ACC Mascots Top 3 Picks
1. Otto the Orange
2. HokieBird
3. Sebastian the Ibis
Welcome to the beginning of my hot takes on the best mascots from each Power Five conference. Today, we will be diving into the American Coast Conference (ACC). Now, hear me out. I have no idea if a majority of these teams are even good at sports. That’s not what this blog is about. It’s all about MASCOTS. There are basically 2 requirements for rating mascots, in my opinion. 1.) They need to be big. I’m talking big, muscular, unproportionally sized body parts. 2.) They need to be funny. If they don’t make me laugh every time I look at them, then they are not in my top list.
Ok, here we go folks…drumroll please.
My #1 ACC conference mascot is… Otto the Orange from Syracuse University. Here’s my reasoning. First of all, an orange, are you kidding me? Automatically funny, fruity, and fantastic. He’s got the cutest little hat on top of his big, round self. I mean, proportionally, not only is he the biggest orange I’ve ever seen, his nose size is just as huge. Next, his physical form cracks me up. Like come on, an orange cheering from the sidelines. Priceless. Above all else his cartoon self might be better than his physical self. There I said it. He’s got a fierce little smile on his face and is ready to take down any banana or grape in his way. Sometimes, I will just look at the saved image in my camera roll for a good laugh.
Coming in at #2 is HokieBird from Virginia Tech University. I didn’t even know this mascot existed until I started this blog post. I will tell you though, I laughed out loud when I saw this fun little character. It took me a minute to realize it was a turkey, but it’s outstretched feathers definitely sealed the deal. Let’s talk proportion sizes. Now, he’s not as plump as Otto the Orange, but still has a certain roundness about himself. He has a big soft smile and some massive feet. There’s even a picture showing him getting huge while lifting weights during a football game. Finally, we can’t forget his snood. For those of you who don’t know, that’s the thing hanging from a male turkey’s bill, and it is hilarious. It seems to be acting a lot like a nose on our mascot friend.
Alright, #3 goes to Sebastian the Ibis from the University of Miami. Now this may seem like a surprising pick, especially from a girl born in Nebraska during the 90’s. Husker football was at its peak and their rival always seemed to be the Miami Hurricane. But that doesn’t matter right now, because this ranking is strictly mascots and we don’t need to talk about the Big Ten until later. Ok to be honest, I thought Ibis looked a whole lot like the Oregon Ducks mascot, but they are clearly different types of birds after completing some research. Let’s dive into Ibis the mascot. Now just by looking at him, his big ole’ beak and eyebrows automatically stand out. The beak is the showstopper when it comes to being funny. I mean this character can grab the top and bottom of his beak to create the ultimate silly face. I wouldn’t bother with the cartoon character, but the bobble head is hilarious and just accentuates his features that we already know and love.
Now this blog is totally personal, you can agree or disagree with these picks all you want, but I just wanted to spread some light on characters you might already be fans of or have never seen before. We’ve basically covered all the major food groups: fruit (Otto), protein (HokieBird), salty (Ibis – for losing in the ’95 national football championship, if you know you know.) I kid, I kid. Hopefully you gained more insight on mascots and will look at the ACC a little differently. Remember, in order to be mascot greatness it needs to be 2 things. Big and funny. I’ll be back next week with my top picks from the SEC.
#2 and #3 pick taking a swing at each other on game day.
