Leafing through the Vancouver Courier the other day (hey, sometimes you could just really use a two-for-one hairdressing salon coupon, okay?), I noticed an article about the new Vancouver Canadians team mascot, Bob Brown Bear.

It’s a nice enough read with all the usual stuff you’d expect from the local suburban press (’will the bear eat the San Diego Chicken?’), but one part of the article jumped out at me.

[Team owner Jake] Kerr said choosing the bear as a mascot made sense for two reasons. "Kids were coming by all last summer and rubbing [the Bob Brown Bear statue’s] tummy and having their pictures taken with him," said Kerr. "And there’s also the fact my partner Jeff Mooney invented the A&W Root Bear."

Oh my lord. I never even thought of that.

A&W has their bear mascot, the C’s now have theirs, and what does A&W sell?

Chubby Chicken.

The Vancouver Canadians mascot WILL eat the Famous San Diego Chicken! Then he’ll sell what he doesn’t eat, deep-fried, with your choice of sides, while tacky 50’s music plays in the background!

This is like when Molson Breweries bought the team, called them the Canadians, and then had the logo use the exact same colours, letting and font as their Molson Canadian beer - and claimed it was just a coincidence. 

That said, though I’m a deeply suspicious guy when it comes to corporations, and part of me feels that there’s an element of tackiness about this mascot choice as a result of the coprorate tie-in (and the fact that they appear to be brothers), when you really think about it, the bear actually does make sense. 

Bears have enough of a connection with this city that one was wandering around Surrey on the weekend, and the original Bob Brown Bear was part of the Spirit Bears in the City art/charity project when the C’s bought it to stand at Nat Bailey Stadium.

You couldn’t make the mascot a beaver, for reasons that will be obvious to any 12-year-old with a dirty mind (and Rob Fai). You couldn’t make it a marmot, because who the hell has ever seen a marmot? Herons don’t exactly instill fear in the hearts of opponents, and moose are tough to get through doorways.

A bear. It just makes sense.

So, in this instance, as jaded as I am with corporate culture in North America, I’m going to put this down to a happy coincidence that will just happen to give A&W some really nice promotional opportunities going forward.

Oh, and White Spot? Suck it.