
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 26, 1995                   TAG: 9501260083
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: EXTRA   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BETH MACY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PICTURE YOUR SALEM MASCOT HERE

FIRST, there was the matter of the feather-flapping fanny: ``One year the kids pulled them off so much we had to sew them back on every week,'' says Sam Lazzaro, general manager of the Salem Bucs-turned-Avalanche.

Then there were the inevitable Clarence Thomas jokes.

Now, of course, there's the team's new affiliation with the Colorado Rockies, which can only mean one thing for the prancingest poultry in the Carolina League:

Long Ball Silver, you're OOUUTTTTTA here.

No more scratchy recordings of ``The Long Ranger'' theme song, no more Funky Chicken.

Let's get conceptual, sports fans, and help those Avalanchers come up with a new mascot. Bring out your Crayolas and your creative juices, and think spring.

As the winner of our Make-a-Mascot contest, you not only gets the honor of seeing your concept bounce to life in the new Salem Baseball Stadium. You also get to view it from the cushy confines of your very own FREE season-ticket box seat ... not to mention worldwide fame provided courtesy of a future mention in this column space.

Now then, using these tips to guide you, get to work:

The new mascot could be animal, mineral or vegetable - the only restriction being that an actual person will play the part; i.e., two arms, two legs, one head, etc.

The more adaptable the costume is to dancing, prancing, high-fiving, being struck by throngs of mini bat-wielding rugrats and containing toxic amounts of sweat, the better.

Tails are optional: ``The fanny-flapping potential there is good, but not necessarily essential,'' Lazzaro says.

Theme-wise, try to connect the mascot to the Colorado Rockies or the Avalanche. Think mountains (Rockies or the Blue Ridge), snow, rocks, mud slides, noise, rumble, danger, blizzard, freeze.

A moratorium on the poultry theme has not been issued, but another bird mascot might be stale.

Goofy is best. ``Playing off the snow theme, I think The Flake might be good,'' advises Brian Hoffman, the Salem Times-Register columnist and official team scorekeeper whose vision sparked the creation of Long Ball Silver in 1987.

Hoffman's favorite episode of ``The Simpsons'' featured a minor-league baseball outing, where Homer and company enjoyed such things as the Capital City Goofball mascot, ``washed-up major league players on their way down and lots of beer-drinking and shouting.''

``You could see a lot of similarities'' to Salem's baseball scene, Hoffman says, adding that one disadvantage to The Flake might be that a ``white costume would get pretty dirty.''

And hurry. The new costume has to be designed and ordered soon. Send your drawing, along with a short synopsis of the concept, to Make-a-Mascot, c/o Features, Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24015.

Ideas for accompanying skits, theme songs or shticks are encouraged.

Beth Macy is a features department staff writer and Thursday columnist.

by CNB