Who Makes Up These Mascots, Anyway?

It's always a discussion up for debate, but perhaps two of the best sports mascots are the San Diego Chicken and Calgary Flames' Harvey the Hound. One mascot I really enjoyed in Calgary, which used to be a mainstay on the sidelines of Stampeder football games, was the American Eagle mascot from a local restaurant. It had lots of personality and was quite funny when it would annoy the football team's mascot: Ralph the Dog.

But then there are mascots where you wonder what their creators were thinking.

Yes, these are pretty bad: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/154086-10-worst-mascots-of-all-time, but I think the newly unleashed London Olympic mascots would definitely fit as number two, at the very least.

London Olympic mascots (Source: Globe and Mail)

One of the worst mascots I've seen belonged to the Calgary Hitmen junior hockey team: the Vulk. It was so ugly, you spent the whole game trying to figure out what he was. And, he was so ugly, this is the only online picture I found of him: http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1201377441060518742yAfpLy. He was big, ugly, and green and mean looking. He looked like a monster. Makes you wonder why mascots are created to scare kids more than engage them.

But a quick Google search on "ugly mascots" and you will find a treasure chest of some pretty questionable characters.

Still, after all the flak the British press reined upon the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, it's interesting that this is the best they could come up with for mascots. Whatever happened to Heidi and Howdy?

1988 Calgary Olympic Winter Games friendly mascots Heidi and Howdy