Xpress: What a job!

What a job!

Being an NFL mascot is sweaty work (it's hot inside those costumes) but also lots of fun, say the people who do it for a living.

By JACOB LUDIN, Times X-Team

TAMPA -- Every class has a clown, someone who is always being sent to the principal's office. You may think that this person will never be a success. But you may be wrong. He could grow up to be a successful NFL team mascot.

Eighteen fuzzy NFL mascots, each about seven feet tall, came to Tampa in late March to have fun and playfully pester anybody who came close. Those who could talk in costume had many funny stories to tell. Most believed that they had contributed to their team's success.

T-Rac, a giant 31/2-year-old raccoon who cheers for the Tennessee Titans, is a mascot for the money. "I get paid hundreds to do this, I make hundreds, hundreds, in fact, I'm a hundredaire," T-Rac exclaimed. "Tell that to all the ladies. I'm a hundredaire, and if you're a female raccoon, come see me. I'm a hundredaire, and I have my own minivan."

T-Rac, who is played by Pete Nelson, then took over and began interviewing the interviewer. He wanted to know my age, what I wanted to be when I grew up and how I got to be a writer for the paper. He asked which mascot I would be. When I told him I would be Captain Fear, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers mascot, he shouted, "This conversation is OVER, this interview is OVER!"

Being a mascot can be tough work. Every game they have to wear heavy fur costumes, and it is hot inside them. The Carolina Panthers' mascot, Sir Purr, says that he sweats so much, he loses 6 pounds every game.

"When it is 110 degrees in Tennessee, you can't shed your fur fast enough," T-Rac said.

Mascots working in domes have it much easier.

The mascots seem to love what they do. But some have had embarrassing and strange things happen to them.

Sir Purr once was inline skating in the stadium and thought it would be funny to roll into a wall really fast. He went too fast, and his costume head popped off and landed 10 feet away from him. He quickly put the head back on -- backward.

Freddie, the mascot for the Atlanta Falcons, said that once he hopped on a fire truck in an Atlanta parade when suddenly the crew had to go to a fire. The truck was traveling 60 to 70 miles per hour when the driver noticed Freddie in the mirror on top of the truck.

"He dropped me off on the side of the road and left for the fire. Finally, a policeman picked me up and took me back to the parade, which was now over," said Freddie, who is played by Trey Humphreys. "I walked aimlessly around town, found my car and went home."

Most of the mascots said that they do not have other jobs, but some do have second jobs. Humphreys owns a company called Fur Bus, a party bus with a fake fur interior. Other mascots who hold second jobs are prohibited by their team from talking about what they do when they are out of costume.

The mascots generally do not travel with the team. But most do get to attend the Pro Bowl, and do some other traveling. If they are as good at rallying their team as Captain Fear, they can attend the Super Bowl.

The mascots enjoy making people laugh. Carolina's Sir Purr, whose real name is Todd Maroldo, said that he has been a mascot for years because "it gives me a unique opportunity to put a smile on someone's face, someone who may be having a bad day."

-- Jacob Ludin, 11, is in fifth grade at the Pinellas County Jewish Day School in Clearwater.