In January, the Crunch hosted the 2016 AHL All-Star Game. During the competition, mascots from all the different teams roamed the arena and entertained fans young and old. While many of them were big hits, like T-Bone (San Antonio), Melvin (Leigh Valley), and Kingston (Ontario), Crunchman drew criticism and dissatisfaction. Fans were quick to call the Crunch character "boring" and "lame." To make things worse, it was coming from Crunch fans as much as the fans from visiting teams. Obviously, when it comes to the best mascot in the AHL, Crunchman will not be winning the award anytime soon.
If you look back to June, I wrote a similar article on this same matter, focusing on the Crunch's logo. When you look at AHL logo rankings, Syracuse continues to rank low in the league. This can directly relate to Crunchman's situation. When the Crunch revived the Crunchman logo back in 2012, they also revised Crunchman. Instead of reverting back to the old Crunchman (see below), they wanted to make him sleek and fresh to match the logo. However, what they created was basically a guy walking around in a terrible muscle suit with a cheap generic dollar store superhero mask and cape. Usually, mascots are suppose to be fun characters who entertain fans with dancing, games, and comedic antics. With Crunchman, there is no comedy and entertainment. Question for Crunch fans, have you ever seen Crunchman dance? If you said no, then you are among many others. The most he does during games is walk around giving high fives. Back when the Crunch had Al the Ice Gorilla, he was tons of fun and the fans enjoyed his presence. Let me clarify, I mean the second version of Al, not the original that was realistic and scared children (see below). Even though Al made little sense (along with the Ice Gorilla brand), he was still more successful that the new Crunchman.
While Crunchman does little for the fans, mascots like Moose (Rochester) love embracing fans, fooling around on the ice, and banging on his drum to start chants. Tux, who won the 2015 Madness event, has a squeaker to talk to fans. If you look at it, most of the AHL mascots are big characters who are fuzzy and fun to fans wherever they go.
To even put more emphasis on this point, let's look at the other mascots in Syracuse and compare them to Crunchman. Scooch and Pops from the Chiefs are big fun loving characters. Does anyone know exactly what they are? No, but when they are tossing out prizes, dancing on the dugouts, and giving out plenty of hugs, does anyone really care? The Syracuse Silver Knights have the Silver Knight. During games, he loves to take selfies with fans, launch t-shirts from his t-shirt gun, and even dance with the dancers from time to time. Sam the Eagle from the Syracuse Strong, though relatively new, has impressed fans in a short amount of time, just like the Strong out of the field. Then, there is Otto the Orange from that college on the hill. While I could go and talk about what sense he makes, his dancing antics and love from fans completely dwarfs Crunchman. At the end of the day, Crunchman not only falls at the bottom of the AHL mascot rankings, he falls in the bottom of the Salt City mascot list.
So, what can the Crunch do to improve Crunchman? The real question is what character can replace Crunchman? If the Crunch were to bring back the old Crunchman and just change his outfit, that would probably do the trick. That, and get a new guy to wear the costume who can hype up the character. If that cannot be done, they should look for a new character. But what character is the question? The Tampa Bay Lightning, the Crunch's affiliate, have Thunderbug, a lightning bug who fans love. Maybe the Crunch could go with a brother or cousin relation and get a Thunderbug character of their own. If not that, then maybe go with a animal that is better suited to the Syracuse area. I know that's not a huge list, mainly consisting of Canadian Geese and Groundhogs. Then perhaps some type of wild cat or dog that could be named named Crunch. Then again, maybe a brand change would help the situation. If you want to read about that, you have to go back to my article from June 2015.
No matter how you look at it, the Crunch desperately need help concerning their mascot. Crunchman is doing little for the organization and matches the environment of Crunch's games rather well. If you're there just for the game, you'll have a good time. If you're looking for in-game entertainment and fun off the ice along with a hockey game, then I'm sorry to report that you won't find any. If the Crunch want to start getting fans back into the Old Barn and improve their situation, maybe a mascot change could be the spark to start it all.
Of course, your opinions are highly valued here at The Fair Cuse Sports Report. So drop a comment or reach out to us though social media. What do you think about Crunchman? What would you do to change him? What could work as a new mascot for the Crunch?
Thanks/Credit:
American Hockey League- theahl.com
Photo Credits:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/53/ec/21/53ec2174b6fc1cd5541083d1ea2db40d.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A2xWD7XCcAAl_3o.jpg
http://www.ricspics.net/hold/Hockeypics/images/alcollage.jpg
https://nbcprohockeytalk.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/crunch-gorilla1.jpg
http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/462032578-mascot-thunderbug-of-the-tampa-bay-lightning-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QePQiSCdzflQjqU4PqVT2UMqhHuZ8PjNjiCZBuJS9c5EjeqVqkLh%2Bp%2FuO21dY9ZAgfHvgdNi67E0wTc2A1TXjsk%3D
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_YZ1o3x5HS-M/THkU8OVIqVI/AAAAAAAAD2U/yIXZPe8VzdI/s1600/TBone+San+Ant.jpg
http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/ontario-reign-mascot-kingston-motions-on-the-ice-during-a-game-the-picture-id502830082
https://thequarterback.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/20111027-readingprograminteriorstory.jpg
http://www.wbspenguins.com/media/images/stories/tux_pointing.jpg