Dance Like Everybody’s Watching!: The Weird and Wonderful World of Sporting Mascots. Nick Miller

      FAMOUS FOR POSSIBLY BEING THE INSPIRATION FOR A CHARACTER IN THE FILM HAPPY DEATH DAY

      If you’ve ever seen Toy Story 3, it’s OK to admit that Big Baby, one of the film’s primary villains, along with the bitter and twisted Lotso, is pretty scary. Why wouldn’t you find a doll with a lazy eye brought to life who threatens Andy, Buzz and chums just a little bit intimidating? Well, if you were a little alarmed by one of Pixar’s more unsettling creations, visiting the New Orleans Pelicans NBA team is probably not recommended.

      This particular inspiration for nightmares is born from a local tradition in which a small doll is hidden inside a limited number of king cakes – doughy, ring-shaped items of confectionery – around Mardi Gras time, with whoever finds the doll being granted good luck. While that raises a number of health and safety/choking-related issues, more terrifying than the prospect of getting some plastic caught in your gullet is this thing, who looks like it sustains itself on the pulsating fear from anyone it looks at with its bug eyes, growing stronger and stronger as you become more and more terrified.