Supermascot Rocky: 20 years of Hilarity

Supermascot Rocky has been the Denver Nugget’s official mascot since 1990. On his 20th year anniversary of representing the coolest team in the history of the NBA, Rocky deserves recognition as one of the best mascots of all time.

Rocky was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2008, giving validity to the case for the mountain lion being one of the greatest mascots in the history of sports. While being honored with that distinction is notable, he should have been inducted into the Hall of Fame’s inaugural class over the Phoenix Suns’ Gorilla. While the Gorilla has admittedly been around longer than Rocky, he was not originally conceived by the Phoenix Sun’s organization. Rather, he was born from a fan’s singing telegram and therefore has not always been an official part of an NBA organization. Aren’t we all sick of people in gorilla costumes anyways? And what does a gorilla have to do with anything? (And no, just because a gorilla is sometimes in the sun is not a valid excuse).

Rocky has brought an unmatched array of athleticism and comic genius to Denver sports fans throughout his career. He also is very involved in the Denver community, giving a twist to the NBA’s motto: “Supermascot Mountain Lions Care”. One time Rocky was to appear at a charitable function in Washington Park that my dad was a part of. Rocky’s head wouldn’t fit inside my dad’s car (not because he is conceited, but rather because his brain is 10 times the size of any human being’s), so my dad put down the top of his Mazda Miata convertible and rode in style with Rocky to the park.

Rocky has brought a variety of gimmicks and bits to the Pepsi Center and the McNichols Sports Arena, the former home of the Nuggets and Rocky’s debut venue. He currently drains a behind-the-back halfcourt shot with ample consistency. If a fan from the opposing team is in attendance, Rocky welcomes that fan by initiating Nuggets faithful to boo that person. Sometimes he even presents them with a cake, which he subsequently smashes into the person’s face. He has also climbed all the way to the third deck from the court, crowd-surfed through full sections of fans, front-flipped over multiple crouching Nuggets dancers, performed acrobatic and seemingly impossible dunks off of trampolines, and casually read a newspaper while the other team performs their pump-up huddle around him.

Former NBA player and current television analyst Charles Barkley also had his own personal rivalry with Rocky. Every time Barkley visited Denver, well let’s just say it was “on”. Rocky has received various punches, pushes and head-butts from Sir Charles, including a few what knocked him all the way to the ground while on stilts. Rocky would always aggravate Barkley enough to warrant such playful violence, showing that his presence actually affected the opposing team’s top players.

Rocky is more imaginative and entertaining than any other mascot currently in the NBA or any other sport for that matter. I don’t even want to get into how bad the Rockies stupid purple dinosaur Dinger is, but I must say he is about as welcome as a fur coat at a PETA convention in the realm of mascot significance in Denver. Other bad mascots include the Celtic’s Lucky (a leprechaun should never be over five feet tall), the New York Met’s Mr. Met (wow, a giant baseball head, how creative), and the San Diego Chicken (falling down on purpose can only be funny so many times). Hopefully Rocky can be a part of a Nugget’s championship parade sometime soon. I can only imagine what he would do with access to a Denver Fire Department truck.