The new Braves mascot has an odd name and looks kinda familiar
The Atlanta Braves have been promising a new mascot for several weeks. On Saturday, the big reveal finally happened during the team’s ChopFest fan event at SunTrust Park, and we’ll just say the hype easily surpassed the payoff, at least based on the reactions of Braves fans.
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For starters, the mascot is named “Blooper.”
We assume the Braves were going for the baseball reference to a hit that barely drops in over the infield. You know, a bloop hit? Unfortunately, most fans are leaning toward the mistake and/or blunder definition of blooper.
“What should the name of our mascot be?”
Guy in meeting who thinks the mascot is a mistake and is sarcastic: “how about Blooper?”
“THAT’S A GREAT NAME”
Guy to himself: I have just destroyed Braves country, this is my burden to bare https://t.co/VKw8kgGaoP
— Justin Monsewicz (@JMonsewicz) January 27, 2018
Making matters worse, a lot of fans are pointing out Blooper’s resemblance to another baseball mascot who happens to represent one of the Braves’ biggest rivals.
The @braves can’t be serious right now… new mascot is cousins with the Phillie Phanatic ♂️ pic.twitter.com/QksoYNaUWf
— Blake Hollimon (@HolliMonster02) January 27, 2018
It really isn’t a stretch to say Blooper looks like the Phillie Phanatic. In fact, several fans instantly made that comparison, so there’s no doubt that’s the way they see it.
when the braves mascot and the phillis mascot see each other for the first time #ChopFest pic.twitter.com/3z566WGJXk
— hannah (@hannahnicole103) January 27, 2018
The Braves new mascot reminds me of the Phillie Phanatic https://t.co/C3YxACdipi
— Linz DeFranco (@LinzDeFranco) January 27, 2018
Add the #Braves new mascot to the list of Georgia sports fails. pic.twitter.com/jx51hCNn84
— MLB Trash Talkers (@mlbtrashtalkers) January 27, 2018
These two mated and out came #blooper the Braves new mascot. @RealMattlanta @680TheFan @CelliniNick @chrisdimino pic.twitter.com/O5RiJw5s2Y
— Austin McFarlane (@AustinMc33) January 27, 2018
Granted, it usually takes a good while before a new mascot grows on a fanbase. In due time, it’s possible the same will happen with Blooper.
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Then again, the dissatisfaction here is pretty strong.
The new @Braves new mascot "blooper" is up there with trading Kimbrel on my list of least favorite things the Braves have done.
— Jeffrey Fuller (@jrf1935) January 27, 2018
Really @Braves ??? ‘Blooper’? That’s what we’re going with as our new mascot? So we go from a Mets knockoff mascot to a Phillies knockoff mascot? This is bad, like, really bad…
— Chris Yarbrough (@cmyarbrough86) January 27, 2018
That’s a reference to Homer, the outgoing Braves mascot who looked like Mr. Met’s twin.
Bring back Homer. pic.twitter.com/glfXoQNGET
— Derek Sondag (@dsondag) January 27, 2018
Apparently going from a Mets lookalike to a Phillies lookalike mascot isn’t considered an upgrade in Atlanta. Maybe they would have been better off just acquiring this guy during the Marlins fire sale:
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Yahoo Sports Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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