Pierre the Pelican, New Orleans NBA Mascot, Creeps Out Fans at Season Opener (PHOTOS)
Pierre the Pelican, the new mascot for the NBA New Orleans basketball team, but the new costume creeped out many of the fans there. The pelican costume was unveiled at the first game of the season Wednesday during their opener against the Indiana Pacers.
Pierre the Pelican replaced the Hornet mascot, and the owners and management saved him for the first game despite a preseason game being played by the team. Pierre showed up at the game and on social media site Twitter, where many users commented that he was strange-looking at best.
"Can't sleep. Clown will eat me," Ted Starkey responded to the picture.
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"I hope someone cooks Pierre the Pelican and eats him, and saves our lives," another replied.
"New Orleans' rebranding was going fine until they decided to make a clown murder bird their new public face," Matt Ross at SB Nation tweeted.
Even sportswriters who have witnessed numerous odd mascots over the years conceded that Pierre the Pelican was definitely one of the worst.
"The thing is nightmare-inducing, and if I didn't know better, I'd say it was simply a cruel Halloween costume meant to scare small children at New Orleans Arena," Sam Gardner wrote for Fox Sports.
"When Pierre the Pelican made his epic debut, I was aghast," Patrick Michael said in a Yahoo! Sports article. "Pierre looked like the San Diego Chicken if he'd had too much to drink."
Still, it's likely that the mascot won't be going anywhere. Tom Benson, the team owner, said the pelican weathered terrible circumstances of Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill and other disasters. He wanted the team to reflect that same resilience, but it's uncertain how well the message was spread Wednesday.
"Pierre looks like he digested some of that BP oil," Michael added.
The Pacers defeated the Pelicans 95-90.
