The Behind-The-Scenes Story Of 'Rollerblading Raptors Mascot,' The Animated GIF Champion

After nearly a month of deliberation, the Animated Sports GIF Tournament finally ended Tuesday, and the bracket's overall 1-seed, ROLLERBLADING RAPTORS MASCOT, wrapped things up with a decisive victory.

I never imagined we'd get to hear from the Raptor himself. But we did.

Bruce Arthur of the National Post was kind enough to ask the Raptor a few questions recently. He emails:

So he wanted to rollerblade down the stairs in the inflatable costume, but the costume needs to be closed to keep the air in. So he strapped the bottom of the legs with duct tape, around the top of the rollerblades, and halfway down the stairs one of them tore loose, because he was kind of bouncing a lot. So the air started to rush out, and then the thing started to deflate, and that's why the head bounces as much as it does.

And then when he splats, the air is just shooting out his pant leg, and the tail goes first, perfectly. He got up and couldn't see, because the thing was draped all over him, and he dragged himself off the court. He tried it again another time and nailed it, but he agrees this one was better. He was uninjured.

Honestly it never really even occurred to me that he was deflating. I just thought it was a naturally floppy costume. This adds a whole new dimension of humor to the proceedings. And considering that the Raptor himself is being a sport about it, and that he wasn't hurt, it's good-natured humor.

Oh, and @raptors tweeted this last night: