Most Fierce NFL Mascot Competition: Chief Zee vs. Poe

No. 8 Washington vs. No. 16 Baltimore

Editor's note: In determining the winner of the NFL's Fiercest Mascot, some voters compromised the integrity of this contest by jamming votes for either team by way of automation in an attempt to either sabotage or assist a team in the process. As such, we pinpointed when this occurred after doing some research and have made a decision to use the voting percentages prior to the automation of votes. As such, we concluded that Poe won based on the percentages displayed below. Congratulations on winning this year's contest.

Please send feedback to this link and not to any of our writers, who were not involved in the decision.

Results Poe 52% Chief Zee 48% Congratulations Poe!

Today, I'd like to talk to you about cheating. I've received all your e-mails and complaints about the contest.

I empathize.

But we haven't found any cheating going on. We haven't found (and excuse my lack of technical aptitude here) any scripts or bots automatically voting.

We have seen the competition picked up by team fanboards and team sites like extremeskins.com, vikings.com, buffalobills.com and many more. And while the boards' members may have voted multiple times, that's just part of the fun.

On to the final.

It's a Beltway Battle between official Ravens mascot Poe and Redskins superfan Chief Zee.

Both are representative of legendary Americans. Poe, after Edgar Allen Poe and Chief Zee after the rockers Z.Z. Top.

Don't look up that last part.

That's because Chief Zee's only connection to Cheap Sunglasses is when he's attending 1 p.m. games at FedEx Field in suburban D.C. (steeee-rike one, eysh that was bad).

As for the Chief. He's a spritely mid-60s former Florida-born sharecropper who stumbled into the role of Chief Zee one Monday night back in '78 during a Redskins victory over the Cowboys. Howard Cosell took notice of a Redskins fan (known back then solely as Zema Williams) with a rubber tomahawk and funky outfit. The rest is, well, history.

A history that included getting beat up by Eagles fans, befriending the Cowboys' superfan, Crazy Ray, and becoming a local legend in the D.C. area and automotive market. His popularity erupted so much so, he ended up in the Hall of Fame as a superfan.

He's not a mascot in the true sense of the word, but like that famous fictional hog (get it, the Redskins and the Hogs...steeee-rike two) Babe, he's capable of great things -- like surviving an aneurysm, gangrene that led to toe amputation and buying into Jim Zorn as a head coach.

"He's more familiar with today's players and game," Chief Zee said. " Plus, he was a quarterback and a good quarterback. I think we got the right man."

Chief Zee needs to get through one-third of the Ravens' feathered fan-riler. Poe, a 16th seed in this tournament, has Siragusa-ed the competition (steeee-rike three. I'll stop, sorry). Simply squashed it. What's his secret?

Here's what Poe communicated to me via e-mail:

"As for why I am the best mascot, well, it's simple. I do it for the love, the love of the team, the love of the fans, the love of being a mascot. I don't do it for other reasons, like other mascots. I don't do it for the money, Jaxson de Ville. I don't do it for the fame and free clothes, Swoop. I don't do it for the cheerleaders, Freddie, Blue, and Toro. I don't do it for any of that, my fierceness is genuine and comes from my tell tale heart, and I give that heart to my team!"

That's intense.

Chief Zee, your motivation?

"You have to have a lot of respect for others, especially children. Being respectful, it's what brought me to this point. Loving what I do and loving the fans. If it wasn't for the fans, I wouldn't make a difference."

That's not as intense.

Back to Poe. He's 11 years old, weighs 692, 537 feathers, attended the University of Poe-try, enjoys the TV show That's so Raven and when asked if Chief Zee is the best mascot, can be heard squawking the word, "nevermore."

That doesn't make much sense.

But this may:

"As for my competition in the finals, I am not worried at all. I mean I'm going up against a man that wears a dress. It may be a head dress, but none the less, it is still a dress. Chief Zee is just a silly man in a dress, and what is fierce about a man in a dress. Personally, I've never been scared of anything in a dress, except for the time I played tennis with Serena Williams, she serves really hard, I was a little scared. I'm going to put Chief Zee right where he belongs, back in the cupboard like in that book I once read."

Chief, anything you'd like to say to Poe?

"I'm just an old what you call a No. 1 fan for the people. If he wants a battle let's do it. It's all in good fun. It ain't no problem, I'm ready for it."

Let the voting begin and we're looking into polling malfunctions and all that jazz.