The adult who plays the Atlanta Falcons mascot is likely going to be filing for unemployment, after he physically attacked a child during halftime on Sunday.
Freddie the Falcon must have been upset that the Cincinnati Bengals were beating the Falcons 28-27 going into halftime, because the person inside the bird costume attacked a pint-sized football player while entertaining the crowd.
Freddie and a team of adult mascots faced off against a youth football team, also named the Falcons, while the pros were regrouping in the locker room.
The peewee was steadily crushing the mascots, when a clearly frustrated Freddie Falcon forgot clearly forgot the opposing team was made up of minors, when he roughly shoved number 22 out of bounds at the three yard line, as the kid was about to score a touchdown.
The disappointed tyke slammed the ball to the ground as a puffed up Freddie advanced on him menacingly. When the boy got to his feet, the feather-wearing grown up shoved him hard.
The boy, whose jersey identified his last name a Snyder, didn’t let the dirty bird get way with being inappropriately physical, and fearlessly bounced the football off of Freddie’s face.
The Falcon’s mascot shoved Synder backwards, but the child stuck him back and walked off as his tiny teammates rushed up to defend him and surrounded the fake foul.
The referee had to help the bird escape, as he was pummeled by their small fists, and rather than be embarrassed for getting beat down by a group of kids, Freddie ran around the end zone with a celebratory finger in the air.
Social media was quick to point out that Freddie’s portrayer will likely get charged for assaulting a minor.
“Dudes reliving his glory days before serving time for felony assault with a weapon,” one person remarked.
“Betcha the mascot has a record,” another commented.
“I think Freddie Falcon might be flying to the unemployment line Monday morning,” someone sagely pointed out.
While others want the flailing Falcons to put Freddie on the roster after the Bengals brutalized them with a 35-17 loss at Paycor Stadium.
“Falcons need to put Freddie at CB next week,” one person suggested.
“Taking out frustrations because teams fail to make clutch plays,” another joked. “Mascots have feelings too: not their fault they have to rep teams that act a fool when chips are down. Freddie the only Falcon making plays today.”
The Atlanta bird isn’t the only mascot to get beat up by during a halftime pickup game. In 2018, Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers, was attacked at a “Mites on Ice” game, while NHL players reset for the next period.
Unlike Freddie, Gritty wasn’t the aggressor, and instead was attacked by child enforcer Nate Babb, who attacked swung at him wildly completely unprovoked. Rather than engaging with the kid, Gritty picked up and carried Babb to the penalty box, where he remained for the duration of the game.