Jazz Bear is the NBA’s most-lovable and socially awkward mascot, and this presented itself on Tuesday night when he carried a kid away from his court-side seat.
The Jazz mascot walked around with a kid over his shoulder and we have questions
What was going on here?
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
Was Jazz Bear simply giving a kid a time out? Did Jazz Bear know the kid? Did we witness a kidnapping? I tried digging into this story only to be met with dead end after dead end. Nobody appeared to know who the kid was, why Jazz Bear took him, and where they went.
Thankfully we have a little more information, courtesy of a commenter on SLC Dunk, SB Nation’s Utah Jazz blog.
“He had him for the whole time out, and a couple of minutes after.
I would have started getting worried when my kid didn’t come back to me after the timeout.”
So we know that the kid was eventually released after being detained by Jazz Bear for a few minutes — but we still don’t know why. What we do know, however, is that Jazz Bear loves to stick up for kids, dating back to as recently as April.
After seeing a child get obliterated during the NBA Playoffs, Jazz Bear came to his rescue and exacted revenge. He is a vicious bear, but he is kind.
We have to go back to 2013 to find the first recorded evidence of Jazz Bear picking up a child during a game, only this time it was in service of trying to use him as a weapon.
via @cjzero, Twitter
Jazz Bear is clearly public-facing, but also lacking people skills — which is consistent with actually being a bear. That’s our mascot. An actual bear wearing a bear suit. It all makes sense now.
You’re OK, Jazz Bear.
