(S28) PT2 - Mascots

[KC15]

PBE Affiliate PT  +3 TPE

[Pat]

Philadelphia is home to one of the league's most long-running and beloved mascots - Benji the Bell Boy. The name is an obvious play on Philadelphia's most famous son, Benjamin Franklin, but the look of Benji has changed a few times since his original inception. Early versions of Benji were nothing more than a man dressed up like Benjamin Franklin carrying around numerous kinds of bells that he would ring whenever the team scored (my personal favorite was the cow bell). After a while, however, fans began to complain that Benji would cause them hearing loss because of his penchant of ringing the bells are hard as he could in someone's face.

In Season 12, Benji the Bell Boy was replaced by a Boston Terrier that the grounds keepers attached jingle bells to. This version of Benji was very short-lived as no one thought to test if the dog actually liked loud noises or crowds, and at his first home debut, Benji ran out onto the field, relieved himself, and then ran out of the stadium. Legends say that if you're walking around The Ben Franklin Parkway at night you can hear the faint jingle of Benji in the distance.

That version of Benji was soon replaced with today's version, which has been the standard since Season 13. Benji is now a man in a giant bell costume (think Grimace from McDonald's without any arms) which has a giant smiley face on the façade of the bell, and a pair of bifocals (to honor Ben Franklin). Benji the Bell Boy can't really do much more than hop around, but he is the perfect embodiment of the Liberty.

[LancedJack]

There are very few cryptozoology related mascots in any of the ISFL and DSFL teams so having one as our team logo holds a particularly special place in my heart. As much as I'd like to encourage more cryptozoology related teams that sadly would incur expansion, and I'd rather allow myself to dwell in the Yeti's "natural" habitat, the Himalayas, than go through that bloody process. In something quite rare for the ISFL we have a mascot who can actually wear our uniform and, were it to exist, could play for us if we so chose and could negotiate a successful contract. With it's rumoured enormous stature and it's muscle bound appearance it's safe to say we'd have quite the formidable player on our hands if we could round one up. What I do enjoy also is that there's every chance that our mascot would have the upper hand against all other ISFL mascots should they choose to go up against it in a one on one battle to the death. Whilst any weaponry would inevitably turn the tide in favour of some of the more human mascots, a creature you can't really capture or prove the existence of should be able to handle any of this with fervor.

[IsaStarcrossed]

It wasn't long ago that I heard the name Colorado Yeti and laughed. What even was a Yeti? They aren't even real. Why would any team model themselves around something mythological? With that in mind I went on a deep dive to discover exactly what was Yeti. I went so deep that I even joined the team in an attempt to discover what secrets that were held there. It took me a long time to admit this, but the Yeti are in fact real. Not just the team, but the mascot as well. He is a large, friendly oaf who was first discovered befriending a dog named Wolfie. Since then, he has fallen in love with the team and has done his best to be there for them. Upon discovering that no one believed in him, he's tried to become a more visible figure for the Yeti, but people insist they can't see him. He's released books, stories have circulated about him, and he even once tried to have a press conference, but no one knew he was there. He still does his best to get his face out there. After all, a mascot needs to be visible and energetic. Energetic he may be, but for some reason people still don't seem to ever notice him. It gets him down from time to time, but he really tries his best for the team. In Colorado, that is all that matters.

[Menace0528]

The Berlin Fire Salamanders mascot is, well, a Fire Salamander, presumably one from Berlin, even though I don’t believe that Fire Salamanders are actually native to Berlin, or even exist there. I feel like something that separates our mascot from the others is the fact that we have the coolest one, and it’s in a place that our animal wouldn’t actually be. Are there copperheads in Austin? I think so. Are there hawks in Baltimore? I am unsure, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Fire salamanders also aren’t a very common animal compared to the other animal mascots. Hawks and copperheads and others are fairly common, or at least known animals. The fire salamanders? They’re different. They’re special. They are fairly unknown. If you asked someone to describe a fire salamander, I doubt they could describe much more than the fact that they look like a salamander. Another great thing about our mascot is he has real fire. He has a flamethrower that he shoots out into the crowd, kinda like how Opera gives stuff out into the crowd, but deadly because y’know, it’s fire. Sure that may be deadly and like kill some people, but it’s all in the name of team sports and such

[ddrector]

Most teams just one the one mascot in a garish costume running around during the game mostly for the entertainment of children. This is where the New Orleans Second Line is wholly unique to the ISFL. Our mascot is a legitimate second line from the New Orleans area. Each game a different second line comes in to basically enhance the party atmosphere in the stadium. In the concourse area we have a small parade band that parades around the stadium getting the fans hyped up, and usually the second line is following them around to really pump up the crowd. Sometimes they will take over a section in the stadium and get them really riled up and loud. They've also been known to spread out and coordinate the most epic wave you have ever seen. After the game is over the parade band swells in size to a massive 300 piece band and as they parade out of the stadium and towards Bourbon Street the second line follows behind in their usual party like demeanor and usually they entice many fans to join them as they celebrate a win and head to Bourbon Street for some proper New Orleans style partying. If you've never seen a 300 piece parade band followed by thousands of drunken dancing partyers it is a site to behold. Many a time this parade has essentially halted all major traffic as it has reached incredible lengths.

[ZootTX]

The concepts of ghosts, wraiths, and other spooky apparitions aren’t unique to any one place or group of people around the world. From cute, cuddly ones like Casper the Friendly Ghost, to Patrick Swayze, many people have relatively harmless, quaint ideas of what a ghost might look like. However, that’s not what the designer of the Yellowknife mascot was going for. The Yellowknife Wraith is more reminiscent of the terrifying Naz Gul from the Lord of the Rings universe, with its ominous looking cloak and glowing, soulless eyes, it’s designed to bring terror and fear to Yellowknife’s opponents on the football field. It’s definitely not featured in any children’s bedtime stories or cartoon movies, unless your goal is to leave your kids screaming in terror in the dark of the night! Compared to the rest of the ISFL’s mascots, I think the Wraith is clearly the scariest. There’s no question that a Wraith is spookier than a cuddly Hahalua or Otter, or friendly, tail-wagging Birddog. A Sailfish is something that gets mounted up on the wall after a fishing trip, so no contest there, either. The Liberty's logo just makes me hungry for Taco Bell. I’m sure some would argue that the Wraith mascot is not as detailed or artsy as some of the other ones, but the Wraith isn’t here to be fancy, it's here to scare you, plain and simple.

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[Yeenoghu]

Chicago is one of the few teams that has the distinguishing characteristic of having a human team name, alongside the Outlaws (and potentially the Second Line). So we have a crucial decision to make--does the team stick to the literal interpretation of the mascot and have a massive butcher roaming the stadium on game day, replete with an assortment of (fake) cutting implements and a bloody apron? Of course not! Children (and likely even some adults) would cry at the mere sight of such an intimidating figure. It's also difficult to tone down such a mascot, as a butcher without a cleaver is ... just a nondescript person. So the Butchers must go in an entirely different direction by having cartoony meat-themed mascots T. Bone and Drummette. Obviously T. Bone is shaped like an oversized T-bone steak, while Drummette would take the form of an overly large chicken drumstick. I would be much more confident in our mascot's ability to mill about the crowd during games and take pictures with families at the team's Meat and Greet events in the pre-game festivities. This also opens the door to having segments of our fanbase be called "giblets', 'cutlets', and the like without the ever-present thought of their relationship to the villainous human mascot.

[Seymour]

[ztarwarz]

It's weird to think about, but there's actually as many human mascots in the ISFL as there are snake mascots in both the ISFL and DSFL combined. Due to the Outlaws being one of the only teams to need a human at the helm, they have experimented in the past with not using a costume at all. However, they have figured out recently the perfect way to troll opposing teams: The former mascot. Whenever a former mascot is retired for whatever reason, the Outlaws took note and contacted the former mascot to serve as part of their "mascot gang", one of a group of mascots on the run from the law. To be frank, the name's a bit of a work in progress, however they recently pulled off the coup of the century: Getting the former mascot of the Seattle Supersonics Squatch on their roster to come out against the Colorado Yeti and have a Bigfoot battle. Because for some reason, even in the far flung future of the ISFL, Seattle doesn't have their NBA team back yet. Other notable mascots include the Montreal Expos mascot, named Youppi, the Atlanta Thrashers mascot, named Thrash (very useful when faced against Baltimore), and Georgia's missing Bulldog. Technically that last one wasn't admitted to by the Outlaws organization, but everyone knows where the dog came from.