00:00Good afternoon. It is a Friday. It is the Valenti show with Rico Stoney in for Mike.
00:07Just one more time. We got Corbin and Bobby behind the glass. Rico, how are you, my friend?
00:15Michael, I'm good. It's Friday. Looks like the rain is holding off a little bit.
00:20Let's hope it stays that way until we get off.
00:23Yeah, hopefully. I was going to go hit some golf balls at the old driving range when we're done.
00:29But that might not be happening. May or may not. It all depends.
00:33It may. Other than that, nah, man. I'm good.
00:37You know, sometimes when I'm in for Mike or in for John or Jim, I try to, you know, Doug
00:43or Gator,
00:43try to do something a little different that they wouldn't do, whoever I'm in for, you know?
00:51And today's a Friday, and we want to have a little fun.
00:55But I have to start off with something that I'm sure nobody else would be discussing.
01:00But it's really not really a fun topic because there's a travesty that I didn't realize existed.
01:08And what I'm talking about is today, you know, actually tomorrow is going to be the induction ceremony for the
01:17Pro Football Hall of Fame.
01:18Right.
01:19Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Keekly, Roger Craig, Drew Brees, Adam Venatari, among others.
01:28Today, it was revealed the 2026 class of the Mascot Hall of Fame was revealed today.
01:42That's a thing?
01:44Yes. Now, there actually was a place, but that part closed down.
01:49So, like it says, the Mascot Hall of Fame location online.
01:53Okay.
01:53All right.
01:54Maybe they were trying to tell the bulldozers don't come, but none of them can speak.
01:59Maybe.
01:59They may be.
02:00But today, the inductees were Cocky, the mascot of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, Cosmo the Cougar from Brigham
02:13Young University, Goldie, the gopher at Minnesota, Miles, the mascot of the Denver Broncos, the Bronco.
02:24And for the first time ever, a female has been inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame.
02:31Yes, ladies and gentlemen.
02:32Wait, wait.
02:35The Wolfie from North Carolina State.
02:39What about it?
02:40No, no, no.
02:40I said they have a female mascot.
02:42Oh, I don't know if that's in yet.
02:45Oh, okay.
02:45Well, I don't know.
02:46I have a list here.
02:47Is it Miss Met?
02:48Mrs. Met.
02:49Exactly.
02:50Mrs. Met.
02:50So I really don't have a problem with who got in, but I'm just surveying who the other mascots that
02:58are in the Hall of Fame that began in 2005 with the, you know, the first class of three of
03:05the greatest mascots of all time, the Philly Fanatic, the Gorilla from the Phoenix Suns, and the San Diego Chicken.
03:12Right?
03:13Okay.
03:14So I'm looking along because, you know, see who else is in, you know, and I see, oh, okay.
03:18Hey, we got the Mr. Met, we got Benny the Bull, the Chicago Bulls, the Otto the Orange from Syracuse,
03:27and Rico, I'm sure you will agree with me.
03:32How the hell is Sparty not already in the mascot Hall of Fame?
03:38This is an outrage.
03:40Wait, Sparty's not in there?
03:42No!
03:42I just kind of assumed that he was.
03:44So did I!
03:45How the hell is Sparty to me?
03:48Wait, wait, wait.
03:49And I know I'm biased.
03:51It's not in the mascot Hall of Fame.
03:55The Nittany Lion is in the Hall of Fame.
03:58Yeah.
03:59And it's nothing against Penn State.
04:01No, but Sparty is the best!
04:03No, no, no.
04:03The Nittany Lion outfit looks like an old rug you find in your grandparents' attic.
04:10You're right!
04:11It is matted.
04:13It stinks because I've stood next to it.
04:16Nothing about that is appealing.
04:18Like, really, you're Penn State.
04:19We can upgrade this.
04:21This looks like the original costume.
04:23Wow.
04:24Okay, so let's look at some of the college ones because I'm upset about Sparty not being in.
04:28Because even if you're a Michigan State fan and you're not a Michigan State fan, because I have friends from
04:33around the country who really couldn't give a rat's ass about Michigan State,
04:35but they all agree Sparty's the greatest college mascot.
04:40So here are some of the college mascots that are in.
04:44Aubie the Tiger from Auburn.
04:47Really?
04:48Bucky Badger.
04:50Okay.
04:50Bucky's a pretty good mascot.
04:51I'll give him credit.
04:53UD.
04:54Aubie the Blue Hen Chicken at the University of Delaware.
04:58Now, I think that's a little bit of home cooking because the curator of the Mascot Hall of Fame, Dave
05:06Raymond, who was the original Philly fanatic,
05:08his father was Tubby Raymond, the famous head football coach at the University of Delaware.
05:13So I think that has something to do with it.
05:15There's some little shenanigans there.
05:19We see the Big Red, who's the red blob at Western Kentucky.
05:25Basically the Red Grimace.
05:26Yes.
05:27Think Grimace from McDonald's.
05:29That's him.
05:30He's weird, but that one I'll allow.
05:33Okay.
05:34Brutus at Ohio State.
05:35No matter what you think of Ohio State, Brutus is a pretty good mascot.
05:39Yeah.
05:40Little Red, University of Nebraska.
05:42No, that thing is nightmare fuel.
05:45It's creepy when he bounces on his head.
05:49Nothing about him.
05:51Seriously, that's horror movie stuff.
05:54Smokey.
05:56The Blue Tick Coon Hound at the University of Tennessee.
06:01Okay.
06:02I could live with that.
06:04The aforementioned Nittany Lion at Penn State.
06:08Otto the Orange at Syracuse liked that mascot.
06:12Grizzly Bear.
06:14University of Montana.
06:17I guess.
06:18I don't know.
06:19Now we've reached the reach category.
06:21And finally.
06:22Well, you don't forget Cosmo from Brigham Young.
06:25Yeah.
06:26Did you say that?
06:26Okay.
06:26Who got in today.
06:27Okay.
06:27Cosmo and Cocky from South Carolina.
06:30Go Cocks.
06:30We got in today.
06:33And the other, the last collegiate mascot that's in the Mascot Hall of Fame is Sebastian the Ibis at the
06:40University of Miami.
06:41Miami Hurricanes.
06:42It's a fine mascot.
06:43No, no.
06:43Sebastian deserves to be in there.
06:45But I guess I just kind of assumed that he was in.
06:49The Stanford tree isn't in there?
06:51No.
06:52How is Sparty not in?
06:53Big Red and the Nittany Lion.
06:56Guys, I don't know how close you pay attention to it.
06:59It is a nasty, matted-looking outfit.
07:04Oh, yes.
07:05There's nothing appealing about it.
07:07It looks like you got it from Halloween, Spirit Halloween.
07:11Like it was the last second you told your mother, hey, I want to be, you know, Simba.
07:16And this is what she showed up with.
07:18It's like you put it in the washer and it came out like, oh, my God.
07:22I don't have time to get a new one.
07:24Just give it to me.
07:25We'll just have to go out there.
07:27Yeah.
07:27From a non-college aspect, I'm pretty sure they got rid of the mascot quickly,
07:32but King Cake Baby for the New Orleans Pelicans, if you guys remember,
07:37the creepy big baby with the crown.
07:39He grew up, he went to school in Nebraska, and he became Little Red.
07:43Tell me that's not the same.
07:45We need to make a movie about this, Rico.
07:47We got to start writing the screenplay.
07:48King Cake Baby grew up, he became a Cornhusker, and said, oh, I can't play football.
07:54Give me the mascot outfit.
07:55Watch me creep the fans out.
07:58I mean, 248-539-9797.
08:02A couple of things here as we start off with some hard-hitting stuff on a Friday.
08:07How the hell is Sparty not in the Hall of Fame, the mascot Hall of Fame?
08:11Who else, you know, is not in it?
08:14Now, I didn't reveal all the pro teams because I don't want to be here, you know, reciting.
08:20But there's no Detroit teams in here at all.
08:24Rory, no Paws, and no Hooper.
08:30Huh.
08:31Which one would we make it between the three of them?
08:34Probably Paws.
08:36It would be my guess.
08:37I was thinking Rory, just because the team is good now.
08:42Rory kind of has that little Penn State lion.
08:46I'd probably give it to Hooper.
08:47I always, at least working for Odyssey, even during my time in promotions, the amount of
08:51times I would see Hooper more than any other Detroit mascot out at events.
08:55Well, I mean, you guys, they made a big deal here about Hooper's birthday.
08:58Don't forget that.
08:58I was about to say, maybe they could announce it on his birthday.
09:00Hooper, you're in.
09:01That's right.
09:02All right.
09:032-4-8-5-3-9-97-97.
09:05Are you stunned that Sparty is not in the mascot hall of fame?
09:09And Purdue's Pete is in.
09:12No, it's not.
09:13I thought I saw Purdue Pete in there.
09:15No, no, no.
09:16Maybe.
09:17I'm just looking on Wikipedia, so I assume they're on.
09:19Oh, I'm on their website.
09:22I thought I saw Purdue Pete on there.
09:24I see Hookum, Texas.
09:28He's on there.
09:29I thought Purdue Pete was on there.
09:31It must be different.
09:32I don't know.
09:33Anyway, maybe Purdue Pete is on there in Wikipedia.
09:37Gee, they never get anything wrong.
09:39But here's a question as well.
09:42Who is the best mascot, whether they're in the Hall of Fame or not?
09:47248-5-3-9-97-97.
09:50We got lots of stuff.
09:51Hal Rico saved me some money.
09:53We're also going to discuss, we have a blind ranking.
09:57We got all sorts of things.
09:58Jameer Gibbs, Tarek Skubal in the news.
10:00And a suggestion for a possible Piston ad.
10:05See what you think about that.
10:06It's the Valenti Show with Rico.
10:08Stoney here for Mike on 97.1.
10:10So, let's go.
10:10Okay.
10:11Let's go.
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