INDIANAPOLIS — The halls of Gainbridge Fieldhouse were jam packed and among the blur of figures bustling about before the Indiana Fever took on the Phoenix Mercury was the furry, red, goofy, bumbling mascot Freddy with long yellow spikes draping to his shoulders and blue fuzz outlining his bulging eyes.
Fans clamored to give Freddy a fist bump last month and some jumped next to him for a quick selfie. Yet, it seems, no one knows exactly what this creature who represents the Fever is supposed to be.
“A deranged tomato?” one fan guessed. Mark Eastmond who was at the game from Utah pondered he might be “some sort of a Muppet with a fever?”
Multiple fans at the game guessed a crab or something in the lobster family, while another said he looked like a red (instead of purple) Barney the dinosaur sporting blond dreadlocks. Penny Keaton at first said she had no idea. When pushed to give her best guess, “Oh, some type of a bird,” she said.
It’s a bit of a mystery that Freddy, who turned 24 years old this summer, which has to be at least 240 in mascot years, has never self-identified as a creature. He has spent the better part of a quarter of a century staying mostly under the radar.
But more eyes are on Freddy than ever before. He is, after all, the mascot whose team includes women’s basketball sensation Caitlin Clark. Gainbridge is selling out all its Fever games.
Fever news:Last time Fever made playoffs, Caitlin Clark was a freshman… in high school. They’re closing in.
Thus, Freddy has been performing in front of not a few thousand fans but electric crowds of more than 17,000 packed to the ceilings. It’s the most he’s been seen since June 2000 when he made his debut inside then-Conseco Fieldhouse.
“I think there’s porcupine in there,” said Chrissy Tchoula. “Or a cousin or a family member of porcupine.” For the record, other animals with spines and quills would include hedgehogs, echidnas, tenrecs and spiny rats.
“I mean, you and me both,” Rachel Roesler said when IndyStar revealed it was trying to figure out what Freddy is. “I’m not sure. I just know that I love him and his energy. He’s always messing with the security guards. He has a good sense of humor.”
Her daughter Kinleigh said she was a little freaked out when she first came face to face with the unknown creature — until he shook her hand and high-fived her.
“And then she said that she loved him,” Rachel said. Still, Kinleigh’s best guess for Freddy’s identity is that he’s a demon.
“He’s a virus,” Justin Roesler said very matter of factly. You know, like a fever caused by a virus.
It was IndyStar night at the Fever game last month so the newspaper family weighed in, too. Pacers reporter Dustin Dopirak said he’s pretty sure he’s not an actual tangible creature but a “hallucination.” In other words, an unknown amalgamation resulting from a high fever.
Arts and creativity reporter Domenica Bongiovanni was among the crustacean guesses. Libby Larsen, daughter of executive editor Eric Larsen called Freddy “a made-up monster.”
The son and daughter of sports editor Matt Glenesk both guessed Freddy was an ant, but their dad said with authority, “He’s an inferno, right?”
His wife, Barbara, who happens to be Carmel Clay Schools teacher of the year and a science teacher to boot, was going to say Freddy was a dragon but then had to admit her husband was probably right. The Fever? Hot?
Freddy is red hot with yellow flames draping to his shoulders and the blue around his eyes could represent the blue flames which appear when temperatures reach between 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit and 3,000 degrees.
Amanda Waynauskas had another thought about Freddy.
“He might not even know what he is,” she said, laughing. “The Fever might not even know.” Waynauskas may be on to something.
IndyStar reached out to Fever spokesman Ryan Stevens to get the final answer and put all the guessing to rest. Alas, he didn’t clear up the confusion.
“Freddy is a character,” Stevens texted, “a big, lovable friend.”
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