This is turning out to be the “year of the team mascot”. the gallant men and women who don fuzzy costumes for the supposed delight of fans and labor in sweat-stained obscurity, have been making the sports news lately. It started last month when the NBA Raptors' mascot suffered a season-ending injury by blowing out his Achilles tendon at a hospital benefit appearance. Then there was the case of Marty, mascot for the World Hockey League's team in Victoria, British Columbia. During an intermission stunt that involves fans sliding around on the ice in a game of musical chairs, Marty was assaulted by one of the fans when Marty shoved the chair the fan was about to sit on. Minor injuries although Marty was MIA for the rest of the game causing, I'm guessing, a decline in fan enthusiasm. The Denver Nuggets have a dog/wolf sort of mascot named Rocky, probably because no one could come up with a cuddly costume depicting a nugget, who gets lowered to the floor from the rafters for a spectacular entrance. recently, the guy in the suit passed out, and so a clearly unconscious mascot was left twisting in the breeze, which was sort of creepy. And speaking of creepy, the NBA's newly rechristened Pelicans unveiled their new mascot Pierre, a leering, giant man/bird with “nightmare for small children” written all over it. “Eat your vegetables, Justin, or I'll take you to a Pelicans game.” may not be what the team had in mind.