Man, look at that. RipTide ate it.

A rough night for Norfolk Tides mascot, RipTide who took a tumble on his ATV on Sunday, July 15th as the Tides played the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. Not to worry…RipTide and the ATV were just fine.

The good news it that RipTide is like 80% padding and fur, so when he faceplants into the dirt the worst thing he’s got to worry about is whiplash. If a member of the Fun Bunch or whatever had taken that spill we’d have to get all maudlin about a dude dying at a Tides game.

I think the saddest part is that RipTide doesn’t roll with it. He gets up and awkwardly rushes back to his ATV to pretend like nothing happened, and he’s left sitting there revving a broken four-wheeler until somebody comes and gets him. Poor guy.

[h/t Round Rock Express mascot Spike] [yes, I follow mascots on Twitter] [shut up]

I love my A Guide to Recognizing Your Mascots feature, especially now that I’m getting into the leagues where I have pictures of myself with things like the “Ballapeño,” the baseball-loving jalapeño, but they aren’t really setting the blogosphere on fire. Blogofire? Anyway, instead of a long, esoteric feature with too many words, here’s a funny video of a mascot going for a high five and getting completely shut down. Maybe they thought he was waving at them? That happened to me with Tweety Bird once at Six Flags.

I’m not sure why a track and field team needs a bear mascot, but I won’t complain. I’m the dork whose favorite picture of all time is his girlfriend high-fiving the Phillie Phanatic. Next time I go to an indoor track meet (which will be never), I’ll keep an eye out for the dejected-ass foam Muppet wandering around in the background.

[via HotClicks]