As embarrassing as it must have been for the Bulls to see their mascot arrested on drug charges, it couldn’t have been too surprising. Mascots can’t be trusted. They’re loose cannons. They live on the edge.
Anyone willing to dress up in a furry suit and make a spectacle of themselves in front of a stadium full of people is someone you probably wouldn’t let do your taxes. Or even cut your hair. Maybe it’s the heavy headgear or the lack of proper costume ventilation, but mascot mischief just seems to go with the territory.
The proliferation of mascots has only multiplied the potential for mayhem. Nearly every team seems to have one–or two, in the Bulls’ case. Da Bull’s brush with the law is only the latest episode in a long series of mascot mishaps, misadventures and misdemeanors.
One of mascot-dom’s founding fur-feathers, Dean Schoenewald (a.k.a. the Philadelphia Eagles’ “Bird Brain”), fur-saw the problem as far back as 1996.
“There are more of us, and we are being asked to do more,” Schoenewald told the Scripps Howard News Service. “More stunts, flashier routines, more involvement with the fans and the community–which means the opportunities for something to go wrong have increased as well.
“It’s like with an airline. You put 100 planes in the air, you won’t have many problems. You put 3 million, well, some will crash.”
And burn, in the case of Wild Wing, whose flame-out tops RedEye’s list of the most memorable mascot moments.
Duck flambe
1 Anaheim Mighty Ducks mascot Wild Wing stumbles while trying to jump through a wall of fire before a 1995 game at the Pond. Wild Wing falls face-first into the flame and catches fire but is extinguished just before becoming extra crispy. Just to prove the incident was no fluke, Wild Wing’s dramatic entrance via cable wire stops 50 feet short of completion in a game that same year, leaving the duck dangling over the ice helplessly until technicians finally reel him in.
Crunch time
2 Two mascots are injured during the 1995 American League playoffs. Seattle’s Mariner Moose (left), wearing rollerblades and being pulled by a four-wheeler, skids out of control and crashes into the left-field wall, breaking his ankle. Slider (above), Cleveland Indians’ mascot, somersaults off the
center-field fence and tears a ligament. He returns later on crutches. Why? Because it’s the playoffs.
Weapon of mascot destruction
3 In the mascot equivalent of a random terrorist act, Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Randall Simon inexplicably swings his bat at one of the costumed sausages in the “Great Sausage Race” during a game at Milwaukee’s Miller Park in 2003. The 19-year-old woman inside the sausage suit is not seriously injured, but Simon is taken from the ballpark in handcuffs nonetheless. “It’s crazy,” the woman tells reporters later. “I’m just a sausage, guys. It’s not a big deal. I’m fine.” Simon is suspended, fined and, in a case of cruel and unusual punishment, traded to the Bartman-cursed Cubs.
Try panting now
4 Infuriated by the antics of Flames mascot Harvey the Hound during a 2003 game in Calgary, Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish rips out Harvey’s furry red tongue and tosses it to the crowd.
Don’t wanna do the bump with no big fat Phanatic
5A jury awards a 72-year-old man $100,000 for being belly-bumped to the ground at a church carnival by the Phillie Phanatic in 1995. That decision evidently got the attention of the Philadelphia legal community: In 1996, the Phanatic is sued successfully for $25,000 for kicking a pregnant woman. The Phanatic is also sued for an undisclosed amount by a man who claims that he couldn’t make love to his wife after the portly Phanatic sat on the man’s lap. “We lost some money there,” the Phanatic later tells the Philadelphia Inquirer.
6 You mean he can’t fly?
During a game in 1999, a fan shoves Baltimore Orioles mascot Oriole Bird off his perch on the right-field bleachers. The bird falls 10 feet, breaks his leg and spends the next 40 days in a wheelchair.
7 Me so horny
The career of New Jersey Devils mascot Slapshot the Puck comes to an end in 1993 after he is sued for improperly touching three women.
8 Dog dazed
The Toronto Argonauts mascot is carried from the field on a stretcher after being assaulted by a fan during a 1997 game against the B.C. Lions. It’s not that big of a deal, but it’s an excuse to run one of our favorite pictures.
9 Court jester Miami Heat mascot Burnie gets himself in hot water after yanking a woman onto the court for an impromptu dance session during a 1994 exhibition game in Puerto Rico. Little did Burnie know the unwilling woman was the wife of a Supreme Court justice. Burnie is charged with assault and battery, and–what do you know?–found guilty by a federal jury in Puerto Rico. The Heat pays $50,000 in damages.
But it’s so nice and dark in here
10 Carolina Hurricanes mascot Stormy has an anxiety attack before a 1997 preseason game while waiting to make his dramatic entrance from inside the Zamboni. Stormy never comes out. He is later taken to a hospital.
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Compiled from RedEye news services and Tribune newspapers.
