What do you do when your mascot goes down after a failed stunt?
Put him on the injured reserve list, of course.
The Florida Panthers have made the tough decision to shelve their mascot, Stanley C. Panther, indefinitely after he hurt himself during a game on Dec. 17.
Poor Stanley tried to jump over a folding chair and we all know how tough that can be on ice skates. He suffered an "undisclosed injury" and will be in a wheelchair while he recovers, the Miami Herald reports.
Stanley joins Cory Stillman, Radek Dvorak, Mark Cullen and other, you know players who actually got hurt playing hockey, on the Panthers' injured reserve list.
Now common sense would say, "Put another human in that over sized head and let's keep it moving," but the Panthers are clearly loyal to whoever dawns the mascot costume or maybe they are too cheap to hire someone else.
Or this could be one big publicity stunt to allow the hockey team no one really pays attention to the chance to steal a headline from the Miami Heat or the struggling Dolphins.
Local
But don't worry hockey fans, Panther home games will not be mascot-less. When one local mascot goes down, it impacts all local mascots.
Bernie from the Heat will pitch in when he doesn't have home games at the AmericanAirlines Arena. Billy the Marlin is free and is used to small crowds so he will also take a shift at the BankAtlantic Center.
Even Sebastian the Ibis and T.D. from the Dolphins will take their crack at entertaining the dozens of fans who come out to support the Panthers.
We're sure they are all hoping Stanley gets well soon.
