Mascot(!) Panic Thread
This picture is from the cheer team's recent competition in Florida....
If you want to see the thing, click the link, and select Intermediate Coed from the competition selector above the video and then scroll through the list and look for Michigan. Or just type Michigan into the search bar and select "all competitions" and find the one that has this set up.
Viewer discretion is as advised.
Commense PANIC!!!!!
Meanwhile somewhere, you will see this:
If you watch the video, it seems that it is the resurrection of Willy the Wolverine.
But my comments speak more to the question of having a mascot in the general, regardless of what transpired in this specific instance.
I just wish they would bring back the planes advertising for the Vu.
April 15th, 2012 at 11:30 PM ^
I would argue that one, some of those would impact the "atmosphere" of the stadium because your experience watching the game would be interrupted. I'm sure there were some people who got pissed when there were video scoreboards to start, or the first time there were cheerleaders (especially since they were all dudes) or hell I'm sure someone was pissed about the changing atmosphere the first time the band played. My point is you as a general fan would most likely not be impacted in any way by the existence of a mascot. I would also argue that I would prefer to see ads in michigan stadium rather than see ticket prices go up to see this crap home schedule but thats just me personally, I wouldn't argue that doesn't somewhat change the atmosphere.
Not true. I'd like to remain anonymous*, but suffice it to say that I'm a multi-billionaire alumnus who owns a football team in the AFC East and I would have the building(s) that bear my name torn down if Michigan trots out a mascot.
Hopefully Dave Brandon reads this and decides not to proceed.
*Please don't betray my confidence if you're able to discern my identity.
But it's amazing how fast you can find things out on wikipedia.
My yearly donations would stop. No question.
I'm sure a school with an endowment in the billions will miss your one or two hundred a year.
April 15th, 2012 at 11:35 PM ^
Are you serious? do you actually care about michigan football? I mean seriously people its a god damn mascot. It would be created to keep kids happy at a football game, it would not destroy the sanctity of michigan football. LSU has a mascot and is the hardest place in the country to play. Alabama has a mascot, ND has one of the easiest mascots to want to punch in the face and yet both of those schools make up the pinnacle of college football along with michigan, seriously there is a reason that people make fun of the michigan fanbase for being incredibly pretentious despite having a reputation as being more or less the opposite of intimidating and its because of shit like this.
Have this played on the big screens at the stadium on a loop leading up to kickoff, or have a mascot? Discuss…
That is unacceptable. The mascot thing should be a dead issue. I'd roit if that thing walked into the Big House or anywhere else for that matter.
This just in, Michigan switches from leather helmets to a hard shell helmet. PANIC!
Because, player safety and conforming to the rules of the game is equitable to a sweaty engineering student dressed up as an animal, embarrassing a whole bunch of people as he does so.
Where's the embarrassment? Only embarrassment I would see is the guy wearing the suit and he would have to want to be in it in the first place, so no embarrassment. Why would it matter when Michigan is finishing 11-2 or better from here on out!? Mascots are not made for you and me, its made for little Jimmy that gets excited to see a mascot walk up to him in the stands and gives him a high five and take a picture. Jimmy is happy now! You and I should only worry about the product on the field. Not mascots, not the shade of maize we are using, not if we look like a bumble bee, and not # on the field. Go Blue!
I think a mascot could really help us sell out some football games. Lord knows what a struggle it's been without one.
Don't mess with it.
But Michigan has had a mascot in the past... so ah, not sure what your point is here.
So, we both agree we have had a mascot in the past. So the tradition thing isn't about a mascot, it is about an animal versus a person as a mascot.
Or, you can just play the tradition card if you just don't like something that hasn't been around for a little while.
Just our of curiosity, do you also favor large advertisements posted on the scoreboard? I bet they could make some that kids will really like. And it's pure profit for the U. And other teams have that.
The other thing I would add about Michigan's tradition of not having a person dressed up in a costume mascot, is that it's one of many things that sets Michigan apart from other schools.
Wait. I don't agree.
When did Michigan ever have a person dressed up like a cartoon character as a mascot?
Note that "Willy the Wolverine" was never a Michigan Mascot, but an advertising premise by a store on State Street that sold unlicensed Michigan gear. They managed to sneak the thing on to the field a couple of times, but it was always quickly apprehended and escorted off the field.
That's awful. It reminds me (unpleasantly) of the Willy the Wolverine atrocity that some tools tried to foist on UMich in the late '80s. IIRC they were also going to keep 97.3% of all proceeds related to Willy merchandise. What a deal!
I remember Willy walking around the big house in the mid and late 80s. Luckily he was never allowed to enter the big house. I'll have to say the old Willy looked a lot better than this newer version in the video.
Yuck!!!! The only mascot I would like to see are the live wolverines that use to be brought over from the Detroit Zoo in the 40s.
But I wouldn't be surprised at all if this was some attempt to gather marketing intel by the athletic department. Basically, they're trying to gauge the reaction of people by showing it at a relatively lesser-known venue. Of course the problem is the type of people who attend cheerleading events will be excited about anything.
Things that will happen if we get a mascot:
1. I might have to look at it if I watch the sidelines instead of the game on the field.
2. My degree will lose 20% of its prestige.
3. Michigan will lose its auto-bid to the Rose Bowl if it wins the conference.
4. ?
5. Profit!
I never realized that Michigan's AD actually hails from out west.
Isn't there some corporate synergy you should be molesting right now?
We all wake up the next morning and find out the Soviet Union was the real victor of the Cold War and now the only option for breakfast is Borscht?
I really don't want a mascot. I know that sounds whiny, but I really don't want one. The #goblue hashtag was annoying, but it's not something that's going to enrage me. It's the spring game, is temporary, and is probably something people are going to have to get used to in teh long term (I'm assuming Twitter is here to stay).
Even the songs don't bother me, but this REALLY, REALLY would bother me. I really hate mascots. I've never seen one I've liked besides a live animal or a real person (ND, Trojan, etc.) Obviously, that won't work for us so don't do it!
that Brandon ordered the cheer team to incorporate a mascot into their routine. If we protest loudly enough, he'll order them not to in next year's competition.
...is quite the evil genius. Another trial balloon, this time at an obscure cheer/dance competition in Florida, safely distant from A2. But not so far that Wolverine Devotee didn't notice because he and Hunter Lochmann had to know that some dude would be watching a cheer/dance competition (for some reason) and post about it here so they could gauge the reaction. The AD and CMO really know their business.
It wasn't the final event - just prelims in the video. I doubt Brandon even knew about it but I do agree that the AD knows what he is doing.
For all the moral outrage on here, though, my bet is that if there is a cute stuffed animal that most of the posters would buy one for their kid. Anything with an "M" on it will sell and if your kid points at it and wants it then you'll get it. Or if you are on a business trip and flying back and looking for something to get your kid and see it, you'll cave and get it because it will have cute googly eyes and it's better than a damn pen.
I don't like the idea of a mascot any more than anyone else. But if it brings in enough revenue to keep seat prices down and advertising out of the stadium, then so be it.
could at least not be a squirrel? I know that they're not very active, but Dave can run over to Royal Oak and see one in real life, or even get on the YouTubes and see film of a wolverine.
At the very least ... and i would be on board with letting a real wolverine roam the field ... the mascot guy should have to walk on all fours and perfect that Mustelidae amble.
people jumping on the anti-mascot bandwagon because its the popular thing to do? I like it..THERE I said it
I like the fact the people are jumping on the anti-mascot bandwagon as well. It's not only the popular thing to do, it's the right thing to do. Michigan has a mascot tradition: they tried having a mascot for two seasons, and decided it was too fucking dangerous. Wolverines are big, tough, and mean. That's why M has the animal as a mascot. Our mascot tradition is that we'd have a mascot if it wasn't too dangerous.
Having some goof runing around in a squirrel suit robs the Michigan experience of its gravitas. Michigan becomes just like the other guys. There are some cool mascots (e.g. USC and FSU), but none of them are human-dressed-as-animal mascots. All of the human-dressed-as-animal mascots suck.
And I don't buy the "we have to do it so kids will like us" argument, either. There's plenty of stuffed toys with M on them for the kids. And damn few if any kids are going to have the mascot jump into the stands and high-five them. There aren't that many kids in attendence, and those that are aren't likely to be close enough to the field to matter.
Michigan has a mascot tradition. If people want to break that, fine - but there needs to be a damn good reason, and I haven't heard one yet. "Think of the kids" doesn't fly.
Am I missing something here? Isn't it possible the cheerleaders just had a mascot for their routine so they made one? Just like those MSU students who made that paper mache, bear looking wolverine mascot thing several years ago just so they had something to slam into the goal post?
I don't think this makes anything official.
Don't you know what a panic thread is?
You must not have your tin foil hat on correctly. This is clearly a sign of DB screwing everything that is good and holy about MICH TRADITION up.
Or not. I really don't personally know.
I really don't care if we have a mascot one way or another. If we do, good, little kids will have something to enjoy if they're not into football yet. If we don't, nothing changes.
he'll restrict its activities to outside the stadium structure itself, so it can wander around outside the stands and have its picture taken with about 20,000 little kids, whose parents will then go buy the stuffed plush toy version at the M Den for $29.95, and the little girls and boys will bring them to bed and take them in the car and scream when they've lost it. There will also be plenty of them sold to 17-yr old boys because their hot girlfriend wants one. Purists will gnash their teefs and rend their garments, but as long as it doesn't enter the stands or get onto the field their outrage will be a minority view. Brandon will count the dollars and will enjoy all the photo ops that will make their way onto the 6:00 news of Bob and Norma from Flat Rock with their grandson Jimmy having his photo taken with Willy or whatever the hell DB will call it.