What do you think of when you hear the term ‘team mascot’? In the past that term use to instantly fill my head with images of a dopey-looking furry creature running around a baseball field acting like a crazed rodeo clown.
Mascots have been a used for all sorts of things since their introduction sometime in the late 1800s. The term ‘mascot’ was integrated into the English language after Edmund Audran wrote a comic operetta entitled La Mascotte.
One website, gameops.com, asserts that mascots come from a much older era. This site proclaims that the concept of a mascot has been around since the time of cavemen.
The authors of the article entitled, “Brief History: From art to reality,” believed that ancient humans used the image of animals to bring them luck while they harvested food or fought disease. They argued that cavemen wanted to magically channel the power of animals and that is why they would occasionally dress up in their likeness.
I’m not sure if I buy all that mumbo jumbo, but I thought it was only fair to include every opinion about the origin of mascots.
Well back to reality…Webster’s dictionary defines a mascot as “a person, animal, or object adopted by a group as a symbolic figure especially to bring them good luck.”
Luck, eh? Well now this is starting to make sense…we all know that athletes are considerable superstitious. I’m sure you’ve heard stories about teams not showering or shaving during the season…maybe you’ve heard about a player that keeps a lucky ‘treasure’ in their sock or locker. It’s really the same idea, something external will help bring luck to the player or team.
This idea of luck may have contributed to the rapid proliferation of mascots since their introduction two centuries ago. Nowadays, it is practically impossible to think of an American sports team that does not have some sort of mascot whether it be a costumed individual or otherwise.
As hard as it is to believe, even bad-ass sports teams have mascots. Take for instance the Oakland Raiders, while t don’t have a fury or costumed Pirate running around, their cartoon pirate insignia on their helmets and jersey’s work in the same fashion.
My perception of mascots has changed dramatically over this last year. During the 2007 soccer season my school’s costumed mascot, a blue and gold colored eagle, appeared at one of my soccer matches.
Strangely, I didn’t even know we had that costume until he just showed up that day. The Golden Eagle couldn’t have picked a better game to make his debut; there were literally a few hundred fans lining the field and the match was incredibly intense, at half time the score was tied 0-0.
While my coach was giving his usual half time pep talk, my mind and eyes wondered away. In that moment I became transfixed with the giant furry eagle. He was just flapping away trying to get the crowd pumped up for the next half. For whatever reason, I too became motivated by this ridiculously disguised classmate of mine.
I don’t know what it was…maybe the eagle was a bit magical or something, but my teammates fought harder than they ever had and we ended up winning the game 1-0. The victory was incredibly unexpected because our opponents had previously beaten us 8-1.
I’m not certain that we magically channeled the majestic spirit of the eagle, but we must have had a little luck on our side and maybe… just maybe…the eagle helped us to do some mighty fine ass kicking! We may never know.
-Tab
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