Dumbest Looking Mascot in Sports Gets Busted for DUI

Image from msn.foxsports.com

Penn State has suspended James Sheep, who dresses up in a bear suit every Saturday and claims to be a "Nittany Lion," after Sheep was charged with DUI when he was pulled over on campus at 3:15 a.m. on Nov. 22.

Read more at Fox Sports.

I think they're missing the real story here: That's the dumbest looking mascot in sports.

I'm left with so many questions...

How have I not noticed this before??

Can you blame the guy for needing some of Grandpa's Pennsyltucky Cough Medicine before putting on that dopey thing?

Did someone's mom make it? Packed up the Dodge Caravan and headed to Michael's to grab the supplies?

The only thing it's missing are googly eyes. It looks like a cheap halloween costume or something for a third grade performance of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. And come on! Give the guy a scarf or something to cover up the ridiculous neck opening. Wait! He does have a scarf! COMING RIGHT OUT OF HIS CREEPY NECK HOLE!

Since I had so many questions, I went on a quest for answers. From Wikipedia, king of all primary sources:

"The mascot was the creation of Penn State senior H. D. "Joe" Mason in 1907. While on a 1904 trip to Princeton University, Mason had been embarrassed that Penn State did not have a mascot."

Thanks, "Joe." Now you can be embarrassed that you do have a mascot. And it's been traumatizing small children for 101 years.
 

Whoops.

I was covering the Caps game last night and had this SMS text exchange with a friend:

Me: They showed 2 Redskins on the screen and they got booed loudly. I'm not a fan but I'd have enough respect not to boo them in a Washington bldg. Thats s***y IMO.

Him: They were saying smoooooooooooooot for fred smoot.

Me: Hahahahahahah I am a moron.



Yeah. Awesome.

Note: The other 'Skins player was Rock Cartwright.
 

Alexander Semin pretty much thinks Sidney Crosby sucks...

Greg Wyshynski, who I frequently see in the press box at Verizon Center and have talked to a couple times (NAME DROP NAME DROP NAME DROP ... I'm sure he couldn't pick me out of a one-person lineup) has posted an interview with Alexander Semin, from Russian to English by way of Sovetsky Sport's Dmitry Chesnokov.

And Semin didn't hold back when it came to everyone's favorite flightless fowl.

What's so special about [Crosby]? I don't see anything special there. Yes, he does skate well, has a good head, good pass. But there's nothing else. Even if you compare him to Patrick Kane from Chicago ... [Kane] is a much more interesting player. The way he moves, his deking abilities, his thinking on the ice and his anticipation of the play is so superb.

I think that if you take any player, even if he is "dead wood," and start promoting him, you'll get a star. Especially if he scores 100 points. No one is going to care about anyone else. No one is going to care whether he possesses great skill. Let's say you put someone in front of the net and let him deflect pucks in, and he scored 50 goals; everyone will say "Wow!" and then hand him a $10 million per year contract. That's what they like here.

Yeah that's also a pretty nice swipe at North American hockey and the NHL in general, but I think us Washingtonians are willing to look past that and commend Sasha Semin for throwing some message board signature material our way.

Read the full interview here. It's worth it.
 

Capitals 2008-2009 Season Preview: Multimedia Style

I'm not sure if this is the world's longest Capitals season preview or not, but at over 2,500 words AND a 25-minute podcast to boot, I think Abram Fox and I really came through with a thorough look at the Caps upcoming season for DC Sports Box.

Most of the message board posters and stat geeks and people trawling the Web all day for new Caps info aren't going to learn a whole lot, but there's plenty of info for the casual hockey fan or someone not really familiar with the Caps. And the podcast includes more opinion and even some predictions for the season.

Check out the preview article here:
Capitals Season Preview: High Expectations for '08-'09

And listen to the podcast here:
2008-2009 Season Preview podcast
 

Bruce Boudreau Mercedes Commercial

I'll give him credit in that it's better than the Eddie Jordan commercial (also for American Service Center) where the salesman, who somehow is a worse actor than either Jordan OR Bruce Boudreau, has to sell the Wizards coach on a Benz before the 24-second clock runs out.

For your viewing pleasure:


Is it bad that my first thought was, "We may be getting a little ahead of ourselves..."?