I’m a big fan of Mascots. Especially if they are funny, like the Famous San Diego Chicken or our own Rocky the Mountain Lion, the Nuggets mascot. Dinger, who is the Rockies mascot, just isn’t funny. He’s merely big, ugly, stupid and purple. He reminds me too much of Barney, the really dumb purple dinosaur that we subjected our kids to on TV years ago. I blame a lot of the worlds troubles on Barney. And A little bit on Mr. Rogers. I also think we can blame a lot on Pee Wee Herman, but I suppose that is a whole other story. And those wretched Flying Monkeys in the Wizard of Oz still haunt me. I believe half of the worlds neurosis can be traced to children’s exposure to those scary freaky looking flying Monkeys. Traumatized children grew into traumatized adults which have kept psychiatrists and the criminal justice system busy ever since. I’ve always dreamed of being able to design a mascot costume for someone. I almost got my chance back when the Colorado Grizzlies were here in Denver before the Avalanche relocated. The paper wouldn’t let me do it. Conflict of interest they said. So I missed my golden opportunity. Still I dream of creating some crazy mascot that would be allowed to be funny and crazy. It would be one more way to make people laugh, which when you get right down to it, is my favorite thing to do in life.