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Five reasons that T.C. Bear is exponentially better than the Phillie Phanatic

Who would you choose: A kind and loving bear or a violent, off-brand muppet?

Creep.
Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images

I’m not sure why, but some sports outlets aren’t too high on our own beloved T.C. Bear and are more infatuated with the Philly Phanatic. My guess is that the green blob of a mascot pays off these writers to make the other mascots look bad. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, T.C. Bear is definitely better than the Phillie Phanatic and here’s why:

1. Phillie Phanatic is violent. T.C. Bear is not.

Google “Phillie Phanatic in trouble.” I’ll wait here while you do that. Done? If you didn’t look or use the Google at all, here are just a few results from the search:

Philly Phanatic blasts a fan in the face with a hot dog

Woman injured and sues Philly Phanatic after it throws her into a pool

Fan sues Phillies after mascot climbs on her in the stands and injures her, requiring knee replacement surgery

Maybe the “City of Brotherly Love” takes after this violent mascot and its antics (see: 2018 NFL NFC Championship Game - and apologies for bringing this up as a memory again).

Now Google “T.C. Bear in trouble.” You’re not going to find one bad thing. In fact, one of the links that pops up is a link to request T.C. Bear to make an appearance at your event for a fee. How nice and not violent!

2. There are people in Philadelphia don’t even like the Phillie Phanatic and have written about it.

Usually cities really enjoy their mascots, and if they don’t have a mascot, they whip around a toy monkey to rally their local nine into a win. But one Philadelphia individual took the time out of their day to write about how the Phillie Phanatic is “kind of a d-bag.” (FYI, the title of the article has a non-family-friendly word.) You can’t find an article out there bashing T.C. Bear. Heck, even Yu Darvish likes T.C. Bear!

3. The Phillie Phanatic intentionally pisses off the other team.

Well yeah, that makes sense. But when you get to the level of pissing off Tommy Lasorda, you’ve reached a new tier of pissing off the other team.

4. T.C. Bear is pretty much based off the Hamm’s bear, and the Phillie Phanatic was based off of the product of Jim Henson’s feverish nightmares.

T.C. Bear has been around as the Twins mascot for almost 20 years, but before that, you could see him enjoying a cold, refreshing Hamm’s in their advertisements. The Philly Phanatic, on the other hand, was just some messed up Muppet that didn’t make it on air.

5. T.C. Bear was born and raised locally while the Phillie Phanatic isn’t even from Philadelphia!

T.C. Bear was born in Bear River, Minn., and lives in White Bear Lake, as indicated in his bio on the Twins website. Where is the Phillie Phanatic from, you ask? The Galapagos Islands.