Gumbo the Dog is one of two official mascots of the NFL's New Orleans Saints alongside Sir Saint.

Description and history

Gumbo is an anthropomorphic Saint Bernard dog who wears a Saints jersey bearing the number 00, as well as black pants and shoes. It was the Louisiana Restaurant Association's gift to the Saints.^{[1][self-published source]} From the New Orleans Saints' website:

"It was a natural evolution of this idea that the dog be a Saint Bernard, and the name, Gumbo (a conglomeration of food and an iconic New Orleanian dish), reflects the Restaurant Association as well as a famous traditional Cajun meal loved by young and old, rich and poor (a mix like all people who love and support the Saints)."

Even though Gumbo went into a brief retirement, he was brought back by popular demand, replacing a short lived Phillie Phanatic-like jester mascot known as Mambo who was the team's secondary official mascot during the early 2000s.^[2][3]

For years, Gumbo was, in fact, a real Saint Bernard dog that roamed the sidelines in Saints' apparel for dogs.^[4] The reason for choosing this breed of dog is the fact that Orleans Parish (where the City of New Orleans lies) shares a border with St. Bernard Parish to the east. The present mascot, which consists of a person wearing a Saint Bernard dog head and a football uniform, is usually seen on the sidelines during games near the goalpost and sometimes celebrates touchdowns with Saints players.^[5]