As the 2018 Winter Olympics play out in PyeongChang, we look back 38 years to this day in 1980, when the opening ceremony for that year's games took place in Lake Placid, NY (although events actually started the day before).
Representing the games that year was none other than Roni, a friendly humanoid raccoon who is as comfortable on skis as he is in a trash can...
While the anthropomorphic animal mascot is pretty commonplace these days, as far as I can tell, this was the first Olympics to use an anthro critter as the face of the games! (Previous games had used animal mascots, but none walked/skied/skated like humans that I can find...!)
I think a raccoon was a pretty outstanding choice...it's a native animal, the mask is meant to resemble the eyewear worn by winter athletes, and the rings on the tail are a great nod to the Olympic rings (assuming that was the intention...!).
So last year brought Cleveland one title...and almost a second, only falling short in maybe the best Game 7 ever played in any sport, and to the freakin' Cubs.
Surely Atlanta sports fans can hope for something out of 2017...?
You know the situation.* Everything's going smoothly in your supers RPG campaign when your team of heroes has to handle a situation at a local professional sporting event.
"Who's the visiting team?" asks one of your players.
Whaaa---? you think. The home team is easy.You're in Knight City, or Forest City, or Whatever City, after all...so you have that figured out. But who are they hosting? The pressure's on...they need a name...c'mon...3...2...1...
"It's the _____ City _____. Archrivals..."
1d100 Comic Book City Names (_____ City)
1
Autumn
2
Basin
3
Bay
4
Bear
5
Bell
6
Blade
7
Border
8
Bridge
9
Cable
10
Cactus
11
Calendar
12
Camp
13
Cathedral
14
Cave
15
Channel
16
Chess
17
Circle
18
Club
19
Coal
20
Coil
21
Cook
22
Cork
23
Current
24
Day
25
Dock
26
Empire
27
Fall
28
Flame
29
Flower
30
Gate
31
Grain
32
Hall
33
Hammer
34
Harbor
35
Holiday
36
Hook
37
Hope
38
Island
39
Judge
40
Key
41
Knight
42
Lake
43
Leather
44
Letter
45
Line
46
Lock
47
Low
48
Lumber
49
Machine
50
Marble
51
Market
52
Match
53
Metal
54
Money
55
Moon
56
Motion
57
Music
58
Needle
59
Night
60
Oil
61
Orange
62
Paper
63
Pear
64
Pipe
65
Plate
66
Point
67
Porter
68
Power
69
Print
70
Quilt
71
Rain
72
Rhythm
73
Ring
74
Rock
75
Rose
76
Route
77
Sail
78
Sand
79
Science
80
Ship
81
Slope
82
Snow
83
Space
84
Spring
85
Station
86
Steam
87
Story
88
Stream
89
Summer
90
Sun
91
Tiger
92
Time
93
Trade
94
Veil
95
View
96
Voyage
97
Wall
98
Winter
99
Wood
100
Zephyr
1d100 Sports Team Nicknames
1
Aardvarks
2
Angelfish
3
Armada
4
Arrows
5
Aviators
6
Barbarians
7
Barons
8
Baymen
9
Bears
10
Bees
11
Bobcats
12
Boxers
13
Bruins
14
Bulls
15
Burn
16
Cardinals
17
Cavaliers
18
Challengers
19
Cobras
20
Comets
21
Cowboys
22
Coyotes
23
Crabbers
24
Crocodiles
25
Dolphins
26
Dragons
27
Eagles
28
Express
29
Falcons
30
Ferrets
31
Fireballs
32
Firewalkers
33
Geckos
34
Giants
35
Gladiators
36
Goblins
37
Grooms
38
Gunners
39
Harriers
40
Hawks
41
Highlanders
42
Hippos
43
Hornets
44
Hounds
45
Howlers
46
Huskies
47
Hyenas
48
Internationals
49
Jaguars
50
Kings
51
Knights
52
Leopards
53
Ligers
54
Lightning
55
Lions
56
Lumberjacks
57
Lynx
58
Manatees
59
Marauders
60
Miners
61
Monarchs
62
Mudcats
63
Mustangs
64
Oilers
65
Outlaws
66
Owls
67
Panthers
68
Pioneers
69
Pipers
70
Pirates
71
Pointers
72
Presidents
73
Princes
74
Railers
75
Railroaders
76
Ramblers
77
Rampage
78
Rams
79
Retrievers
80
Rippers
81
Roadrunners
82
Rockets
83
Rockhoppers
84
Rogues
85
Scorpions
86
Seahawks
87
Sharks
88
Spaniels
89
Spirit
90
Stars
91
Terriers
92
Thunder
93
Thunderbirds
94
Tigers
95
Titans
96
Trolls
97
Vikings
98
Welders
99
Whales
100
Wolves
* You don't know the situation? Consider yourself lucky...
I am definitely thankful to this Mitsubishi dealership in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, for sharing these outtakes with the world. Is there anything funnier than a mascot falling down? (Rhetorical question, but...the answer is no.)
It's one of the biggest weeks of the year for college football fans. With my Georgia State Panthers on a bye week, and the Iron Bowl looking like it could be a bloodbath, I guess my greatest interest today may lie in the huge Michigan-Ohio State matchup that kicks off in just a few minutes.
This seems like a great time to revisit one of my favorite unscripted moments in mascot history...that time that Ohio University's Rufus the Bobcat went crazy and attacked OSU's Brutus Buckeye...
And...another angle...
Actually, "favorite" might be overstating the way I feel about this incident. I suppose it's kind of like the recent American presidential election...somewhat entertaining to watch it unfold, but please (oh please), don't let it become the norm.
The story behind the assault on Brutus might be even more entertaining than the event itself. Rufus (or his alter ego, at least) apparently had it out for The Nut-Headed One for a while.
Depending on who you ask, these are either awesome or the stuff nightmares are made of. The connection of Marvel Comics and ESPN under the Disney umbrella brings us these comic book covers highlighting some of the matchups from this opening weekend of the college football season.
From my perspective...well, they're comic book covers featuring the mascots of college football teams...so it's going to take some pretty poor execution to make them fall short of awesome. I think I dig this one the most...
...but I'll admit that there's something about these overmuscled anthropomorphic animals fighting over a football that I also enjoy...
The strangest one is probably this next cover, for the Florida State vs. Ole Miss game. I'm assuming that the sometimes controversial nature of both schools' mascots (one being a Native American, the other historically being an old southern fellow named Colonel Reb...although the Colonel has been replaced in recent years by Rebel, the Black Bear) is what led to the questionable decision to have this as the only cover featuring either a basic football player or a pair of not-so-basic crystal entities. (EDIT: I just got those...they're Garnet and Gold...not a terrible name for a superheroic duo, actually...)
And finally, I have to include this one, since it includes a beefed-up version of Aubie (probably my favorite mascot ever). The artists also captured the discomforting stare of the Clemson tiger pretty well...
You can see all of the covers a number of places on the web...for example, here. And if you think you recognize some inspiration from classic Marvel covers, you're right...CBR has an article with a bit more on this.
All right...it's still Monster Monday! Since last week's entry already broke my streak of underground elemental beasts, I'm going to spend at least one more week letting my one-track mind guide me.
One of my favorite mascots during my formative years was the symbol of the 1984 Summer Games, Sam the Olympic Eagle:
I even still have the little PVC figures of him that I got when I was a kid...
It's only recently, though, that I discovered that Sam starred in a Japanese TV series! Or...a TV special. Or something. For some reason, we never got this in the USA. Which...well, it seems like we'd be a great target audience, doesn't it? Here are what seem to be the intro, outro, and something else (a clip? a commercial? a cold open?) for the Sam the Olympic Eagle anime.
I've never tried to nail down a detailed "bucket list." But if I did, one item that would surely hover near the top is the chance to be a costumed mascot. Weird? Probably. But it's been a semi-obsession for a while now, and unfortunately reached that status in my mind well after it would have been a practical goal in my day-to-day life.
Until yesterday. For reasons of the trade, I don't want to say too much, but I do want to note that this gathering of mascots at yesterday's Atlanta Dream game (no pun intended on the post title, by the way) was a pretty awesome deal for me...
I was at that game. I got to interact with some mascot greats. I'll leave it at that.
Now...to pull this post closer to the blog's focus, I'll also reveal that perhaps an even weirder dream of mine has long been to develop a comic or RPG based on the concept of mascots as superheroes and villains waging a long-running war with each other. Sometimes, the thought has been to portray the mascots as people in "costumes" that are actually carefully constructed battle suits. Sometimes, it's been to actually have a bunch of anthropomorphic animals...and other stuff...that are working to defend (or conquer) our world.
For this post, I'm going with the latter. Because I had a lot of fun with this week's Monster Monday, where I statted up a kaiju for an imaginary OSR game based on the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game, I'm also going to stat up a character for a similar game using this ridiculous high concept. Heck, maybe it's the same game as the kaiju game. You know what, yes...in this imaginary world where I play imaginary games, I'll go with that.
Here's Bango, the deer with no fear who pumps the crowd at Milwaukee Bucks games. He may be best known for this playoff stunt from a few years back:
(The wider world of Bango was also featured on the excellent Hulu documentary series Behind the Mask...definitely worth checking out!)
Bango
Deer, Level 5 Acrobat (10,000 XP)
AC 14, 5d8-5 (18) HP
STR 15(+1) DEX 17(+2) CON 8(-1) INT 12 WIS 10 CHA 14(+1)
Height 7ft (w/antlers)
Size Code 5 (human-sized)
Attacks:
2 punches (+3, d4+1 damage)
OR
Sumo slam (+4, d8+1 damage)
OR
By weapon (T-shirt gun, ball grenade, etc.)
As a 5th-level Acrobat, Bango gets his full level bonus to all DEX ability rolls, +4 to saving throws vs. falling and rays/missiles, and an Acrobatics skill of 70%.
(Here are a few more Bango highlights for those interested. Which should be everyone...)
