Sports Team Mascots - The Fan Favorites!!

There have been mascots associated with sporting teams for a long time - the first college mascot was an English bulldog named "Handsome Dan" who was adopted as the Yale University mascot in 1889.

A mascot is defined as any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck. Mascots have been used by many sporting teams in the form of a costumed person at matches to rev up the supporters. In more recent times, the mascots have an additional purpose and are used for merchandising too.

Professional athletes usually need to keep themselves in great shape - unless they're one of those fatso relief pitchers or a sumo wrestler - that's what they get paid the big bucks for. The same is true for professional mascots - except they don't get paid as much. Still, their job is a real workout. It's not that easy wearing a 20 pound bird or cat costume when it's boiling hot outside, especially if they're dancing around or getting beat up by a player from the visiting team.

Teams have had mascots almost as long as sports have been around. Years and years ago, some teams even used to have real animals, like lions or bears, as their mascots. That ended because too many fans were getting eaten - and it's a lot cheaper to feed a guy in a bear suit than an actual bear. Now, most teams in sports have a mascot of some kind. This list of big, goofy looking characters includes the Famous Chicken who you see at San Diego Padres games, Go the Gorilla from the Phoenix Suns and Hugo the Hornet of the New Orleans Hornets.



Being a sports mascot isn't all fun and games. While it can be a blast to entertain large crowds and dress up, being a mascot can also be physically demanding and sometimes quite dangerous. Wild Wing, the mascot for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, was attempting to jump off a trampoline and over a wall of fire before the start of a hockey game in 1995 - but his skate got stuck in the trampoline and poor Wild Wing caught on fire! Other mascots have been punched by visiting players and Baltimore's Oriole Bird was once pushed off an outfield wall by a fan and broke his ankle!

 Team mascots are all part of the fun experience for fans at the game. Most pro sporting teams have a mascot. The mascot is an important part of the teams promotion and sometimes it's the mascot who does most of the promotional work, not the players!

Does your team have a mascot? If you do, why not post a picture of your team mascot in the comments section?

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