Clutch the Rockets Bear is the popular mascot

Mascot

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

 for the NBA's Houston Rockets

Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...

.

The informal nickname "Clutch City" was given to Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

, the year the Rockets won the NBA championship after an unspectacular regular season in 1993-94. The moniker was adopted in response to a front-page headline in the Houston Chronicle declaring Houston to be "Choke City" after blowing a 20-point lead earlier in that postseason. The Rockets' bear, appropriately named "Clutch," was introduced on March 14, 1995.

Clutch was named the 5th-most recognizable mascot in sports by USA Today

USA Today

USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

in February 2005, and was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame

Mascot Hall of Fame

The Mascot Hall of Fame is a hall of fame for United States sports mascots. It was founded by David Raymond, who was the original Phillie Phanatic from 1978 to 1993. It is an online-only hall, with an induction ceremony taking place each year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

 in 2006. He also became the 2005 NBA Mascot of the Year.

He received even more attention in an Internet meme that involved a man being shot down during a halftime marriage proposal at a Rockets game in 2008. After the woman said "no" and stormed off the court, Clutch consoled him and walked him off, grabbing somebody's beer

Beer

Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...

on the way out and giving it to the man. Some have questioned whether or not the incident was actually staged.