“It’s as Backawards as Can Be”: Things in American Culture That Make No Sense to the Rest of the World

Sure, sports teams in other countries have mascots. But no one loves a mascot as much as we do in America. Believe it or not, sports fans in other countries find it weird that we pay full-grown adults to dress up in full-body animal costumes to dance along the sidelines of a game. What’s so weird about that?

In other countries, sports teams tend to shake hands before a game, and sports fans civilly stare at each other. Honestly, that sounds pretty normal and boring. Why just shake hands when you can get pumped up alongside a human-sized, hairy mascot named Gritty during a Philadelphia Flyers hockey game?