I read with amusement Kittycat’s thread about clowns. I didn’t really get the big deal until I went to an Indiana Pacers game recently. “Boomer” the Pacers’ mascot is a blue panther and really is pretty funny. He does all of the things that you would expect: dropping from the rafters by a wire to start the introductions, dunks off a trampolene (sp?) and cuts up with the crowd. All great entertainment. I started to think about what I would do if he came around and started to “f” around with me and the whole clown thing came to mind. Feelings of distrust and hostility started to surface for no good reason. I don’t think that I am afraid of mascots, but I do think that I resent them. I’m just not sure about someone pretending to be someone else. Ok, so the mascot takes my wallet and we all have a good laugh. But then its like, “No, seriously, give my wallet back.” I’m pretty sure that the joke would go on for at least as long as it takes for me to get upset. And then I’m the guy who gets inappropriately angry with a cute mascot in front of 18,000 fans and its all captured on the jumbo-tron for everyone to see. Put me in a mascot suit and its on like Donkey-Kong and I’ll bet that dumb ass panther gives up the wallet. Anyway, my point is that maybe fake animals with guys inside them are a lot like clowns.
have you ever read the article: The Seedier Side of Fun and Fur
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read this–you’ll pee your pants.
ok, now that i can actually breathe again…
mascots don’t generally “scare” me the way clowns do. after reading *The Seedier Side of Fun and Fur *I feel more empathy for those who are mascots.
but it’s true–alot of mascots get the shit kicked out of them, simply because it’s easy to forget that there is a person underneath the outfit. (here’s my warped sense of humor again…i find that hilarious in and of itself…to a point. when someone is really hurt, it’s not funny. but mascots do have funny stories generally).
Remember when Pirate’s baseball player Randel Simon whacked a mascot sausage with a bat and had to pay a huge fine and make a public apology?
the mascot community was outraged! here is an article: http://www.jsonline.com/...index.aspx?id=154259
what is it about mascots and people wanting to hit them…seriously, it’s one of the most dangerous things a person can be. a mascot!
overall, i enjoy watching them. after reading more about the job of a mascot, i imagine the person inside, just suffering in the costume and heat. so while i like most of them, they make me laugh and are entertaining, i do have limits. one of the limits is the Reds’s Gapper. that is one mascot i cannot stand…he is a real dorky mascot, and just one more thing on the long list of things that are embarrassing about cincinnati.
I didn’t see the post talking about clowns, but for the record, I HATE those bastards.
You know what I don’t like are those puppet things that ventriloquists use.
ha, have you ever seen the movie *Dummy * ?
Is that the Al Gore biography?
Wow, a whole new perspective on mascots!! I remember that baseball bat deal and it was both funny and scary. I still think that mascots are a little sketchy, but after reading up on your article, it is definitely not a job for the meek. Getting kicked in the nuts for a living is not funny…at least not for the guy getting kicked in the nuts…
In college, I did an internship, where part of my job was to wear a mascot suit.
It really sucked ass. Those suits are hot, with no visability and it is difficult to know what is going on around you, all the while a bunch of kids are beating on you. After 5 minutes, I sweat more than during a Sunday long run/ride. The only good thing is people think you are a lot of fun, all the while you are mouthing cusswords about them.
I could not get out of that damn suit fast enough. It takes a special kind of person to want to go through that crap for a living.