Jack McKeon Hates Poultry

Leitch|published: 08/29/2005, 12:00pm EDT

This image was lost some time after publication.

Everybody loves the San Diego Chicken, right? How do you not love a chicken? Everybody loves chickens!

Apparently not Marlins manager Jack McKeon. When asked about the Chicken being elected to the Mascot Hall of Fame, McKeon, someone inexplicably, flipped out.

"I didn't think he was very funny," McKeon said as he sat with reporters in his office, smoke rising from a stogie. "His act is fine, but don't think you're bigger than us." ...

"We win the pennant [when managing the Padres in 1984] and they want to make the Chicken bigger than the team," he said. "Marketing people thought he was the reason we were putting people in the ballpark. Once you see him 10 or 12 times, come on." ...

McKeon waved a hand. "OK, I'm done talking about the Chicken."

Somehow, we imagine a room in McKeon's basement, full of newspaper clips about the Chicken, as McKeon flicks the light on ... and off ... and on ... and off.

McKeon's Mascot Tastes: Fish, Not Chicken [Palm Beach Post]