The mascot should have shorts

Football mascots are generally terrible. But there's something rather strange about Goleo, the lion mascot for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Perhaps it's that the Germans have picked an English symbol to represent this significant event. Perhaps it's the rather goofy face. It might be the stupid 'ball with a face'. But no, it's because he's not wearing shorts. This craziness might be bourne of the Donald Duck era, but there's something rather disconcerting about his triangle-shaped 'zone'. With Donald, you see, there's just nothing there. With Goleo though, it looks like there should be. And it hasn't gone down well, either; the chaps selling the mascot, Bavarian firm Nici, have gone bust. Not surprising, considering they paid 19 million pounds for the priviledge of selling this doofus. Still, we blame the designers - Jim Henson's company was paid 250,000 Euros for that...