Rhett on SportsCenter

Since SportsCenter recently aired a commercial with a pair of bird mascots walking into a glass wall, I thought I’d look for SportsCenter commercials with dog mascots in them. Enjoy and happy Friday!

University of Albany Great Danes

I am kicking this blog back off with a look at the University of Albany Great Danes. I’ve had it in my mind to write about this school for some time now–they are only three hours from Boston, they are (soon to be were) in the same conference as my alma mater, and I have a couple of friends who live in Albany. Oh, and I also had a UAlbany t-shirt at one point in time, and my shirt ownership was a requirement of getting your school featured.

Damien and Lil’ D

UAlbany didn’t always call the Great Dane its mascot. Prior to 1965, the school’s mascot was Pedwin the Penguin, the mascot of the New York State College for Teachers. In that year, the student body chose the Great Dane, nicknamed Damien, to represent the school. According to UAlbany’s website, the Great Dane was selected “for its qualities of strength, courage, stamina and speed.” A statue of the Great Dane was sculpted in 1999 and placed in the lobby of the University’s main sports complex. In 2003, Damien was joined by Lil’ D to form a one-two costumed mascot punch, with Damien the fierce-looking mascot and Lil’ D the more friend-looking one.

The school competes in the America East conference and the Northeast conference and has 19 sports teams within the athletics department. According to Wikipedia, UAlbany is also the only school whose mascot is the Great Dane.

Dogs Go 2-6

And that’s a wrap. With the Arkansas State Red Wolves’ victory over Kent State in the Godaddy.com Bowl, dog mascots went 2-6 in this year’s bowl season. Let’s hope for better luck in the NCAA Final Four tournaments!

College Football Bowl Games 2012-2013

Wow, it’s been three years since my last post. With all the bowl games going on, there’s no better time to put some life back into this blog. The first school with a canine mascot to play a bowl game was the University of Nevada Wolfpack who played Arizona in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. They looked like they were going to get the win until the Wildcats scored two touchdowns in the final minute.

After them came the Washington Huskies who fared no better in the MAACO Bowl against Boise State. The losing streak continued with the Fresno State Bulldogs dropping the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl to SMU and the NC State Wolfpack losing to Vanderbilt in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl. The Mississippi State Bulldogs were just as inept losing the Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl to Northwestern.

The streak was finally broken when the Georgia Bulldogs defeated Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl, though the dogs were back in the losing column when the Northern Illinois Huskies lost to Florida State in the Discover Orange Bowl.

There’s still hope for a second win as the Arkansas State Red Wolves face Kent State in the Godaddy.com bowl on Sunday. Even if they win though it’ll still be a down year for the dogs.

Bowl Game Results

Schools with dog mascots finished 2-3 in college football bowl games this year. Winners included the University of Georgia, who defeated Texas A&M 44-20, and the Univesity of Connecticut, 20-7 winners of the University of South Carolina. Fresno State, the University of Nevada, and Northen Illinois all came out on the losing end.

Be on the lookout next week for my next profiled school (hint: it’s in New York and I’ve already announced it on Twitter, albeit a few weeks ago).

College Football Bowl Games

Before we get too deep into the college football bowl season, I want to make sure I recognize all the schools with dog mascots that made it this year. Last Saturday, the Fresno State Bulldogs played in the New Mexico Bowl and while they fought hard, they lost to Wyoming after two overtimes. The canines don’t have long to wait, however, as the University of Nevada Wolf Pack is playing in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl tomorrow against Southern Methodist. Then it’s a few days off until the University of Georgia Bulldogs take on Texas A&M in the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl.

The dogs are then off until January 2, when the Northern Illinois Huskies play South Florida in the International Bowl. Later on that day the UConn Huskies round out the canine mascots bowl slate when they play in the Papajohns.com Bowl against South Carolina.

Stay tuned to caninemascots.com for updates on how all the dogs do in their respective bowl games.

Northeastern University Huskies

I caught some flak for profiling the UConn Husky before profiling the Northeastern Husky, since I know a lot more Northeastern students and alumni (including two sisters, one of whom turned down UConn to attend NU). I responded by saying that I had a UConn shirt, but no Northeastern shirt, and the rule of the blog (at least until I run out) is to only profile schools whose shirt I have. Needless to say, it didn’t take long for a friend to give me a Northeastern P.A.W.S. shirt. While it might not have an actual dog on the front, a free shirt is a free shirt and it earned the Northeastern Husky the next spot in my canine mascot blog.

The husky was introduced to Northeastern on March 4, 1927 and was quickly named King Husky. According to the traditions page on the Northeastern website, the arrival of the mascot was so momentous that classes were canceled on that day. King Husky I was the campus mascot for 14 years and had many successors. The last live canine mascot was King Husky VII, who passed away in 1989.

At some point after King Husky VII passed away, Northeastern introduced costumed mascots, Mr. and Mrs. Husky, who represented NU until Paws was unveiled in the fall of 2003. Paws has his own facebook page which links to the athletics page and this Northeastern University athletics video page. Oddly enough, there is no mention of Paws on the athletics page, so don’t go there if you’re looking for more info.

There are a pair of statues in King Husky’s likeness on the NU campus—one in the foyer of the Ell Building, and the other at Parsons Field. Paws himself can be seen on this youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nndsDW6eU8E&feature=youtube_gdata, though I have to warn you, it might not have been one of his more glamorous moments. This video shows Paws training for Northeastern’s Big Dog 5K: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub6LnmU6eHM. I do feel bad for whoever had to run in that costume on what seemed to be a warm day.

Northeastern competes in the Colonial Athletic Association where it is joined by the James Madison University Dukes (Bulldogs) in the collegiate canine mascot category.

Rhett Video Links

I received a pair of links to YouTube videos from a former Rhett who came across this blog. The first link takes you to Rhett’s SportsCenter debut: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wFeEDGUaCw, and the second link is Rhett’s performance at the 2002 National Mascot Championships, in which he placed fourth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcjcFZC-b2I.

If you have any links or photos of your school’s mascot, send them along and they’ll get posted too. You can also send a t-shirt from your school if it has your mascot on it.

R.I.P. Uga VII

Even though I haven’t profiled the University of Georgia yet, I feel compelled to share the somber news that Uga VII passed away yesterday. He took over last summer for Uga VI. Click here to see the AP story posted on Boston.com.

University of Connecticut Huskies

In keeping with theme of profiling schools whose shirt I already have, this week’s mascot is the University of Connecticut Husky. It’s my hypothesis that the husky or the bulldog will turn out to be the most common canine mascot, so I wanted to get one of those profiled early on. According to UConn’s spirit site, the UConn Husky, named Jonathan, gets its name from the Revolutionary War-era governor of Connecticut, Jonathan Trumbull. Students voted for the adoption of the Husky as the school mascot in 1934 and his name was decided in a contest.

The UConn Husky costumed mascot makes appearances at sporting events and has appeared in ESPN commercials. It was introduced in 1964. A photo of the mascot can be found here and here.

Unlike last week’s school, UConn actually has a live Husky that attends its sporting events and can make appearances at events. Jonathan XIII is an almost 3-year-old Siberian Husky and is the latest in a line that goes back to 1935. A history of the Jonathans can be found here. Jonathan XIII is cared for by the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, which has cared for the University’s mascots since the 1970s. An image of Jonathan XIII lying on the football field can be found here. There is also a scupture of Jonathan on the UConn campus.

UConn competes in the Big East conference where it is joined by the Georgetown Hoyas (Bulldogs), and its women’s hockey team competes in the Hockey East conference against the Northeastern Huskies and the BU Terriers.