FIFA didn't leave Mexico's World Cup mascot to chance. It unveiled an official trio -- Maple, Zayu and Clutch -- designed, licensed and merchandised well ahead of kickoff, with Zayu the jaguar as Mexico's designated face of the tournament. Mexico City had other plans. Merlin, a duck who'd been a neighborhood fixture around Reforma Avenue for two years, turned up in a tiny Mexico jersey and matching socks after the team's opening win, and the whole country ran with it. BBC World Service's own post on the phenomenon didn't bury the comparison -- it made the comparison the entire point: "The official Fifa mascot in Mexico may be Zayu the jaguar... but Merlin has clearly stolen the show. Sorry, Zayu." NBC News gave it a full write-up of its own, headlined "How a duck named Merlin became the face of Team Mexico during the World Cup." Two of the biggest newsrooms in the world, independently, made the same editorial call: the real mascot beat the official one, and the coverage should say so, by name. Nobody manufactured Merlin's fame but Mexico City itself -- he landed a meeting with President Claudia Sheinbaum before FIFA's marketing department could even catch up. We just love that when a licensed, designed-by-committee mascot went up against genuine, unplanned public joy, two major newsrooms looked at both and picked the duck. On purpose. In print.