Mascot Malapropism

My family and I attended a baseball game tonight in State College, Pennsylvania–the Spikes.  They lost bad.

But at one point in the game, they scored a run.  This blue furry thing came out of the wall in center field and danced around.  The announcer introduced the mascot character that was celebrating the score.

Did I hear that correctly?

The dancing mascot was the Nookie Monster.

The Nookie Monster!

Being a fan of college football, I am never surprised by the strangeness of a mascot.  Perhaps the most famous is the Standford Tree.  It’s a tree.

Dutch Elm Disease?

UC Santa Cruz has the Banana Slug.  Xavier has the Blue Blob.  Dartmouth has Keggy the Keg.  Scottsdale Community College has Artie the Artichoke and  Delta State has the Fighting Okra.  Nothing more fearsome than angry vegetables.  You can peruse pictures of these mascots and a few others here.

Even my hometown minor league baseball franchise, the Altoona Curve, has Al Tuna.  He’s a fish.  He also dances in the outfield, but he doesn’t dance with wolves.

But the Nittany Bank Nookie Monster?

I understand the play on words, based on the character from Sesame Street–the Cookie Monster.  If the team were young, you could have the Rookie Monster.  If they played in Jersey Shore, you could call it the Snookie Monster.  A team of gamblers represented by the Bookie Monster.  If your team had space aliens, you could call it the Wookie Monster.  Truant student league?  The Hookie Monster.  You get the idea.

But Nookie Monster?

Here’s the definition from Urban Dictionary:

Nookie meaning having sex. Play on the name “Cookie Monster” from sesame street. Used as a pet name for someone that you have a sexual relationship with.

So there we have it . . .

But then, it is more subtle than Deadspin’s All-time best mascot, the unofficial mascot of the Rhode Island School of Design . . . . Scrotie.  I warn you, though, the link does have video evidence.  Thankfully, Rhode Island doesn’t play State College (Nookie Monster), Oregon State (the Beavers) or the Trojans of Southern Cal, prophylactically speaking.