By Chris Wright

Sickening stuff from afore Blackpool's 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Tuesday evening, wherein Wednesday mascots Barney and Ozzie Owl launch a vicious and unprovoked attack on ESPN's FA Cup mascot Buddy using the old 'kneel behind and push' takedown technique beloved by schoolboys everywhere.

By Chris Wright

Sickening stuff from afore Blackpool's 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Tuesday evening, wherein Wednesday mascots Barney and Ozzie Owl launch a vicious and unprovoked attack on ESPN's FA Cup mascot Buddy using the old 'kneel behind and push' takedown technique beloved by schoolboys everywhere.

All the stuff being covered outside the unfriendly confines of the award-winning Dirty Tackle...

Sheffield Wednesday mascots Barney and Ozzy shamelessly assault FA Cup mascot Buddy. [YouTube]

Man City's 88-year-old mascot. [Kickette]

Classic goalkeeper shirts as art.

Challenging the mascot's child-friendly image In England, mascots are cuddly, blundering buffoons with a penchant for winding up opposing fans and scoring penalties. In Mexico, mascots are Satan's pets. At least if you happen to support Club Tijuana, who used their club mascot to scare supporters into buying their new kit.

The Chicago Fire opened Red Bull Arena in 2010. In 2011, the Men in Red had the 'honor' of opening Jeld-Wen Field in April and Livestrong Sporting Park in June. In the three away games, Chicago was outscored 5-2 and had two losses and one draw. I'm not a big fan of the Fire opening stadiums because the opposition brings their top game for the special event.

By Chris Wright

So, West Ham unveiled their new mascot 'Hammerhead' before their 1-0 win over Barnsley at Upton Park on Saturday...

Saints be praised, it looks like he's got a back story too:

"Foundered in the Thames Iron Works many decades ago, the workers who crafted a new champion drew on the spirits of heroes old and new to create the ultimate goal machine.

By Chris Wright

It would be remiss of us to let the day pass without mentioning that, having never been further than the first round before, Southern League Premier Division side Stourbridge beat League Two stragglers Plymouth Argyle 2-0 on their own patch last night to reach the second round of the FA Cup for the first time in the club's history.

By Chris Wright

It would be remiss of us to let the day pass without mentioning that, having never been further than the first round before, Southern League Premier Division side Stourbridge beat League Two stragglers Plymouth Argyle 2-0 on their own patch last night to reach the second round of the FA Cup for the first time in the club's history.

Napoli vs Man City | Bayern Munich vs Villarreal
Lyon vs Ajax | Man United vs Benfica

What's going on here, Arjen Robben... alles OK? Well, it's only a minor problem that happens when your eyes refuse to OPEN and you don't know what on Earth you're doing at the training ground at 7 in the morning.

By Chris Wright

Owl abuse in football is a serious issue. Only last year did we see a poor, defenseless hooter kicked to death during a game by Deportivo Pereira defender Luis Moreno.

Moreno was fined and given community service in a zoo.

By Alan Duffy

January and February will see a number of Premier League managers once again bemoaning the loss of a number of their top players to the small matter of the African Cup of Nations.

However, while the players left behind freeze in a post-Christmas England , those headed for the heat in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea will come face to face with the tournament's new mascot, Gaguie, who was recently unveiled in Libreville to a rather unimpressed (see video) selection of dignitaries.

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- See more from The Bushman Archives: QPR's 1947-1948 Championship Season
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- Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates, comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.

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- See more from The Bushman Archives: QPR's 1947-1948 Championship Season
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- Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates, comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.

A tad un-PC Aston Villa's mascot is currently Hercules Lion. He is everything you want in a mascot: jovial, sporty and a bit of cheeky chap. While there is a theme of African heritage running through the narrative of Villa mascots past and present, this wasn't always portrayed in quite as politically correct or positive [.

Vote for Timber Joey in the MLS Mascot Competition!

I'm really not one for traditional mascots, but Timber Joey is different. Anybody who physically chainsaws a log during a game is alright by me.

Which is why I urge you guys to vote for Timber Joey at this competition. He's the only one who's not a suit wearing buffoon made only to appease the kids.

Welcome to Seleção Bootcamp... a Fútbolita tradition! To make up for lost time (desculpe, desculpe), here's a series of candid shots featuring Mano's manos getting ready for the Copa America which officially kicks off on Friday. First up, we don't know exactly what's going on here but Robinho's pose resembles one of those freaky Tiger mascots on cereal boxes ("Take yo' cereal every morning, kids!

All the Copa America mascots, from Gardelito Argentina 1987 to Suri Argentina 2011

Have you seen the This is SportsCenter commercial with Abby Wambach? If not, here it is. (Obviously shot a little while ago as her hair is quite different now!) Bravo to Abby for joining the pantheon of sports stars, ESPN anchors and mascots to be featured in a This is SportsCenter spot.

An owl kicked to death in a match in Colombia between Barranquilla club Atletico Junior and Deportivo Pereira has lead to a storm of protests and internet controversy.
The owl was the unofficial mascot of Atletico Junior and had already been hit by the ball before it was unceremoniously booted off the pitch by Deportivo Pereira defender Luis Moreno, who has subsequently been suspended for two games and fined.

By Chris Wright

In which Jose doles out some extra-special high-fives to the mascots before Real Madrid's game against Lyon t'other night...

*Sigh*

Video via the eternal goldmine that is 101GG.

Another MLS season is just a few weeks away and the league is hoping that attendance will continue to grow in 2011. Back in 2009, we took a look at how teams were looking to increase the amount of fans coming out to the stadiums. Part 2 of that series focused on families and their importance to the league's efforts to grow attendance.

Fans looking for jerseys, hats or even a replica of the cute desert rat mascots from the Asian Cup are likely to leave Qatar empty-handed. No such items are being sold at Asia's premier tournament, nothing at the stadiums or even at the Asian Cup stands in the city's glitzy malls.

Welcome to Mascot Day. Or perhaps Mascot Week, judging by the alarming rate which which they're hitting the evening news.

A mascot named Deepdale Duck, of Preston North End fame, made a naughty on the weekend attempting to distract the opposition's goalkeeper. He, unnamed, but probably Darren Ferguson, was promptly removed from the pitch.

'Tis better not to ask ignorance is bliss, etc. should you not know what a "Furry" is, but if you must...Wikipedia is your huckleberry. (Anthropomorphism, however, is not.) The things modern television crime dramas will teach you....

But upon further review, not only is there one kinky stuffed animal fetishist for the 2011 Asian Cup, but there are five in various colors.

LONDON, England — Soccer clubs have enough trouble keeping their players in line. Now they must contend with disruptive mascots. An English league match was briefly delayed Monday by a mascot staging a sit-down protest in support of a feathered rival, Sky Sports reported. Preston's Deepdale Duck caused a flap on Saturday by reportedly trying [.