As you probably already know, it's #TradeCentre day and on this day each and every year, it's important to remember anything can happen in regards to trades that are made and in-studio fun.
If you're a loyal follower of BarDown, you know we love mascots and one happened to be in the studio for trade deadline day.
If you were expecting a Gritty-like mascot, we're sorry to dissapoint. To get to know the #TradeCentre mascot a little better, here's a Q & A with the mascot:
Q: Thanks for joining us. We know it’s been a busy day.
Tradey: Do I get paid for this? Or at least like a steak dinner or a watch like the Blue Jays guys used to get when Fergie interviewed them post-game?
Q: Umm...no.
Tradey: Fine. Can you introduce me to Natasha or Lindsay?
Q: I...guess.
Tradey: Or Mark Masters. He has soft features. Tradey can’t afford to be picky. Anyway, fire away.
Q: So, this is awkward...but what...are you? The head looks like a horse...or donkey maybe? And the body is...what a turtle? Alligator? But you have a tail...is it a bird? And the feet...don’t remotely match. They look like a dinosaur.
Tradey: I know right!?! I did the DNA thing at 23 and Me. Turns out I’m 83% Latvian!
Q: How did you get into being a mascot in the first place? Was it a childhood dream?
A: The story starts in a gas station parking lot outside Red Deer with a mickey of Crown Royal and a homeless man named Shep who said I owed him a favour. We-
Q: Uh, let’s skip that, on second thought. Where did you get your mascot experience?
Tradey: Read the tweets, intern. I worked for a 3rd division Croatian Rugby Club. Didn’t end well. Got fired for some obscure “no obscene gestures at children” clause in the contract. You really have to read the fine print on these things.
Q: What do you think of other mascots?
Tradey: I rolled with (The San Diego) Chicken in the 80s. That’s a blur. Basically Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but with more fur. Oh, and not to go all TMZ on you but, full disclosure, I got a little handsy with the Philly Phanatic at the mascot convention in Reno in ‘03. We settled out of court.
Q: What about Gritty?
Tradey: Look, game respect game. And like Tiger did, his success is making bank for all of us.
Q: Tony...The Tiger?
Tradey: Tiger Woods you idiot. Tony The Tiger is a freaking cereal cartoon. This is real life.
Q: You’ve become a very controversial figure on Tradecentre, care to comment?
Tradey: I’m not ON Tradecentre intern, I AM Tradecentre. You think they are watching for that Duthie guy? He was funnier when he was Andy in The Office.
Q: People care calling you The worst mascot in sports. And that’s people on the network you are working for.
A: TSN? Fake news. How long are people going to believe Bob McKenzie and his web of lies. I got your source right here Bob!
Q: Uhh...this is a print article. No one can see what you’re doing.
A: Just write ”Tradey then aggressively grabbed his cr-
Q: No no, let’s move on. What’s next for Tradey?
Tradey: About 7 Rum and Cokes at the hotel bar. Then I’m in Eerie Thursday for some roller derby thing. If I get through Customs. Little incident at a rodeo in New Mexico a couple years back. Note for all you aspiring mascots: A flaming t-shit cannon is NOT as funny as it sounds.
That Q & A was something else, but based on what we've seen so far on Deadline day, it's exactly what we'd expect from Tradey.
Tradey is the mascot we probably didn't need, but it's the mascot we got and now that we've got a mascot for the day, it's worth mentioning looks can be deceiving because Tradey has got a surprisingly strong Twitter game.
Be sure to follow Tradey @meTradey on Twitter for more of the unexpected (and downright ridiculous) throughout the day!
