OT: Mascot Thoughts (not Michigan)
So I am currently in Texas and a friend of mine was coming to TCU to watch the Minnesota game. Seeing as I had not seen him in a while and he had an extra family ticket I decided to go.
We sat near where Goldy the Gopher was set up and I thought he was a complete distraction to the game, THANK GOD we do not have a mascot. Almost every 5 minutes there was someone coming up to talk to/get pictures with him. During plays he was messing with the cameramen to entertain the crowd. For the first time that I have really been near a mascot during a game I feel like he made the gameday experience worse.
Hopefully Dave never tries to get the mascot thing started.
September 14th, 2014 at 5:21 PM ^
This upsets me...
September 14th, 2014 at 5:21 PM ^
This upsets me...
September 14th, 2014 at 5:55 PM ^
A group of students were pushing hard for Willie to become an official mascot. But he would walk around the stadium on game day. I haven't seem in a while.
September 14th, 2014 at 5:27 PM ^
I am afraid that a mascot is on the near horizon. When you look at the BTN commercial with all the teams mascots fighting it is pretty cute but nowhere is Michigan represented.
I used to be dead set against a mascot, but I'm slowly changing my thinking. I just dont' trust Dave Brandon to come up with a workable solution. I could see our "brain trust" coming up with something lame like the PSU Nittany Lion or Nebraska Lil Red.
/throwsupinhismouth
September 14th, 2014 at 6:42 PM ^
I'd laugh, but then I realize all the backbreaking work the conference is doing for BTN exposure and footprint, and see it could very well be on the horizon if the Athletic Department follows suit.
That's right, we need a mascot. For the commercials.
September 14th, 2014 at 10:24 PM ^
September 14th, 2014 at 5:29 PM ^
I wish I had a mascot.
September 14th, 2014 at 5:32 PM ^
Your Kickstarter URL is dead by the way
September 14th, 2014 at 9:34 PM ^
I'm dead too. But its okay.
September 14th, 2014 at 5:35 PM ^
We have one. He's our "head coach".
September 14th, 2014 at 5:43 PM ^
September 14th, 2014 at 5:35 PM ^
September 14th, 2014 at 5:50 PM ^
The mascot test:
1) Is your costume a hand crafted piece of art, probably created under the influence of brain altering chemicals?
2) Is your mascot a live animal that could potentially kill someone if it escaped on the sideline?
If the answer to those two questions is "no" you should not have a mascot.
September 15th, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
September 15th, 2014 at 12:52 PM ^
A fair point, but I bet he could take out a small child if he had to.
September 14th, 2014 at 10:16 PM ^
I moved out of the state since then but I sometime go to games and haven't seen him in the 90s or 2000's! If watch the video of Willie you can tell those are 80s era automobiles! Man, I'm getting old!
September 15th, 2014 at 10:15 AM ^
Where? Really?
September 14th, 2014 at 5:38 PM ^
September 14th, 2014 at 5:49 PM ^
IIRC we actually used to keep a live wolverine on the sideline in the 30s or something. Problem was it was extremely vicious and not really safe to have on a football field, even caged, so they got rid of it.
September 14th, 2014 at 5:54 PM ^
We used to have "Bennie" and "Biff", two live wolverines:
(pic from 1927 - Michigan Stadium dedication)
They had to get rid of them and give them to the Detroit zoo when they pretty much tried to eat their trainers and any surrounding fans.
So, yeah, I'd say it's time to bring them back.
September 14th, 2014 at 5:57 PM ^
Yep, that's what I was thinking of. For some reason 'threatening the cheerleaders' is something I also remember being an issue.
September 14th, 2014 at 6:06 PM ^
I will say that I wouldn't be upset if we took a setup like this and placed it in front of the opposing bench, then at some point, sending over some assistant to check the locks on the cages after which he would look at their bench with a worried look and say, "I'll be back in a little bit..." The idea, of course, is that they would never return and the opposing team would spend the entire game focused on the question - "Will I be eaten by a Wolverine?"
September 15th, 2014 at 10:16 AM ^
But the bot got humor today.
September 14th, 2014 at 8:31 PM ^
that only attacked on command, so it could and should happen! Live mascots are way more cool than jerks in suits.
September 14th, 2014 at 10:19 PM ^
They could be used as disciplinary tools for students who show up late.
September 14th, 2014 at 10:26 PM ^
September 14th, 2014 at 5:44 PM ^
Outside of indoctrinating five year olds, I'm not sure why anyone would want to have one.
Edit: fine, the stanford tree is pretty cool.
September 14th, 2014 at 5:45 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
September 14th, 2014 at 6:43 PM ^
Pretty much the best mascot.
September 14th, 2014 at 10:17 PM ^
If there was a big fuzzy Wolverine mascot prowling the grounds outside the stands before and after the games, I guarantee that a significant portion of those getting their photos taken with it would be young women being photographed by their boyfriends/husbands/fathers/etc.
Again, this is assuming it's not scary/weird Purdue Pete territory.
September 14th, 2014 at 5:52 PM ^
A great moment of my childhood (please remember this is from a 5th grader's perspective) was being in the fourth or fifth row in the northwest corner of the Big House during the obliteration of Minnesota in 1992 and bombarding Goldy with marshmallows. And yes at that age I thought it was hilarious when flying out of the crowd came someone's mostly-full soda fountain cup, drilling Goldy square in the face.
September 14th, 2014 at 5:54 PM ^
See and I wouldn't want OUR (hypothetical) mascot to ever have to go through that. Hence, no mascot.. no problem
September 14th, 2014 at 6:04 PM ^
The Giant Noodle was as much a mascot as Willie the Wolverine, and probably more up Brandon's alley.
Now, if they decided to make the Flying Spagetti Monster the mascot, I might reconsider my absolute loathing of the idea that Michigan would have a mascot.
September 14th, 2014 at 6:11 PM ^
September 14th, 2014 at 6:10 PM ^
Bucky the Badger once put his paws over my eyes while I was photographing a hockey games. The puck was on the other end of the ice so I wasn't really mad. I can see where that would've been a huge distraction if someone scored during that, though.
September 14th, 2014 at 6:10 PM ^
Hotdog guy.
September 14th, 2014 at 6:25 PM ^
as long as it kept to the grounds outside the stadium once the game started.
This is assuming that it doesn't look nightmarish like Purdue Pete.
September 14th, 2014 at 6:27 PM ^
September 15th, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
Actually, it is probably a testament to the fact that the product on the field sucked and people needed to be distracted from the ongoing trainwreck.
Mascots are a staple of minor league baseball where the in game activites around that are to distract you from how bad the product on the field is.
There are only two acceptable types of mascots, as previously mentioned, the Stanford Tree, and the potentially deadly ones: Ralphie, mike the Tiger, Bevo. Maybe Alabama should trade in the Big Al mascot (human in a teddy bear) for a baby African elephant...
September 15th, 2014 at 2:19 PM ^
September 14th, 2014 at 7:33 PM ^
I'm assuming you realize that this is an indicator that people actually like the mascot, right?
September 14th, 2014 at 7:41 PM ^
I do, it just bothers me that it was while play was going on. I just felt like it detracted from everything.
September 14th, 2014 at 8:04 PM ^
here. Add a couple googly eyes and you're almost good to go.
September 14th, 2014 at 8:34 PM ^
and have "The Wolverine" as our mascot.
September 14th, 2014 at 10:35 PM ^
September 14th, 2014 at 11:35 PM ^
Not sponsored per se, but Disney let them use the Donald Duck likeness because of some Phil Knight connection.
September 15th, 2014 at 12:37 AM ^
Not quite. Their duck mascot agreement was made in the 40s by the Oregon AD and Walt Disney himself, and has been revisited several times over the years.
September 14th, 2014 at 10:56 PM ^
That would be awesome!