Top 5 of the Funniest, Weirdest, and Strange Mascots in Sports

Let's face it, mascots are strange. If you love sports then they become a minor annoyance; unless of course, its your mascot. If you hate sports, then they are a strange oddity to laugh at. Amongst all the strange mascots out there, there are an elect few that stands out as the weirdest, the inconsistent, and the just plain stupid. My goal is to bring you the top five of these.

5. I'd like to start of the list with a very confusing mascot. The Miami Hurricanes's mascot is Sebastian the Ibis. Sounds good, right? Miami is a beach town, and yes, they experience hurricanes. The ibis is a native bird; to the marshes anyway, and the folklore surrounding the bird is extremely symbolic for a team. So why is it on the list? Well, for one reason. Because Sebastian the Ibis is a duck. Seriously, the mascot costume is a white bird with a broad, orange beak. He looks like a ticked off, underfed Donald Duck. Incase you don't know, an ibis usually has some color to it; other than white, and the bill is long and curved down. Strike one against UM's biology department for not correcting this.

4. Next on the list is Otto the Orange. This guy has two factors working against him. The first being his nearness in resemblance of Kool-Aid, save the clown nose. So if Syracuse University doesn't get sued for copyright infringement, then they should loose their accreditation. Why? Because Syracuse can average up to 120 inches in snow. Good luck finding an orange grove in the city, and I don't mean the campus's alumni walk.

3. The creepy award is a tie between Fort Wayne's Mad Ant, and TCU's Super Frog. The problem lies within the suits. The Mad Ant looks like a Medieval depiction of Satin on steroids. No kidding; his antennae look like horns, and he has a pleasantly evil grin. Aside from that, he has arms the size of his head. The Super Frog isn't much better. Although a bit more proportional, he still looks demonic. That isn't so bad until you consider he is the mascot for Texas Christian University. They obviously realize this because apparently there is a kid-friendly version of this saurian devil.

2. Before we hit the top of the chart of the strangest mascot in sports, I'm going to show you the most ironic. In a small town called Lynchburg (home of Jack Daniel's) is an equally small community college named Motlow (named after part owner the the distillery). The school mascot has a fitting name for a small country town; the Bucks. What ironic about that? The girl's basketball team is called the Lady Bucks...'nuff said.

1. The finale is reserved for just the downright strange. What comes to mind when you think about Stanford University? Prestige? Leading research? How about pointless mascots? Although unofficial, the Stanford Tree has been entertaining the school's fans since the 70's. And the SU Tree is just that; a person dressed in a tree costume with cartoon eyes and lips. Don't assume the school is a poor decision maker like the first few. There is a quirky and rebellious story around it. Essentially, no one could settle on a mascot, so the band implemented their own.

There you have it, 6 of the strangest team mascots around. I know, mascots are suppose to be funny and playful and cartoony, but some just cross the line. So next time you go to the game and see your mascot, just be glad it isn't one of the aforementioned; unless one of them is yours.