The York Revolution, a professional baseball team based in York, Pennsylvania, is holding auditions to find a performer for DownTown, the team's blue, vaguely avian mascot.

Auditions will be held 2–4 PM on Saturday, February 18 at Sovereign Bank Stadium, 5 Brooks Robinson Way, in York City. Applicants must be friendly, energetic, dependable, outgoing, in good physical shape, work well with children, have reliable transportation to and from the stadium, and be at least 16 years old. In order to fit into the mascot costume, applicants must also be between 5'6" and 6'2".

Candidates will have to perform a two-minute skit during the audition. Those chosen to join York Revolution's promotional squad (the Shipley Green Team) will be paid $7.25 an hour, and the person selected to play DownTown will be paid $60 per game.

This fall appears to be setting itself up for a string of new blockbuster video game titles, ranging from Star Fox 64: 3D, to Sly Cooper [4]: Thieves in Time, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, a pair of Tekken games, and even the little-heard-of 3DS title, The Rolling Western.

New York City artist Nate Hill has retired his performance-art pieces, several of which involved animal mascot costumes. Described as "part furry fandom, part street theater, and part creepy perv", Hill's spectacles included:

• "Punch Me Panda", in which he dressed in a panda costume and chest protector, and invited passersby to take a swing at him.
• "Death Bear", in which Hill put on a hard, black bear head and made housecalls to "take things from you that trigger painful memories and stow them away in his cave where they will remain forever, allowing you to move on with your life".
• "Free Bouncy Rides", in which he wore a blue dolphin costume with a sign reading "Free Bouncy Rides", and invited people to bounce up and down on his lap.
  

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has a history of doing strange things and not taking itself completely seriously.

Now one wrestler, Jack Swagger has got himself a mascot: Swaggers Soaring Eagle.

Stretching the bounds of anthropomorphism today were Wenlock and Mandeville, the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic mascots.

The characters are purportedly forged from the "last drops of steel" from the Olympic stadium support girders. Each is equipped with a giant camera lens for an eye – a fitting match for the UK's surveillance-friendly streets. [tip: bunnywarez]

Boys and girls can now hope to be greeted by a real-time talking Mickey at Disneyland.

Furry reactions include awesome, pretty cool, neat but creepy and not impressed.

As reported on the Journal Sentinel's blog, Milwaukee Bucks mascot Bongo successfully dunked a basketball while doing a backflip from a 16-foot ladder.

Perhaps more impressively, Chelsea F.C. mascot Stamford and Millwall's Zampa the Lion ran the London Marathon, each raising over £10,000 for charity. [freakylynx/furrymedia]

Maryland student and Diamondback writer Kaitlin Bulavinetz talks about her tryout experience as Testudo, the university's terrapin mascot.

Kaitlin appears to be somewhat of a fan herself:

When I go to games, I watch the mascot. While my friends cheer when the Terps score, I cheer when Testudo crowd surfs.

That's right, a hefty $51,500 of US federal stimulus funding is going to buy... fursuits. (Characters include "Bobber the Water Safety Dog" and are intended to teach childeren about swimming safety.)

The front cover of The Hartlepool Monkey by Sean Longley

This issue, I have decided to review a novel, mainly because there a lack of furry novels. While this novel is not written with the fandom in mind, it does cover the furry criteria (i.e. the title character is a monkey with human qualities). Also, it is a novel with some importance to me locally.

I come from the Teesside region of England, and one of the towns in it is the port town of Hartlepool. The most famous myth attached to the town is that during the Napoleonic Wars there was a shipwreck, the sole survivor of which was a monkey. However, the residents of Hartlepool did not know what the monkey was and so they hanged it, thinking it might be a French spy. Since then, the people of the town have been nicknamed “Monkey hangers”.

The legend is one that has been adopted into the local ethos. The mascot of the town’s football club, Hartlepool United, is H’Angus the Monkey. One of the men who played him, Stuart Drummond ran for election as the town’s first directly elected mayor. He promised that if elected, he would give free bananas to all school children – and he won! Not only did he win, but he was re-elected in the next election with an increased majority, despite the fact he failed to deliver on his promise.

Anyway, to return to the point of my review, The Hartlepool Monkey is a novel based on the legend, telling the story of the monkey from its discovery to its eventual execution.

Tigger fursuiter Michael Chartrand was found not guilty on the molestation charges brought against him. The charges occurred while he was working as Tigger at Walt Disney World, a role he considered a "dream". Today, he wants his job back. Disney declines comment.

Tigger's defense attorney is also a professional fursuiter. The DA's argument included an illustration of the hampered mobility of wearing a fursuit, which the attorney demonstrated in court by donning a Tigger fursuit himself.

The jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning the verdict. They said the fursuit defense had nothing to do with the verdict. It was the lack of evidence that decided the case, including the prosecution's inability to prove that Michael was even the Tigger in the photo. Click here for the full story.

Trickster

Burger King has a new promotional mascot for its chicken items. It's Subservient Chicken, a disturbing, pseudo-webcam chicken fursuit with garters on its legs.

Subservient Chicken poses and moves in exotic, often risque positions, and does...well...pretty much whatever the viewer asks it to. One has to speculate; is Burger King trying to corner the furry demographic?

Trickster

More news is begining to break about the alleged actions of a Walt Disney World Tigger.

This article talks of how more and more folks are coming forward with complaints.

"Gabibbo" has been the mascot of a popular satirical tv show since 1990, with music CDs and image licensing. "Big Red" has been the mascot of Western Kentucky University since 1979.

An Italian company's decision to license "Big Red" for use in Italy (cutting out "Gabibbo") may be the cause of the legal action. A magazine interview with the tv show director in 1991 may not help his case.

The International Herald Tribune runs the New York Times story at:
http://www.iht.com/articles/131511.htm

BBC Online reports that Stuart Drummond, who plays H'Angus the Monkey (the town's soccer team's mascot), has been elected mayor of Hartlepool, England on a platform of free bananas. Drummond campeigned both in and out of the suit. Some observers accuse Stuart of making of mockery of the electoral process, though he disputes the claim. Unfortunately twice in recent years he has been ejected from the stadium for simulated sex acts in costume, which does not inspire confidence in many about his judgement.