Being a mascot for a school is hard.
No, I'm not "letting the cat out of the bag" and saying that I'm TC or TK. But I know how the people that are mascots feel.
In high school, I was the eagle mascot for West Hancock High School. In recent years the eagle mascot has shown up at football and basketball games, but when I was the eagle, I was only out on the football field since I was a basketball manager for our girl's team.
And yes, I got some senior pictures done with the mascot suit.
The HOTTEST one at the game.
Yes, you're pretty hot as yourself, but as a mascot you're even hotter. It's like a bazillion degrees in that suit. The only relief I got as the eagle mascot was towards the end of the football season when everyone else was bundling up in several layers and I...well I was fine in shorts and a cut off under the bulk of the mascot suit.
Ya nasty.
Yes. Since the mascot is -- in regards to temperature -- the hottest one there, that means the person inside has melted into a pool of their own sweat. It's disgusting. I've been there, I understand. And it's really important to rehydrate after losing half your body weight in sweat from just walking around...in an absurdly hot suit.
The game's afoot.
For some places, the mascot is the mascot. No one knows who it is and there's like six people it could be. For other places, everyone knows who it is. In the case of West Hancock, everyone knew I was the mascot. And I was OK with it. Everyone knew who it was before me and after me. I mean, with a small town school it's not hard to figure out.
Now, in the case of UNI, no one really knows who TC or TK is until that person graduates, because they can announce it on their grad caps and such. AND there's a whole team that assumes the identity of the mascot. No single person can balance their academics and extra activities with all the events that the mascots have to appear at.
But the fun part of no one knowing who the mascot is is the speculation of who it could be. One of my friends is friends with one of the people that is the mascot for the University of Iowa and after meeting me they insisted that I was one of the mascots for UNI. (Which made me laugh, because I am not. Clearly pictured above is me, TC, and -- in the background -- TK).
Scared for life.
You are whatever persona you are assuming under that suit, so it's a little scarring (for you or the crowd) if something goes wrong. Let me illustrate this a little better with a story. I would always do pushups for the first touchdown our football team made and I always did them on the side of the bleachers where the band would sit. Well, the eagle head didn't fit that great. I was doing my pushups and the head started bouncing forward until essentially the head popped off. I'm pretty sure I scared some poor kid in the crowd.
Messing around.
Something I enjoyed about being the mascot was that I didn't have to be perfect at the cheers. I just had to be animated and fun. And my best memory of this was when we played Bishop Garrigan and the Bishop Garrigan Bear and I (the West Hancock Eagle) had an across-the-field dance off. Busting a move is just...insanely more fun in a mascot suit.
At the collegiate level, the mascots actually get to go into the crowd and hang out with them, which is something I wish I could've done as the eagle (I was a stuck on the track).
Actions speak.
As a mascot, you have to be silent. Communication is made through movements. Sometimes movements are difficult to understand. There have been a few times where I've been on Panther Pep Crew and TC is trying to convey something and his efforts to explain are completely lost on me. It's like a big game of charades that you have to be really really good at.
In Conclusion:
Be nice to your mascot! They have to deal with not only students, but also the families and all the little kids. Those in the suit are also sweating their bum off, have limited vision, and are probably uncomfortable. So, be kind to your mascot.
