advantage thing - let's show the team from the pacific northwest what humidity is. Well, it didn't work this time as Washington beat the over matched Orange 42-12. We had a great time on the whole trip but the best moment of the game was walking back through the air lock and feeling our heads decompress. Syracuse has a great football tradition that has fallen on hard times the last few years. Like it or not, college football is better with a competitive presence in the northeast and Syracuse is as likely as any to grab the vacant New York City market. My suggestion is some good recruiting classes and an outdoor stadium to take advantage of those late fall conditions.

Capital One's 2009 All-America Mascot Team Taking Shape

Ten of the twelve members of the 2009 Capital One All-America Mascot Team have been named for the upcoming season. Butch T. Cougar (Wash. St.), Jack Rabbit (South Dakota St.), Bucky Badger (Wisconsin), Big Red (Western Kentucky), Bearcat (Cincinnati), Testudo (Maryland), Bill the Goat (Navy), Superfrog (TCU), Mike the Tiger (LSU) and Sebastian the Ibis (Miami) are on the team with the final two members likely coming in the next few days. We're good buddies with Testudo and he has our full support but we'll hold off until the entire team is announced to officially endorse anyone. The Mascot of the Year is typically announced during the Capital One Bowl, which pits teams from the Big 10 and SEC and will be played on January 1, 2010.

NBA Mascot of the Year

Congrats to Rumble the Bison, the mascot of the Oklahoma City Thunder, for today being named the NBA Mascot of the Year by his peers. The vote took place at the league's mascot convention this week in Las Vegas. I'm a little torn on this one. On one hand, this guy kinda looks like what would happen if one of those Geico cavemen would stop shaving. On the other hand, he hangs out with the cheerleaders and gets to go to Vegas on "business" every year. We'll call it a wash. Either way, congratulations Rumble - just don't cash the prize check on your way to the craps table.

Cleveland, OH - Slider

08/02/09 - Cleveland Indians - Progressive Field

I'll admit - expectations were fairly low. I had never been to Cleveland before but it's sports reputation preceded it. No team championships in any sport in who knows how long (1964 NFL Championship - I had to look it up). The Mistake By The Lake. Frankly, the only sports memories I have of Cleveland consist of John Elway scoring on them or Michael Jordan shooting over them. And, no, Ricky Vaughn and Pedro Cerrano highlights do not count. In fact, at Saturday night's game, they were giving away bobbleheads of their star player - that they had traded away a few days earlier. So we rolled into Cleveland fresh off of a Pirates game the night before and with 24 hours until Slider's birthday party on Sunday, in need of an activity.

As we drove into the city, the first thing that struck me was the lack of traffic. It was noon on Saturday and there might have been 10 cars on the road. We made it to our hotel and headed off to the first (and often only) thing that people suggest when going to Cleveland, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If you need directions, just drive until you see the 50 foot tall steel free stamp and then turn towards the lake - you can't miss it. This is definitely THE activity in Cleveland and we had no problem burning a solid 4-5 hours there.

For dinner, we headed downtown and ended up at a place called Phat Fish Blues, which featured some delicious seafood and live music. And walking around afterwards, we got the impression that we could have chosen any one of a dozen restaurants that would have had the same combination of good food and live music.

I'll save the mascot/birthday party details for the Slider's birthday party post but after the pregame party we headed into Progressive Field, formerly known as Jacobs Field. Whatever they want to call the stadium, when it comes to baseball, your dollar seems to go farther in the midwest. We grabbed some box seats off of Stubhub! two weeks before the game and we found ourselves behind home plate, nine rows from the field for under $40 a ticket! Similar to the Pirates game, the Indians ran between-inning promotions to keep the crowd entertained (I was this close to catching a tee shirt), the food was above-average (a burger that didn't double as a hockey puck) and the Indians managed to stick it to the first place Tigers 10-1 - even without their recently-departed, bobbleheaded star.

My expectations were easily exceeded. Prior to arriving, I read one site that listed Cleveland as the most boring city in America. Not even close (sorry, Birmingham). If you like sports, this is a two-day city. Hit the R&R Hall of Fame one day, a game the other and throw in some good food and live music and you have yourself a weekend.

Been to Cleveland and have a restaurant to suggest? Post it in the comments section and we'll give it a go when we come back to see the Browns or the Cavs (that should make Moondog happy).

Pierogies vs Presidents

MLB Teams have a variety of between inning races that take place to entertain the crowd. The most famous is definitely the Milwaukee Brewers Sausage race, which occasionally ends with a player attacking a sausage or a sausage attacking a player. Vying for the second most famous race in the majors are probably the Pierogie Race in Pittsburgh and the President's Race in Washington D.C. Tonight in Pittsburgh, the two worlds collided. Literally. With Pittsburgh and Washington playing each other this evening, the racing Presidents (also known as the Rushmores since they are the likenesses of the four presidents on Mount Rushmore) came to PNC Park to face off in a relay race against the Pierogies (who are Jalapeno, Cheese, Sauerkraut and Onion). The race began right in front of us and continued around the warning track into right center field. With a winless Teddy Roosevelt close to the lead, we thought we might be seeing history. Unfortuntely for Teddy, he never saw Oliver Onion coming.

Pittsburgh, PA - Pirate Parrot and Capt. Jolly Roger

07/31/09 - Pittsburgh Pirates - PNC Park

It was a very nice walk from Primanti Brothers, through the city and across the Clemente Bridge to the stadium. Formerly the 6th St. Bridge, the bridge was renamed in honor of Roberto Clemente and is closed to automobile traffic a few hours before the game as well as during and after. I'm sure that there is parking on the stadium side of the river but it is such a nice experience to walk across the bridge with all the fans - much better than the usual experience of sitting in the stadium lot trying to merge eight rows of cars into one lane of traffic.

Seating at PNC is as cheap and as available as anywhere in the majors. We got our tickets from the Pirates about 3 weeks before the game and were in the left field corner about 10 rows from the field. I usually recommend the 3rd base side when buying tickets to avoid the setting sun in your eyes but at PNC Park, this is true because of the view. Even the Pirates took the 3rd base side dugout so they could enjoy the scenery (maybe not the real reason, but I wouldn't blame them).

Our trip coincided with the first home game after the trade deadline, which for the last decade or two in Pittsburgh has meant the annual selling of established talent for prospects. As the Pirates march towards their 17th consecutive losing season (what were you doing in 1992?), this year was no different as they had just traded their starting pitcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop and (I'm sure) a few others. Fortunately for us, they did not trade either of their mascots and we were able to get some pics with the Pirate Parrot (who made his debut when the Pirates last won the World Series in 1979) and Captain Jolly Roger. The game experience is full of between-inning entertainment that is usually found in minor league parks (more MLB clubs should do this), a 5th inning Pierogie Race (see next post), and if the Pirates win, they raise the standard-issue, black, skull and crossbones flag in centerfield - a tradition known as "raising the Jolly Roger."

The park is beautiful, accessible and affordable and despite management's unwillingness to spend the money to chase a pennant every few decades, the fan support was not lacking. The announced attendance was somewhere around 23,000 (on a night that they played the worst team in the majors) and they stayed until the end. Despite some shaky bullpen work, the Pirates held on for the 5-4 win and raised the Jolly Roger!

Mascot Beats Up Fan - Manly Sea Eagle

A warning to everyone - if you go to a Australian Rugby match and get a little drunk and jump the fence, you may run into something worse than security. You may run into this guy. My favorite part is the post-fight interview with the head still on. Kinda reminds me of those Ricky Williams interviews where he wouldn't take off his helmet.

Pittsburgh, PA - The Food

I'm sure there are plenty of delicious places to eat in Pittsburgh. I'm sure there are plenty of delicious things to eat in Pittsburgh. I don't care. I'm going to Primanti Brothers in the Strip District. This calorie-infused monstrosity is the Pastrami, loaded down with their trademark french fries and slaw right on the sandwich. I gained four pounds this weekend and although I'm not going to blame it all on our friend here, it was a good start.

With it's close proximity to all three of Pittsburgh's sports facilities, Primanti's is a great place to stop in for a mid-afternoon bite and then you can use the mile and a half walk to the stadium to burn off enough calories to rationalize that hot dog later. Did I mention that it was dollar dog night at the Pirates game too! I never did track down the pierogies at PNC Park but its always good to leave yourself a reason to come back.

Have you been to Pittsburgh and have a restaurant to recommend? Maybe the Wings at Quaker Steak and Lube? Leave it in the comments section - we'll give it a try next time passing through.

Slider's Birthday Party - 08/02/09

The Mascot Hunter and Orbit of the Akron Aeros give this party 2 thumbs up. We had a great time before the game celebrating with the birthday boy himself and a handful of his closest friends. In attendance were all of the pro Cleveland mascots - the Brown's Trapper, Slider of the Indians and a VERY friendly Moondog from the Cleveland Cavaliers. VERY friendly. He really liked the ladies (those over the age of 18) and seemed to take a special liking to Mrs. Mascot Hunter. Trust me, a year or two down the road you're going to be watching SportsCenter and there is going to be a story about some sexual harassment lawsuit against Horndog, I mean Moondog, and I'm going to be sitting here with a big can of "I told you so." Just like the Cav's billboard says, We Are All Witnesses. Anyway... in addition to the pro mascots, most of Cleveland's minor league affiliates were represented, including the Lake County Captains (A), Akron Aeros (AA), Columbus Clippers (AAA) and the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL. Finally, Screech of the Washington Nationals made the trip as well. Our theory is that he caught a ride with the Rushmores, who were in Pittsburgh this weekend to race the Pierogies. (If that last sentence made any sense to you, I'm very proud. If not, check back in a few days for the Friday night Pirates game posts and it will). Once we shook Moondog, we wished Slider a happy birthday, got some pics with a few of his friends and then headed into the park for the game.

We had a wonderful weekend in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. More to come in the next day or two on the stadiums, games, cities and (of course) food but for now the Mascot Hunter is a little road weary and in need of some sleep.