BOSTON - For more than 20 years, he was the face of the New England Patriots. Fierce and proud, he was ready to snap the ball at a moment's notice. But today, with the team flush with unprecedented success, Pat the Patriot feels forgotten. As he sits in a one-bedroom apartment in a rundown area of South Boston, his memories of his glory days are tinged with pain - emotional and physical.
"For 21 years, I gave everything I had for that franchise," said Pat the Patroit, his voice quivering with emotion. "And this is the thanks I get?"
In his hands was a yellowing certificate from 1992, the year he was cut as the mascot by the team. The certificate thanks Pat for being "an inspiration to Pats fans everywhere" and mentions that "he will always be part of the rich history of the team." Reading the certificate again seemingly reopens old wounds that never healed.
"Always part of the rich history my ass," said Pat. "No invitations to old timers reunions, no mention in the media guide...I can't even get a ticket to go see a game. It's like they want nothing to do with me."
The wounds aren't just mental. After holding the same crouching position for 21 years straight, Pat says his knees are shot. He needs replacements, but can't afford it on his social security payments. In addition, his face is now frozen in the half-smirk he made famous.
"My own grandkids won't come see me - I'm 'Scary Grandpa'," he said. "Plus, I've got so many other injuries it's not even funny. Look at that outfit I had to play center in! Taking on 270 lb. nose tackles in revolutionary war gear is a sure-fire recipe for arthritis."
Pat's story is just one of many similar tales of sports mascots forced into retirement by their teams. None of the major sports leagues offer any sort of retirement plan for ex-mascots or coverage in their pension plans, which has been blamed for the hard times many ex-mascots have fallen upon after leaving the game.
"Look at what happened to Youppi after the Expos moved," said Pat the Patriot, referring to the former Montreal Expos mascot who was found dead of an apparent heart attack outside of a popular strip club in July. "They want the guy to be fat and rotund because it's funny. Well, you know what isn't so funny? Heart disease, diabetes, thickening of arteries...all the things you get by being seven feet tall and having a 108 inch waist. And that's just the tip of the iceberg."
Among the other former mascots who have died young or experienced difficulty in their post-mascoting lives are Chief Noc-A-Homa of the Atlanta Braves (overdosed on hair spray whip-its), Father Knickerbocker of the NY Knicks (declared bankruptcy after being convicted and serving two years in stock scam) and Brownie, the original Cleveland Browns elf (killed in bar fight in 1999).
Pat the Patriot, however, is determined to make sure the same fate doesn't happen to other mascots. He has been organized fellow retired mascots into a group he calls the NFL Mascots Association. The NFLMA is urging Congress to take action to give retired mascots benefits and make current mascots fully covered under the NFL pension plan. He says that as an act of solidarity, mascots for all 31 NFL teams, plus many in other sports, are willing to go on strike if their demands aren't met.
In response, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell brushed aside the concerns of Pat the Patriot and others, or worries about the impact of a mascot's strike.
"I think that mascots are well-payed for the amount of work that they do," Goodell said. "It's not like we can't find replacement mascots if needed. I mean, is an Atlanta Falcons fan really going to know if it's Freddie Falcon entertaining him, or another, highly talented member of the falcon family?"
