Maybe Buoy Owes Paul Bissonnette An Apology

Sure, the feud between Seattle Kraken mascot Buoy and TNT hockey personality Paul "BizNasty" Bissonnette has been at times, well, nasty.

They've wrestled on-set at the Winter Classic, they've exchanged social-media insults, Biz ripped the head off a Buoy doll, the mascot delivered a pie to Bissonnette's face - it's been ugly (and tremendously fun).

What the feud has also done, apparently, is skyrocket Buoy's profile.

A quiz website , Sporcle.com , put up photos of team mascot from the NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB, and Premier League Soccer. Participants were asked to identify the mascot in each photo.

The Seattle Kraken troll scored 76.2% recognition, despite being unveiled less than two years ago. That ranked 8th among all 31 NHL mascots (the stick-in-the-mud New York Rangers don't have one). Buoy far outpaced both mascots of this year's Stanley Cup finalists, Florida's Stanley C. Panther (54.5%) and Edmonton's Hunter (54.4%).

Detroit's Al the Octopus topped the NHL recognition list, despite not existing in anthropomorphic form. The most recognizable NHL mascot with a human inhabiting a costume was the N.J. Devil. Minnesota's Nordy finished at the bottom, possibly because Wild management has never revealed what he/she/it is.

Local bouquets also to the Seattle Mariner Moose. With 90.6% recognition, MM finished second among baseball mascots, right behind the Pirate Parrot.

Maybe the Bullwinkles of the world just make an impression; the Winnipeg Jets' Mick E. Moose finished 3rd among NHL mascots. Closely related Bango the Buck finished 6th in NBA recognition.

Also from the NBA, the late, lamented - but maybe soon to be resurrected - Seattle Sonics Squatch was still recognized by 69.1 of Sporcle participants, despite retreating into the wilderness since 2008.

And what about Blitz of the Seattle Seahawks? Don't ask. The mascot was recognized by 44.9%, dead last in the NFL category. Blitz even trailed Taima, the live hawk seen at Seahawks home games, by 5%.