A moment of silence is an important shared cultural ritual. It’s certainly no time to stand there with some big goofy grin on your face, looking like an idiot.
Unless, of course, you’re a sports mascot. Then you have very little choice. You could always take off your head, but that’s 1. Probably a breach of contract; 2. Going to freak out little kids; 3. Possibly going to look even goofier.
Which leaves mascots with a conundrum to deal with. Should they retire to the locker room and risk looking unsympathetic, or stand there with their head bowed like some sad, giant chicken?
Regardless of what the right answer might be, people on Twitter seem to have taken notice of the absurd nature of mascots observing moments of silence.
Starting with this photo of Chirpy, the mascot for London soccer team the Tottenham Hotspurs, posted, without comment, on Tuesday.
— Thelonious 🇯🇲 (@TheloniousFilth) November 7, 2017
Which set off a chain reaction of other users posting similar pictures.
Just like that you've sent me down the rabbit hole of mascots observing minute's silence pic.twitter.com/pHa2ENmDGX
— Chicago Spurs (@chicagospurs) November 7, 2017
And even the creation of an account called “Mascot Moments”
https://twitter.com/MascotMoments/status/927980635414601728
https://twitter.com/MascotMoments/status/927977476403298304
Whether these photos are hilarious or sad is very much dependant on your temperament and current mood. What’s inescapable is that moments of silence are becoming more and more frequent. It’s even possible that’s the reason Twitter has taken notice. In a way, these mascots, who are already the symbol of their team, in a moment of silence become a symbol of humans: a confused goofball who’s not really sure what to do about a seemingly endless string of tragedies. It’s enough to render anyone speechless.
https://twitter.com/MascotMoments/status/927978847613497344