Co-chairmen of the Korean World Cup Committee pose with the mascots of the 2002 World Cup Korea-Japan after an announcement of the mascots' names: Nik, Ato and Kaz.

My point here is that, unlike the good ol' US, most countries do not have a decades-long tradition of entertainment, so they can't possibly come out with a good mascot.

These mascots wouldn't be fit to wobble around the fields of any American sport. They're at least 30 years behind American mascot technology. Look at the dumb protruding stomaches on Nik and Kaz. Proper mascots have protruding middles that hardly let them walk - that's why it's comical. And Ato can't have a stomach because he has to carry the dumb ball. If he has to carry the ball, he certainly can't make outrageous comical gestures!

These clearly inferior mascots demean the entire World Cup. If they're going to go this direction, at least they could make a comical mascot oversized Pele or something. Or a Maradona with a big oversized head. And have the Americans develop it. And have the French develop the concessions, the Germans develop the security, the Italians do the design work... each country to its strengths.

Scary Purple Suits

This reminds me of quite an interesting piece of irkitecture. The Jihad to Destroy Barney (www.jihad.net - Now the Jihad to Be Threatened by Lyons' Group Lawyers) has a few interesting, almost scholarly rants on teh dangers of purple dinosaurs, and scary mascots altogether. These guys are a bit in the extreme, but their hearts are in the right place.


Steve

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I love you, you love me, I've got a mild form of encephalopathy.

wierd...i think they'll scare little kids...kinda remind of IT that scary clown dude....hmm cross between a comodo dragon and the teletubbies.

Lesson #1 of creating a mascot:
Rediculous looking creatures a good mascot does not make. I saw on TV here in japan that those mascots are an 'artistic representation of atomic particles' such as an electron and proton and stuff. What are these morons thinking? What the hell does that have to do with the world cup? Or soccer? Or any sport? I mean, unless NASA is having partical accelleration races in their supercolliders then there is really no place for these moronic mascots. Another step down the path set by that stupid olympic IT mascot. Maybe they are just affraid that making a mascot out of something from reality would offend someone...

Mascots come and go. Anyone remember the mascots for Sydney 2000? I thought not.

I don't know if it was a mascot, but Italy had that interesting looking stick figure kicking a ball for their World Cup. I thought it was a nice graphic. If they had a mascot, I don't remember it.