What would you see if you compiled a list of every college and professional sports mascot in the United States?
Wild animals. Natural disasters. Insects. Trojans. Spartans. Food. The list goes on.
The well-travelled sports fan will tell you that some of these mascots are adorable (See: UMBC’s Chesapeake Bay retriever), some are entertaining and some are just nightmare fuel.
Here are some of the best mascots I’ve come across over the years in both professional and college athletics. There’s no particular order to this list. They’re all unique and ridiculous in their own ways.
Macon Bacon
The Bacon compete in the Coastal Plain League, a collegiate summer baseball league that includes a handful of organizations in North Carolina. The team is currently in its second year of existence, and it continues to ride a wave of popularity that started as soon as baseball fans in Georgia realized the rumors were true: The CPL’s newest franchise would be named after a delicious breakfast food.
And yes, the mascot is a big piece of bacon. The team also incorporated bacon designs into its rotation of jerseys. The Bacon frequently do battle with the Savannah Bananas, their in-state rival known for their passionate fanbase and all-yellow jerseys.
Stanford Cardinal
Stanford is one of this country’s elite academic institutions, and the school also has been known to compete well in the Pac-12 Conference. The school, which is located in California, was nicknamed the Cardinal (yes, that is singular) as a nod to the university’s primary color.
Stanford doesn’t have an official mascot. But if you ever watch a Stanford football game on TV, you’ll notice the team’s unofficial mascot: a tree. A member of Stanford’s band dons a giant tree costume during each game. It is interesting, to say the least.
Fayetteville Woodpeckers
The Houston Astros’ Advanced-A affiliate made this list because the team is nicknamed after a bird that spends a lot of time knocking its bill against a tree. It’s certainly not the most intimidating mascot. The Woodpeckers make up for it with a state-of-the-art minor league ballpark and some decent baseball.
Fayetteville’s previous minor league baseball team, the Generals, played at J.P. Riddle Stadium from 1987 to 1996. The Generals’ mascot, Bleacher Creature, is worthy of a Google search.
Utah Jazz
The previous names on this list have been bizarre and unique, but this one is just inaccurate. Utah’s franchise is one of several NBA teams with nicknames that don’t fit their location. This can happen when a team retains its original nickname after moving to a different state.
That was the case with the Jazz. The franchise began in New Orleans, an area with a rich history of jazz music. The state of Utah is known for several good things — national parks and the Great Salt Lake, to name a couple — but contributions to the genre of jazz music is not one of them.
