Being a mascot is a pretty thankless job. Your identity is always concealed, you’re tasked to run around in a hot, probably smelly suit and you have to deal with the most annoying of fans.
It isn’t surprising that one of them snapped as Mr. Met flipped off a fan during Thursday night’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The mascot’s identity was never disclosed but he was fired from his duties as he tarnished the reputation of sports’ oldest, most celebrated mascots around.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen mascots land in hot water and it probably won’t be the last time, either:
Cincinnati Bearcat goes wild
The University of Cincinnati mascot did not take too kindly to Pittsburgh running back Dion Lewis running rampant on his Bearcats during a 2010 game.
In fact, he started pelting snowballs at him upon his arrival in the end zone. When he was confronted by security, the mascot shoved the guard, leading to his arrest:
Duke Dog vs. Chauncy Chanticleer
Don’t tell me emotions don’t run high in college football’s FCS circuit. James Madison and Coastal Carolina’s mascots got into it during a 2007 45-10 JMU win that resulted in Duke (the dog) getting arrested:
Oregon Duck vs. Houston Cougar
2007 was a busy year for mascot fracases. During a football game between Oregon and Houston, the two loveable creatures went at it on the sidelines. Well, really, it was the Oregon mascot acting like a total jerk:
Denver Nuggets mascot decks kid
During an Arizona Cardinals-Denver Broncos 2015 regular season game, Rocky the Mountain Lion — who is the mascot of the Denver Nuggets — obviously did not like one peewee footballer running through his team of mascots.
So he did what everyone … I mean, no one … else would have done: decked him and then taunted him:
High school rumble
It’s probably not a good idea to put kids in these suits. Raging hormones and peer pressure simply is not a good combination.
Well, the perfect storm hit in 2012 when the mascots from Louisville Male and DuPont Manual high schools threw down during a basketball game:
A title fight — literally
A trip to the NCAA Tournament obviously is too much for some mascots.
During the 2008 Summit League championship game, IUPUI’s Jawz the Jaguar and Oral Roberts’ Eli the Eagle went from friendly dance battle to full-blown melee:
