ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 19, 1996 TAG: 9607190017
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Friday Something
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER
Just so no one forgets who's the host of the Olympics, Atlanta proudly presents this year's official mascot - Izzy, a ..., well ... looks like a ...
Picture a Smurf with bug eyes and a permanent Lena Horne smile. Or, as Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons," put it: ``A bad marriage of the Pillsbury doughboy and the ugliest California Raisin.''
With oversized red sneakers, stars for pupils and lightning bolts for eyebrows, Izzy looks as if he's had one too many caffeinated drinks.
How about a promenading peach or a prancing peanut? Izzy says ``Atlanta'' as much as a gorilla says ``Roanoke.''
Izzy has been stuffed, immortalized on playing cards, printed on warm-up jackets, beach towels and basketballs, and poised on pencil tops. Kids have proclaimed him ``cute.'' But is he?
What if Roanoke hosted the Olympics? What mascot would forever burn the image of our patch of earth into the minds of world travelers? Maybe a strutting star or a red, white and blue train. Send your ideas (drawings welcome) to fridaysomething, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010 by July 29.
LENGTH: Short : 32 linesby CNB