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.