Best of 2022: #3 - The Secret Lives of Mascots

Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker got into a hilarious spat with the Toronto Raptors' mascot -- a big, red dinosaur in a basketball jersey -- back in January. Things spilled over into the post-game press conference and onto Twitter, and the basketball world was hooked. Inspired by this hilarity, we called up Dave Raymond, the founder of the Mascot Hall of Fame (and the man inside the Phillie Phanatic costume when it was famously pummeled by Tommy Lasorda) to get his perspective on the incident. Then, The Athletic's James Edwards III and Nick Kosmider told us the heartwarming story of the NBA's first father-son mascot duo -- and explained why the people sweating it out inside these giant suits are truly selfless heroes.

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