PHOENIX — No love for “Go the Gorilla?”
PlayAZ, a site that offers news about gambling and sports betting, says the Phoenix Suns gorilla mascot is among the worst in the NBA, according to a survey.
The gorilla was the third-worst mascot, according to 1,500 NBA fans surveyed about their mascot preferences.
“Go” only ranked higher than The Coyote with the San Antonio Spurs and Mavs Man with the Dallas Mavericks, who took the bottom spots out of all 27 mascots.
The gorilla was also the 5th most obnoxious mascot, based on fans surveyed about which mascots had the most obnoxious behavior during games.
The most loved mascots in the NBA included Rocky the Mountain Lion with the Denver Nuggets, Benny the Bull with the Chicago Bulls, and Grizz with the Memphis Grizzlies.
For more on the survey and to see all of the results, click here.
The Suns gorilla has been around for decades.
It started in 1979 when Henry Rojas, a west Phoenix native, was working part-time doing singing telegrams. He was delivering one to a fan at the Suns game at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum dressed in a gorilla suit.
The man behind the mask then became the official mascot of the Suns for 10 years and has since been replaced by other actors.
"Even to this day, however, The Gorilla remains, in the minds of many, the NBA’s top mascot, if not the top mascot in pro sports," the Suns say.
So what do you think about the survey? Is the gorilla the top mascot or one of the worst?
