The Toronto Raptors mascot is back from his achilles injury

Some good Toronto sports news, for once: the Toronto Raptors mascot, who was thought to be out for the season because of an achilles tendon injury suffered late last year, is going to be returning to the ACC on Sunday for the first time since his accident. This is kind of a big deal, because the raptor is amazing.

He’s a semi-legend in the world of sports mascots, and at least one sports writer has argued that he’s one of the hardest-working game-day sideshows in the league. Nobody else can swallow a cheerleader whole. Even his mistakes are weirdly graceful and entertaining.

The team has been promoting the return of the prodigal dinosaur with a series of “training montage”-style YouTube videos, featuring the raptor and his interim replacement, Stripes. One of the videos is embedded above, and the rest are below.

The raptor’s return game will be this one, against the Atlanta Hawks.