Furry and Jolly, but Serious

Posting the video of mascot mayhem earlier today reminded me to write about this recent piece on ESPN, which delves into the increasingly professional world of mascoting:

To the untrained eye, mascots seem like merry pranksters, akin to the guys from "Jackass." They dance on dugouts, dunk off trampolines, jump through hoops so the rest of us don't have to. But here's the thing: The hoops are usually on fire.

The whole thing is pretty long, but worth it if you're as oddly fascinated by this subculture as I am. (I really think the only way to properly close this blog one day will be to run off and become a mascot myself.)