New Orleans’ New Baseball Mascot Looks Like Satan Baby From Passion of the Christ
The New Orleans Zephyrs' absurd decision to change the mascot of their Triple A baseball team finally came to fruition today as they were officially re-dubbed The Baby Cakes.
It's hard to believe, but the name was chosen from among 3,000 other rejected names. Other finalists, according to The Times-Picayune/NOLA.com included The King Cakes, The Night Owls, The Red Eyes, The Po'Boys, The Tailgators and The Crawfish -- literally any of which would have been less of an abomination than Baby Cakes.
Unfortunately for all involved -- as Sal Montes pointed out today -- they designed their logo in a style that looks perilously close to the Satan baby from Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ.
Yeah, try not to unsee THAT.
So, why the Baby Cakes?
I'm a Louisiana native, so I can explain that part of Cajun and Creole cultures is placing a fingernail-sized plastic baby doll in a Mardi Gras king cake. The person who finds the baby while eating the cake is on the hook to buy the next one. So, it fits, culturally-speaking.
Except that it's monumentally, ridiculously stupid. I can't explain any other reasons other than a lot of people in New Orleans do drugs, y'all.
But it shouldn't be surprising, seeing as how bad Louisiana is at picking major sports mascots. For every LSU Tigers, there's a New Orleans Jazz (which is even dumber now that it's in Utah). For every Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, there's a New Orleans Saints.
Really? Saints? I mean, I get it -- "When The Saints Go Marching In." Still, incredibly stupid for a sports mascot. Doesn't exactly strike fear in my heart, does it?
And then there's my alma mater: The UL-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns. Did you know that the Ragin' Cajuns' original mascot was a Bulldog? Perfectly acceptable, if not a little overdone. And actually, the Bulldog is STILL one of the mascots of the team. The other is a flaming chili pepper. (My school is all kinds of f'ed up, y'all.)
I couldn't find a picture of it, but the original chili pepper logo of the Ragin' Cajuns (which has now been meticulously removed from the public consciousness) looked like the chili pepper was farting flames.
I'm just gonna leave you with that image, mm'kay?