Archive for December, 2008
Champs Sports Bowl a whole lotta nothing!
Even though Florida State has permission and blessings from the Seminole tribe to use imagery for its mascot, writers pointed out that University of Wisconsin has a policy that discourages playing teams/schools with Native American mascots. Didn’t matter for the match up last Saturday at the Champs Sports Bowl where Wisconsin didn’t officially schedule the game and the badgers came in and showed a horrible offense against FSU. To highlight how bad it got, with 11:04 left, the Seminole fans decided to tease and taunt the few Florida fans that were wearing orange t-shirts rather than pay attention to the kickoff!
Florida State football ends the season with the most wins since 2004! I guess the only way to celebrate a great season and a boot stomping bowl game is to focus on picking on your arch rival fans!
And Wisconsin has looked in to streamlining the policy to look more like the NCAA’s mascot policy.
Ah the rivalry…
Over a month ago, before the SoCal crosstown rivalry game, the Trojan statue was painted “Bruin Blue”. Although most years statues and mascots of the teams are removed or heavily guarded, it looked as if the pregame antics for next year may move up a notch.
Rivalries seem to help keep fans of teams focused- no matter how the season is going there is still hope of pulverizing the rival when they play! Besides the LA College Football match up, Chicago Cubs/St. Louis in baseball, we look now to the NY Yankee Boston Red Sox match up. In recent years this also stepped up a notch with a Red Sox fan/construction worker for the new Yankee Stadium getting caught for putting a Boston shirt in the infastructure of the stadium. So he didn’t get away with it, but in England, (where soccer is football) someone did get away with the same spirit of rockin the opponet’s mojo by spelling out the home teams’s rivals in brick work in the front of the stadium. Fans have walked on it for years and suspected nothing until the reveal came on UK YouTube! It’s worth a look!
“Wooo, Pig! Sooie! Razorbacks!” Hog Callin Big Red
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John Marc Shellenberger is another Arkansas mascot that was willing to call out and let me know how being part of a Razorback team of mascots is all about. I was amazed at how fast he (and Nathan) responded to my interview request and he said they like doing it and what great info he passed on to Stories Behind the Fur.
Ah something else on the cereal aisle!
It’s no Flutie Flakes, and Stories Behind the Fur debated in a few meetings if this was mascot news or not!
A few Southeast papers and web links have reported that teams are putting out cereal with mascot related pitchmen on them. It’s an interesting idea from the company Fusion Innovative Marketing sold to teams looking for a cheap and novel marketing tool geared to young fans. Penn State was the first to try it six years ago and 20 college teams have followed. Most recently, the Miami Dolphins’ Touch Down Crunch featuring TD the Mascot and promoting the team’s Most Valuable Reader program will hit the Publix and other grocery stores in the Miami area.
A Ralphie Handler finds his way back to playing football
The Rocky Mountain News had a wonderful write up in November about a comeback of sorts. University of Colorado’s Tyler Sale went from a Ralphie Handler (the buffalo mascot) to defensive tackle.
After a knee injury sidelined Sale, his roommate, already a Ralphie handler suggested Sale join him. The thrill and roar of the crowd was back as well as an added bonus of being able to work in the weight room of the athletics department where he got noticed and was given an opportunity to play football once more. Hopefully we’ll see Tyler on the field next year, playing out his last year of eligibility. Great story and good luck!
No Nittany Lion at the Rose Bowl?
What a shame that misjudgment leads to trouble. The night before a game with Michigan State, Penn State’s Nittany Lion mascot, James Sheep was pulled over by campus police after they noticed the car’s back end was basically dragging and had obstructed views due to too many people in the vehicle. James Sheep was later charged with DUI and has been suspended for the rest of the season.
What a shame there will be no mascot to help cheer Penn State in the Rose Bowl against USC Trojans on New Year’s Day this year!
