Last Sunday, Matt and I went to a Kings vs. Sonics game, which was actually pretty interesting–at least more exciting than the Kings game in Sac. Seeing how both teams are just mediocre this season, they played pretty evenly. The last 10 seconds were the most exciting, as the Sonics tied it up, but then the Kings hit a basket RIGHT when the buzzer went off. I was the only one cheering in my section, but that’s OK.

But what I learned from that game was that I think Slamson, the Kings’ mascot is the coolest mascot ever. Sunday’s game was the birthday of Squatch (the Sonics’ mascot), so a bunch of other teams’ mascots–including Slamson–showed up for the birthday celebration. The first time we saw them all, they came out wearing these enormous inflatable versions of themselves. The hilarious part was that the costumes were apparently hard to maneuver, because a few of them flopped right over as they were running into the arena. Two of them had deflated heads halfway through their performance, and by the time the show was over, Squatch’s head had shrunk right into his neck, and he was running around headless.

But I have a couple of reasons why I think Slamson is the coolest mascot:

1. You can tell he’s funny, even when he can’t say anything. He has exaggerated hand gestures and body language, and just throws himself into his act. For example, when he saw a videocamera pointed at him, he started going off, dancing and wiggling around. He did this for a minute or so, and then stopped, exaggeratedly wiping a hand across his brow. He then grabbed a piece of paper from someone and wiped his butt with it. Throughout the game, he was out with the crowd more than Squatch was, and he was always giving people in the stands individual attention. He wasn’t obnoxious, either. He was always giving people high-5s or hugs.

2. He’s a team player. During halftime, all the mascots did a mini electronic bull show. All the mascots fell off the bull after only riding it for a few seconds, and of course, Squatch–the birthday boy–went last and stayed on the longest. But as Squatch was riding the bull, Slamson and another mascot (a yellow kangaroo(?) with a lightning bolt tail) were facing the crowd, trying to get them hyped up for Squatch. All the other mascots were just watching Squatch.

During another show, where the mascots bounced on a trampoline before dunking the basket, Slamson let himself get dragged off by all the other mascots. Of course, this is all show biz since, that night, the Kings were on “enemy territory,” but I thought, “Aw, that’s nice that he’s OK with getting ridiculed by all the other mascots.”

Anyway, I know this is just a silly observation, but I was very impressed with Slamson. He does have a funny walk, where he shakes his head so that the hair on his lion head jerks around, but again–it’s just part of him playing up his character really well.

Another highlight of the game was the Sonic Boom Squad–the b-boys!! This time, they had a little toddler out there who was SO impressive. As he was spinning on his head, I heard the crowd cheering more than they had cheered all night. And that was another thing, there were so many kids in the crowd because it was a special children’s night. It was so fun to hear all the kids cheering in the crowd. When everyone (but me) chanted, “Let’s go, Sonics!” you could hear mostly kids’ voices.

I told Matt that it was unfortunate that we wouldn’t be able to take our kids to Sonics games, since the Sonics are leaving soon. :( I guess we’ll just have to take them to UFC games or something like that, since I’m definitely not a football fan. Mariners would be cool, too.

Anyway……..go Kings!