Iceman Goeth, but That’s Show Business : * Cheerleader Was Marketing Flop, so Disney’s Best Bet Is a Winning Mighty Ducks Team

The Phillies have the Philly Phanatic. San Diego’s Padres had The Chicken. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim had the Iceman--but fortunately not for long. The folks at Disney got it wrong when it came to him, a new sort of glorified cheerleader hired to entertain and spur on the crowd during pauses in the action on the rink.

The Walt Disney Co., owner of the Mighty Ducks hockey team that debuted this month in Anaheim, is legendary for its marketing prowess, from Mickey and Goofy through Disneyland and the Mighty Ducks--both the film and the team. Even before the first puck dropped, the team sold tons of shirts and jerseys emblazoned with the team logo. On opening night alone, fans bought more than $300,000 worth of merchandise. But the fans did not buy the Iceman.

Unfortunately for Iceman, he’s a real person, not a cartoon character. Worse, when he made his big attempt at entertainment, between the second and third periods on opening night, the Ducks were losing 5-1. Spectators put up with a deluge of glitz before and during the game, enduring skating cheerleaders and exhortations from electronic scoreboards while waiting for the real lure: hockey. And the hockey they were seeing that night was about what was to be expected from an expansion team.

The fans booed the Iceman off the rink. A Disney official told him to get scarce, and to take his guitar, painted face and glittery denims with him. In the process, the folks at Disney should have learned that the best entertainment of all will be a winning team. Mascots can provide some laughs, but fans form an emotional attachment to good players. As for mascots, timing is everything.

The team since has had some great early success, and perhaps sometime later the Iceman can be removed from the deep freeze and brought back. Luckily, the Iceman has another job. For now, the Iceman goeth.