Real Clear Sports

One of my “go-to” sites for political commentary and news is RealClearPolitics.com. Recently, I discovered a new section on the site called RealClearSports—basically a sports section that is modeled after the political portion that aggregates a bunch of different articles. Add both to your reader. Today, they had a light and entertaining piece on the sports world’s weirdest mascots. It’s clever and funny. Personally, I have never been a huge fan of mascots. Androgynous creatures, jumping and frolicking around, in an attempt to get the crowd going never did it for me. A sweet 6-4-3 always got me out of my seat faster than a pelvic thrust from the Giants’ Lou Seal. Whatever you disposition, here are RealClearSports’ top 10 weirdest mascots.

10- Big Red – Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
9- Steely McBeam – Pittsburgh Steelers
8- Phillie Phanatic - Philadelphia Phillies
7- Stomper – Oakland Athletics
6- Burnie – Miami Heat
5- Mad Ant – Fort Wayne Mad Ants (NBDL)
4- Zippy the Kangaroo - Akron Zips
3- Sammy the Slug - UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs
2- Otto the Orange - Syracuse University
1- Standford Tree - Stanford University

Check out the full article here.

And is it just me, or is anyone else surprised that these things haven’t been sold to sponsors or other advertisers. Perhaps there is some force out there maintaining their ‘mascot-ing’ integrity. Seems to me that with so many dumb mascots out there, selling a mascot to a corporate sponsor may not be a bad idea—indeed, it could be a good opportunity to hit the younger demographic market as they seem to be the only ones into these mascots. Then again, you might wind up with the ‘Kragen Autoparts Spark-Plug’ named Pluggie. That’d certainly be worse than Sammy the Slug.

In other mascot news, the Golden State Warriors have given Thunder his pink slip. Here is Ray Ratto’s sad, yet touching, obituary. Who will be the mascot for the 2008-09 campaign? Ideas?