[ohbarrett]

I think this might have been posted already in the Preseason game 3 thread, not sure. Either way, I didn't think it was important enough for Cavs Talk. Here it is:

Cavs mascot Moondog wears Steelers jersey
Posted by Dan Labbe, cleveland.com October 17, 2008 09:10AM
Categories: Sports Impact


AP photoSteelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was at Tuesday night's Cavs-Celtics game in Pittsburgh. Moondog, reportedly, was thrilled.
People love to make a big deal out of LeBron's rooting interests, so I figure if he's fair game, so is Moondog.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

"The loudest ovation perhaps occurred with 5:48 remaining, when the Cavaliers' mascot, Moondog, appeared at halfcourt during a timeout wearing a Cleveland Browns jersey.

A serenade of boos was heard before Moondog peeled off the hated jersey and revealed a black-and-gold Steelers shirt."

Really? No one in the Cavs organization saw a problem with this?

No one thought to themselves, in light of LeBron James taking all kinds of heat for wearing a Yankees cap to Jacobs Field, maybe Moondog wearing a Steelers jersey is a bad idea. No one spoke up in a planning meeting, considering all the buzz surrounding James' appearance at the Browns-Cowboys game in support of Dallas, and said, "You know, maybe having our team's mascot rip a Browns jersey off to reveal a Steelers jersey isn't such a stellar plan."

This is a Cleveland team's mascot, after all. It's not as if this idea was so creative and so entertaining that it absolutely had to be done. Seriously, was there no one available for a fan three-point shootout or free throw contest? Unlike when LeBron shows his rooting interests, someone within the Cavs organization - at least you'd think - had to approve this.

What do you think? Does it bother you that Moondog ripped off his Browns jersey to reveal a Steelers jersey? Do you not care? Is it irrelevant? Should the Cavaliers apologize? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

LINK

[DELONTEizDad]

(full disclosure I took this from a thread started in The Watercooler Forum of The Orange and Brown Report posted by a user named MackTruck)


From the Pittburgh Tribune-Review's recap of the Cavs' preseason game there ...

The loudest ovation perhaps occurred with 5:48 remaining, when the Cavaliers' mascot, Moondog, appeared at halfcourt during a timeout wearing a Cleveland Browns jersey.
A serenade of boos was heard before Moondog peeled off the hated jersey and revealed a black-and-gold Steelers shirt. It drew a round of cheers before the mascot raced the length of the floor, caught a small football in stride and headed out an exit.

(LINK)



I am thoroughly disgusted by this. I would have thought Gilbert would know better.

[chiefwahoo]

That's it, bring back this guy immediately:

[JonFromVA]

Know better?

Gilbert wants to capture the Pittsburgh and Western PA market. We just put an NBDL team in Erie.

He's basically toying with the the Browns/Steelers rivarly. If they can make fun of it with the crowd then perhaps the crowd won't get stuck up on it when deciding whether to tune in to a Cavs game.

[Brandname]

Ugh, I hope he goes to the Brooklyn Nets when his contract is up. It'd serve him right.

[bucksprime99]

I thought of something absolutley genius and hilarious they could do with this.

Make a mockery out of the entire fabricated "Where's LeBron going in 2010" crap.

Have Moondog get interviewed at halftime of every home game wearing a different hat, or jersey, or whatever. Say his contract is up this year and he's looking to go to another city. Have the guy interviewing him be named "Skip Clueless"...basically, make ESPN look like fools.

That would be STUNNINGLY smart, imo.

[Mac]

Terrible marketing idea....Browns are more important than any sports team in Cleveland and you disrespect the fans of that team? Stupid..

If you want to pull in fans from Pittsburgh, do something with hockey, where Cleveland doesn't have a team and it is huge there.

Idiotic move...I hope the person is fired for this.

[-Akronite-]

Yeah, he should have worn a Penguins jersey, putting on a Steelers jersey put MoonDog on a long list of bad mascots now. Not that I ever liked Moon Dog, he makes absolutely no sense. Slider also doesn't make sense, but he's not even a real animal, so association doesn't matter.

Basically, this sounds awful, I'm sick thinking about a Cleveland mascot wearing black and gold.

[JonFromVA]

Do Clevelanders follow the Penguins? Did they follow the Steelers when the Brown's were MIA?

Many?

The disgust you guys are expressing just seeing our mascot in a Steeler's jersey is what the Cavs have to deal with in trying to win the Pittsburgh market. I have no clue if Moondog's act was condoned, but the Cavs can't make a major dent in the market unless they can somehow defuse that disgust the two cities have for each other.

IMO, the Pittsburgh arena looked fairly empty other than the lower seats, and who knows how many of those fans drove over from Ohio. It's a tough road to win that market.

[DELONTEizDad]

For the record, for me it's not so much the wearing of the Steelers jersey, I don't agree with that at all but can see it being done to pander to the live crowd, but it's the ripping off of the Browns jersey and throwing it down....

[-Akronite-]

Originally Posted by JonFromVA

Do Clevelanders follow the Penguins? Did they follow the Steelers when the Brown's were MIA?

Many?

The disgust you guys are expressing just seeing our mascot in a Steeler's jersey is what the Cavs have to deal with in trying to win the Pittsburgh market. I have no clue if Moondog's act was condoned, but the Cavs can't make a major dent in the market unless they can somehow defuse that disgust the two cities have for each other.

IMO, the Pittsburgh arena looked fairly empty other than the lower seats, and who knows how many of those fans drove over from Ohio. It's a tough road to win that market.

If we want to please Pittsburgh fans, use something that won't be polarizing, like a Penguins jersey. Using a Steelers jersey and throwing OFF a Browns jersey will piss off the Cleveland fans. Why do you need to touch a topic that will anger people when you can draw in all their hockey fans that don't have a basketball team in their arena?

[JonFromVA]

Obviously the mutt was going for maximum rise.

Give him grief at the Q, I'm sure he'll love the attention.

That is after all, all a mascot is there for ... grabbing attention, getting a rise out of the fans, and playing off it. Maybe he'll burn a Steelers jersey in effigy? Who knows.

Who cares.

Personally, I could care less what the team mascot does. They could fire them all for all I care, but apparently the actual game isn't enough of an attraction.

[Bob Loblaw]

The Cavs have constantly shown they don't care about offending local fans. Why else would they put the Michigan or Steelers logo on the scoreboard????

[RonHarperFan]

They would be more popular over here if they didn't have that pesky "Cleveland" in the title. A whole generation of western pennsylvania people associate Cleveland as a bunch of losers.

[DELONTEizDad]

whole lot of hypocrites around..... this is 1000 times worse than Lebron wearing anything