Monday, March 16, 2009

March Madness Infects Team Mascots Like Big Blue and Pistol Pete


March Madness is here! But the "madness" is not limited to basketball players, coaches and fans. It sometimes extends to mascots! Saturday, Utah State benched its mascot for the championship game between the Aggies and Nevada. The reason? "Big Blue" the bull and New Mexico State's "Pistol Pete" got into a physical confrontation near the end of a semifinal matchup. one Wild

Who started it? Well, apparently, Big Blue pulled Pistol Pete's mustache. Big Blue the bull ended up pulling off the fake mustache.. Pistol Pete then pursued the bull and tried to choke him into submission. Mascots Behaving Badly

As noted from the above link, this is not the first mascot incident. For example, Rice University's Sammy the Owl was tossed from a game after getting physical with a referee.
A Diamondbacks' mascot, Baxter, was recently fired for allegedly driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. He may also have smoked some marijuana earlier in the day.
The Penn State Nittany Lion mascot was suspended after a DUI charge in November. This resulted in the student actor missing the Rose Bowl. Pittsburgh Steelers' team mascot, Steely McBeam, was arrested and accused of DUI.

Las year, a fight broke out between Oral Roberts' Eli the Eagle and IUPUI's Jawz the Jaguar. Watch Fight In 2007, the Oregon Duck out pointed the Houston's Cougar which warranted a suspension. Watch Battle
Mariners' Moose hit former Red Sox outfielder Coco Crisp with an ATV in 2007. Also in 2007, San Francisco's Giants mascot Lou Seal allegedly got in trouble for challenging Dodgers fan to a fist fight. Benny the Bull got in trouble for shooting a T-shirt gun at two Boston Celtics last year.


NMSU ended up winning 71-70. Apparently the $100 Big Blue accepted for pulling off Pistol Pete's mustache will be donated to Kids Kottage, a shelter for abused and neglected children. Since NMSU won and the charity is $100.00 richer, perhaps this one would be a good "no call."

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is strange. I thought those fights were always staged or choreographed.

Anonymous said...

The only reason I watch these games is to see if a fight breaks out between the mascots. Figured it was a big publicity stunt to keep those of us who are bored out of our skulls "entertained."

Shell

Ms Calabaza said...

Oy vey! Even the mascots can't get along . . .

Anonymous said...

Why can't we all get along?

Anonymous said...

Mascot Fite Nite!

Anonymous said...

The mascots should have shook hands and split the $100. This has been blown way out of proportion.

Anonymous said...

Yup be mature... share the money.