I don't really buy the story. You can't really believe anything anyone says on the RealGM forums. I once got suspended for convinced those fools that we were trading Theo Ratliff's expiring contract for Darius Miles.
And then the next year we actually signed Darius Miles. Take that, you ignorant punks! Bahaha...
But really I'll say it again... mascots should have masks. It was just weird to see a grown man running around in a leprechaun outfit. This is one of the reasons they have a costume... so that the talent is easy to replace.
It has the potential to be weird though for a mascot connoisseur like myself, though. I remember in the late 90s when the Sonics got a new actor to play Squatch... he just didn't seem to have the same chops at first. His dance moves and mannerisms were off. But eventually he grew into the role... he learned to embrace it... and he made it his own. His performance in the 2005 playoffs was his shining moment and ranks among the all-time best Squatch performances of the last two decades. He remained joyful and thoroughly entertaining in his future mascotting displays, but never seemed to regain that 2005 magic... think Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace. There wasn't much to work with backing a 30 win team. Personally, I'm on the edge of my seat with anxious anticipation to see how he performs in his new role as Oklahoma City Thunder mascot. Hopefully he can flourish in a role he can create from scratch... instead of following in the footsteps of the great men who wore the Squatch fur before him.
As for Lucky... Either bring back the mask or introduce a clover-inspired mascot. A big clover outfit. A dancing, sign-waving, trampoline-dunking clover.
