So, there were a couple of kinda big things that I failed to put in yesterday’s post about Syracuse. First the Cheifs have a mascot, named Scooch, that is some indistinguishable creature, somewhere between a dog and a bear.  Scooch only made a brief appearance on Monday, so he certainly doesn’t seem to be completely intertwined with the franchise in any way, and that even come before you find out that Scooch is bright Orange, despite the fact that no orange exists in the teams uniforms.  Yes, University of Syracuse is the Orange… so maybe one can make a case that the mascot ties the team to the community, but that’s a stretch for me.  Scooch doesn’t even wear a Chiefs jersey, he wears a black jersey with plain white letters.  He could be the most generic mascot ever and therefore, in my opinion, simply a waste of time, energy and an opportunity for the team.  If you want a mascot, he needs to be something that the kids can fall in love with an truly associate with the team.  This Scooch was none of those things… even if the team just added some Orange to their uniforms, well that might help.  Just some orange piping, that’s all I’m asking.  That even then draws in the teams tie to the community at large.  Fans could then wear their Orange merchandise to Chiefs games as well.

The Orange problem may get solved next year however.  With many of the working agreements between Major League teams and their affilates expiring on Sept. 1, there is much talk about huge movement among the AAA teams.  On  Monday, in Syracuse, there was much buzz about rumors that the Chiefs will become the AAA affiliate of the Mets, that Blue Jays may move to Buffalo and the Indians to Columbus.  Those of course all just rumors at this point, as teams were forbidden with talking with affiliates of other franchises until Monday.  If the Chiefs are to become the affiliate of the Mets, that would be big for the Mets who have wanted to return to the International League since they left Norfolk, and because that would be 3 of their affiliates in New York State, where most of their fans are located.  What’s interesting is if all three of those rumors are true, it sets up all three franchises with a much more convenient AAA situation.  And in the Chiefs case, it makes an Orange mascot relevant!

Now the Tuesday Trivia winner is a new reader, Paul from, you guessed it, Syracuse.  Paul was the first to send in Bob Feller as the answer to Who holds the Indians franchise record for career wins?  Look for a trivia question each Tuesday for a chance to win prizes.