High school mascot consoles distraught foe, then celebrates game-winning shot
Oh, the confusing life of a high school mascot. On one hand, you’re charged with pumping up -- and celebrating major moments in turn. On the other hand, you’re still in high school student, all too attuned to the tender moments of heart breaking setbacks that are incumbent in everyone’s high school experience.
Case in point: The Batavia (N.Y.) High Blue Devil in the moments after his school’s miraculous game-winning buzzer beater in the New York Class B regional final.
As you can see in the video above, the Blue Devils escaped with a 63-62 victory against the state’s top ranked team, Olean (N.Y.) High, when traditional role player Jeff Redand scooped up a loose ball and launched a game-winning three as the buzzer sounded (editorial sidenote: What is it about this year’s New York basketball tournament? Wild buzzer beaters galore!). Quite understandably, the Olean squad was stunned by the sudden turn of events, with more than one Olean player falling to the floor while overcome with a mixture of shock and grief.
Contrasting that was the overwhelming crush of excitement near-rapture of the Batavia squad, and the scene displayed quite mélange of emotions.
Enter the Batavia Blue Devil. Not only did he have to run on to the court to celebrate with his hoop star classmates, he had to practically run over one of the downed Olean players to meet up with them.
Luckily, the Blue Devil found a way to make the best of the situation, briefly consoling the grief-stricken Olean player and then hopping on to the Batavia dog pile.
Add to that his fantastic Blue Devil costume -- face it, Duke fans, Batavia’s Munsters-inspired get up is far superior to his Cameron Indoor crowd-surfing cousin -- and the Batavia mascot, at least in his current iteration, really seems to have the whole mascot lifestyle experience down pat. While his personal consolation efforts may not have made the Olean player’s disappointment much easier to bear, it at least offered one more example of the humanity inherent in high school sports.
Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit RivalsHigh or connect with Prep Rally on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
More news from the Yahoo Sports Minute:
Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
• Y! news: Softball coach accused of sending team to find him dates
• Ronda Rousey, Mike Tyson drop tons of wisdom in joint interview (video)
• Oakland A's Michael Taylor sidelined with odd bubble-gum injury
• Tiger Woods now just 4-to-1 to win the Master
