There's a new sheriff in town, Benny.

Many of you in the Chicago area are familiar with Benny the Bull, the chubby, happy-go-lucky mascot of the Chicago Bulls. He is not to be mistaken with Da Bull, the pot-smoking, leather-wearing team instigator. I saw a few days ago that Benny was having a birthday party. Seriously, here is an official link. As you can see from the picture (which is from the actual event) that things seemed to have gotten a little heated. And how could it not be with the likes of Squatch(Seattle), Crunch (Minnesota), and Clutch (Toronto) to name a few fellow celebs in attendance. In fact, the "Caption This" pic above is also from the same event. (It's Stuff (Orlando) by the way.)

Anyway, I had once heard that Johnny "Red" Kerr had drawn up the idea for Benny the Bull on a napkin while coaching the team. I do not know if this is fact. Commenter Xavier GrassStain (x.g.s.) told me that once. I was looking this fact up for a little "Happy Birthday, Benny" post when I came across other Benny the Bull news and what kind of a blogger would I be without relaying my findings to you.

It seems that Benny has recently been replaced by Barry Anderson. Well, Benny hasn't been replaced but the guy inside Benny has been. Don't tell your kids.

Barry won mascot of the year two out of the last three years as Monte the Bear for the Montana Grizzlies. It seems that Bulls management lacking a big name on the court decided to get a big name anonymously tucked inside a bull outfit. I think it is a good move.

Barry specializes in break-dancing. Seriously. That's his specialty.

Anyway, just a quick announcement. There is an interview with Barry here. I am a little concerned. Here are a few quotes from the interview:

1) "I can touch them and dance with them. I can bring girls from courtside out on the floor and make them dance with the ref. It’s really cool." - Nope. Not cool. Not cool at all. Many of the girls are known to respond with a "Oh, no, you din'n't"

2) "I could go out there and light a roll of toilet paper on fire and they’d love it." What? You were lighting shit on fire on a basketball court and people loved it?? F'in' Missoula. Here there would be a stampede. Bull style. My brother-in-law was the Tulane Green Wave guy (Before the pelican when it was a Gumby looking thing) and he said there was a rule about starting things on fire inside.

3) "The two times I’ve been to Idaho State, I got beat up the first time and got the head broken on the costume. The second time a security guard tried to arrest me for being where I wasn’t supposed to be. Those are two memories of Idaho State." Luckily there are no NBA teams in Idaho.

Anyway, if you are going to the UC it's now BYOFE. Bring Your Own Fire Extinquensher.