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There have been mascots associated with sporting teams for a long time - the first college mascot was an English bulldog named "Handsome Dan" who was adopted as the Yale University mascot in 1889.

A mascot is defined as any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck. Mascots have been used by many sporting teams in the form of a costumed person at matches to rev up the supporters. In more recent times, the mascots have an additional purpose and are used for merchandising too.

Mascots can be based on many things, here are a few examples:

• A desired quality, such as the courage of a lion
• They can symbolize a local or regional trait
• A local product or resource - oranges, corn
• A local industry - miners, farming
• Animals - eagles, cougars, kangaroo, tiger

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Top Mascots

Here are the Top-10 mascots as listed by the AskMen.com website. Just USA sports teams here.

Mascot Hall of Fame

Between 2005 and 2008 USA sports team mascots were inducted into a 'Mascot Hall of Fame'. There does not seem to be any recent inductees - maybe no one has been worthy recently. Inductees only from professional sports are shown here. To be eligible for nomination the mascot must must have had, or continues to have, a major impact on their sport, and/or community.

Related Links

• Mascots at Major Sporting Events
• More sports resources