Jacksonville.com: **Mike Bianchi** Jaxson De Villain 10/01/99

Friday, October 1, 1999

Story last updated at 12:39 a.m. on Friday, October 1, 1999

Jaxson De Ville carries a Kordell Stewart dummy off the field during a Jaguars' victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers last year. His actions prompted changes in league mascot rules. -- Kenneth E. Walker/Staff
Jaxson De Villain
Steelers dislike obnoxious mascot

They want him bad.

Just once, you just know they'd love to pancake him, cheap shot him, chop block him when he least expects it.

To the Pittsburgh Steelers, he is the most hated member of the entire team; the one Jaguar who really gets their black-and-gold blood boiling and their Terrible Towels in a tizzy.

He is, by far, the biggest, bawdiest, brashest member of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Boselli, Brackens? Beasley, Bryant? Uh-uh. It's Jaxson De Villain.

Er, Jaxson De Ville, the overstuffed, overbearing, over-the-top ball of fur who has gained a reputation as the most intrusive mascot in the league.

De Villain is so obnoxious that even Dan Rooney, the Steelers' humble 67-year-old owner, detests him.

"It's just too bad Jack Lambert or Greg Lloyd weren't still playing for our team last year," Rooney said earlier this week. "After the stunts their mascot pulled on the field, we would have had to bail those guys out of jail."

It would have been money well spent. Unfortunately, De Villain won't be making the trip to Pittsburgh Sunday or else he would have provided us with his most memorable, most socially significant skit yet: His demise.

De Villain, like Dom Capers, cannot speak. Therefore, he was unavailable for comment regarding this column. Of course, his actions spoke for themselves last year at Alltel Stadium on Monday night when he went so far over the line, the NFL was forced to change its mascot policy.

Based largely on De Villain's antics last year, a new league rule states: "Team mascots must stay behind the 6-foot white border at all times during the game. And they are prohibited from engaging in any acts of taunting opposing players, coaches or game officials."

During one timeout in last year's Steelers game, De Villain brought a life-sized stuffed doll of Pittsburgh quarterback Kordell Stewart onto the field and began beating and stomping it -- only a few feet away from the Steelers' offensive huddle.

During another timeout, he went over to the Steelers' bench holding a Steeler rug he got from a fan. He used the rug to wipe his armpits and other parts of his anatomy. Said Steelers coach Bill Cowher after the game: "It [De Villain's antics] has been banked in my mind."

Just what you want, your mascot supplying bulletin-board material. Call me a fogyish fuddy-duddy if you must, but I've never liked De Villain. My disdain for him dates back to Year 2 when I saw him shaking the goalposts before Morten Andersen missed his fateful field goal that sent the Jaguars to the 1996 playoffs.

I don't know what's worse: A mascot shaking the goalpost or Amy Mickelson in high heels running across Jose Maria Olazabal's line.

Disrupting huddles? Distracting kickers?

Do we really want some goofball with floppy shoes and a two-ply tail actually affecting a game? Three years ago when the Steelers were playing at Carolina, Panthers mascot Sir Purr -- De Villain's illegitimate brother -- actually fielded a live kickoff 8 yards deep in the end zone.

"Unbelievable," Rooney says. "These guys in mascot costumes have pushed the envelope so far that they actually think they are a legitimate part of the game."

What we have here is a classic conflict of football philosophy between the old-school NFL and the new-wave NFL.

Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver says he sees no problem with De Villain's antics and calls the Jaguars' mascot "the best in the league." Rooney shudders at the mere mention of having a mascot on the field at Three Rivers Stadium.

"Obviously, every team has its own philosophy, but in Pittsburgh the football is what counts -- football is what's king," Rooney says. "I'm not against teams that have mascots, but that's not our philosophy. People get on me sometimes because we don't have dancing girls or mascots at our games. My response is we don't need those types of things. Good, entertaining football is what people come to see."

Personally, I'd love to see De Villain on the field Sunday at Three Rivers. For the first time in NFL history, we would have had a chance to witness a mascot-ectomy.