Who is the Best Mascot in Each Sport?
My wife is a Flyers fan, so whenever I see Gritty content come across any of my social media timelines, I feel obligated to send it to her. The most recent time it happened, it got me thinking: who is the best mascot in each *professional men’s American* sport?
NHL: Gritty, Philadelphia Flyers
I had to start with this one. Ever since being introduced in September 2018, Gritty has taken social media by storm. Between his goofy looks, wacky antics, and sometimes menacing social media content, you can’t get away from the cultural impact that Gritty has already had.
https://t.co/Ii5VV2sRHw pic.twitter.com/Owb83HNdzc
— Gritty (@GrittyNHL) May 11, 2021
Honestly, if we put all the sports mascots in a March Madness-style bracket, it would be hard to not have Gritty as the favorite. The combination of looks and personality is hard to beat.
NBA: Benny The Bull, Chicago Bulls
There are a good amount of mascots in the NBA that have some appeal, but Benny the Bull is probably the most iconic across the NBA. That may be partially due to Michael Jordan and the Bulls’ success throughout the 90’s, but Benny still deserves the top spot here due to his personality on (and off) the court. Shout out to Stuff the Magic Dragon, though.
Going live on @tiktok_us at 8pm CT tonight with Chemical Kim to raise money for @bgcchi 🧪
Join us for a full hour of SCIENCE, surprise guests, and a special announcement from @BMOHarrisBank 👀 pic.twitter.com/GKzRBnvqP4
— Benny (@bennythebull) June 27, 2021
NFL: Jaxon De Ville, Jaxonville Jaguars
I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t really know a lot about Jaxon before writing this article, but considering he won best mascot in 2014 I felt the need to include him here.
It's official!@JaxsonDeVille is the best mascot in sports!
Congrats Jaxson & thanks to all that voted for him. pic.twitter.com/NBC2mcs8dM
— #DUUUVAL (@Jaguars) August 11, 2014
Jaxon De Ville has over 57K followers on Twitter and has no problems shading other teams and mascots around the league, particularly those in the AFC South. To be honest, there’s few other mascots in the NFL that have league wide recognition, at least in my opinion, so Jaxon is the easy option here.
MLB: The Phillie Phanatic, Philadelphia Phillies
I would say there’s a lot of iconic mascots in the MLB with their own interesting histories, such as Wally the Green Monster (named after Fenway’s massive Left field wall) and Dinger the Dinosaur (“discovered” when the construction crews building Coors Field in Denver discovered a dinosaur skeleton in their digging), but the Phillie Phanatic takes the cake. Like fellow Philadelphian Gritty, the Phanatic has an…interesting look and an even more interesting personality. Before Gritty, the Phanatic had a strong lead on being my favorite mascot (next to Wally, being the homer that I am), but now that’s much more obscured. Regardless, the Phanatic takes the slight edge for best mascot in the MLB.
MLS: Timber Joey, Portland Timbers FC
I wanted to add MLS into this, but I know very little about the teams or the mascots. That said, having a lumberjack as your mascot is pretty sweet, especially since he just cuts up trees during the game whenever the Timbers score. It’s hard to find a better mascot than that.
It’s been a while since I wrote a more fun article, so I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Feel free to let me know if you agree or disagree in the comments below.
– Pat Shuman (@PShu1996 on Twitter) Check out my other articles here!
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