Travelers’ 2 mascots far from hit

STRIKING OUT? On Tuesday, the Arkansas Travelers and the Hughes Agency unveiled the baseball club’s new mascots - Ace the Horse and Otey the Swamp Possum.

“After a long search conducted by Arkansas’ minor league baseball club and premier staffing agency, they settled on two characters that grew up in Travelers lore,” explained a release on the team’s website. “Both mascots hold deep connections to the franchise they will now represent.”

The mascots were built by Glendale, Calif.-based Custom Characters, which has built characters for Walt Disney Co., Dreamworks, Peanuts, Warner Bros., Paramount and 20th Century Fox.

The 7-foot-tall gray horse, buff with a superhero physique, wears a red military-style jacket. The 5-foot-tall opossum, barefoot and in overalls fastened on one shoulder, wears a derby hat.

Judging by responses on Facebook pages, Arkansans aren’t impressed. Posts on the Travelers page include:

“For the Travelers to perpetuate the hillbilly, backwoods image of the State of Arkansas and this community is an embarrassment to the state, the community, and to the team.” - Mike White

“Does the possum have to be straight out of Deliverance? Terrible logos, terrible mascots. This is just enough to make me want to disassociate myself from the Travelers for sake of embarrassment.” - Ryan Smith

“Poor choice on mascots Travs. Way to make us the laughing stock of MiLB. Not impressed.” - Rob Beadel

More than 100 negative responses appeared on the page of KTHV, Channel 11, including:

“So the best idea was roadkill?” - Ryan Myatt

“I’M SO EMBARRASSED!!!” - Connie D. Freeman-Hinson

“… we already have [reality show] Battle of the Ozarks making us look like a bunch of hillbillies can we just not for once PLEASE!!!!” - Tanya Jones

FUNNY BUSINESS: Scott Weems of North Little Rock has written a book about humor. But Ha! The Science of When We Laugh and Why is serious stuff for Weems, who received a doctorate in cognitive neuroscience from the University of California at Los Angeles and a master’s degree in creative writing from Lesley University. Previously a research scientist at the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language, Weems still works there remotely and as an adjunct.

The book, released earlier this month by Basic Books of New York, has been noted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR’s Weekend Edition, Psychology Today and more.

LANDING INK: A byline by David Pierce, a senior finance student at the University of Arkansas’ Sam M. Walton College of Business, appeared March 17 on The Wall Street Journal’s Opinion page. His essay, “To My Fellow Job-Hunting College Seniors,” offers tips ranging from “Never wear a black suit to an interview” to “Set up your voice mail like someone who has a real job or deserves one.” After graduation, Pierce will work as an investment-banking analyst.