Top 10: The Weirdest Mascots in Sports

Top 10: The Weirdest Mascots in Sports

Can you imagine a sports world without mascots? We can’t. In more than 20 years we at IMAGO have seen loads of them from all over the world. Some are funny. Some might even be considered cute. But if we are completely honest most of them are really weird. Here is our top 10.

Official mascot of NHL team Philadelphia Flyers. The 7-foot orange furball was introduced in 2018 and described by The Guardian as “an acid trip of a mascot”. We don’t know about that, but it sure does have fun on the ice.
Photo: IMAGO / Zuma Wire

Official mascot of Texan NBA team San Antonio Spurs since 1983. Craziest eyes we’ve ever seen. Weird. Very weird.
Photo: IMAGO / Zuma Wire

3. Phillie Phanatic

Official mascot of Philadelphia Phillies MLB team and another weird Philadelphia native. First seen in 1978 it has become one of the most recognizable mascots in Northern American sports - and favourite mascot of at least one IMAGO employee.
Photo: IMAGO / UPI Photo

The official mascot of Partick Thistle Football Club in Glasgow was designed by artist David Shrigley. Now that we think about it: Maybe it should have come first.
Photo: IMAGO / Action Plus

5. Stuff the Magic Dragon

Official mascot of NBA team Orlando Magic. It can make long, yellow blowers come out of its nostrils. Ew.
Photo: IMAGO / Zuma Wire

6. Stanford Tree

Unofficial mascot of Stanford University. Since it’s the mascot of the Stanford marching band it appears at the university’s basketball and football games. It represents the El Palo Alto sequoia and has been around in various weird versions since 1975.
Photo: IMAGO / Icon SMI

Official mascot of German Bundesliga team Borussia Dortmund since 2005. Although some in our team might argue the weirdness, mascots wearing a shirt but no trousers always seem suspicious. Emma was named after BVB football player Lothar Emmerich.
Photo: IMAGO / DeFodi

The official mascot of NBA team Charlotte Hornets was designed by Jim Hensons’s daughter Cheryl. Being a child of the 80s Hugo doesn’t mind spicing up his already colourful appearance with some extravaganza from time to time.
Photo: IMAGO / Zuma Wire

9. The Blue Blob

Mascot of Xavier University, a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Actually the university’s official mascot is D'Artagnan, the Musketeer, but in 1985 they decided they needed a friendlier, less scary mascot for the kids and came up with The Blue Blob. Furry. But still weird.
Photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Press

Second official mascot of NFL team New Orleans Saints along with Gumbo the dog, also weird. The chin! Nuff said.
Photo: IMAGO / Icon SMI

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