The Sacramento Kings have been spectacular, currently sitting third in the NBA's Western Conference with a 45-29 record. Is it because of their victory beam?
Mavrello, the new mascot of the Mavericks.
Texas Monthly; courtesy of Dallas Mavericks
Sports team mascots have evolved in recent years. Historically, they’ve been icons that attempt to convey values that the team hopes to represent to fans (especially young ones): some mix of toughness, friendliness, confidence, and resilience, all wrapped in fur and foam, the family-friendly face of what it means to root for the franchise. Some mascots are more or less human. Ragnar the Viking, who enjoyed a long run with the Minnesota Vikings until he priced himself out of the job in 2015, was just a dude on a motorcycle; Pittsburgh’s Steely McBeam is a giant, cartoonish character who is nonetheless identifiable as a person. Other mascots hail from the animal kingdom, like the Houston Texans’ Toro or the Chicago Bulls’ Benny the Bull, while some take on more abstract, Muppet-like forms, such as the Phillie Phanatic or the Miami Heat’s Burnie. Some are intuitively connected to the franc