One Thankful (and hungry) Bulldog

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a great day filled with good food and great company. And what a great day it is as us Butler Bulldog fans have a lot to be thankful for after an impressive win over the Northwestern Wildcats last evening. It was an old fashioned dog and cat fight, pun intended, and it lived up to its billing with the Dawgs prevailing. There were dunks, blocks, three-point bombs, captivating plays and even a proposal for marriage. Yes, you read that correctly. During one of the timeout promotions, Ethan Ax proposed to Robin Wilson on the court. Much to the crowd’s enjoyment and approval, she said yes. Later the couple got their picture taken with me…consider it an early wedding gift.

Anyway, back to this Thanksgiving thing. Granted, I should probably be the most thankful dog alive, but I’ve got my gripes. The main one being that this holiday is pretty much positioned around the dinner table and that’s a place I’m not very welcome. Hey, I want turkey, dressing, corn pudding, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, noodles, deviled eggs, and rolls as much as the next dog! I had to settle for a little turkey and my standard kibble, which isn’t bad, but I was hoping for all the fixin’s.

Ah well, like I said, I’ve got a lot to be thankful for…I’m the mascot for a great university, I have adoring fans, my own blog, an abundance of toys and a great family. What else could a bulldog want? I’m sure I could think of some things, but that’s not the point. The point is, I’m a thankful bulldog and I hope that you are too. Moving on…

When I checked in late last week, I was getting ready to go to the women’s basketball regular season home opener on Friday night where my dad was part of the halftime entertainment, and by “halftime entertainment,” I mean that he played a little exhibition basketball game between the Butler faculty and staff and whatever students that did not head home for Thanksgiving break.

The game lasted eight minutes, on a running clock and both team rosters featured males and females. The faculty and staff dispatched the students 15-7 in a rather humorous affair. Much to my surprise, my dad led all scorers with 9 points, going 3 for 4 from behind the arc. Who knew my dad could ball?! But let’s not give him too much credit, after all, he did heed my advice and gave me a good luck pat before the game. I’m sure that had everything to do with it. Here's a picture of him getting ready to receive an inbounds pass and make his third straight three pointer from the corner.

Unfortunately, the Butler women did not fair as well against the Dayton Flyers that night. Maybe they could have got my dad an extra jersey and a wig and he could have checked in. Probably would have never worked, but it would have been fun to try. (Special thanks to my mom for taking me out on the court for starting lineups of that game.)

At the IU-South Bend/Butler men’s basketball game last Saturday, I finally had a chance to get up close and personal with the new costumed version of the bulldog mascot. I actually dropped my bone before him in a peace offering. True story. If you know anything about me and that bone, then you know I don’t give it up easily, so the fact that I simply dropped it at the costume bulldog’s feet should tell you something.

After two games in two days, I used Sunday as a day of rest while my parents raked leaves and played in the yard. That is until the evening when we gathered with friends for the Colts game. That affair and all of the excitement that went with it got me all wound up and kept me awake until mid-night. So, needless to say, after a weekend like that, I spent the majority of my Monday with my eyelids closed. It wasn’t until Tuesday until I fully rejoined society, so to speak.
It’s probably a good thing that I spent something like 19-20 of 24 hours on Monday resting, because Tuesday was demanding of my attention, focus and talents. You didn’t know I had attention, focus and talents (besides the ability to hold down a blog), but I do.

On Tuesday morning I had a photo shoot with university photographer, Brent Smith where we knocked out about three different shots…a globe-trotting pose, a holiday pose and a birthday pose…all coming soon to Butler propaganda near you!

That was fun because the birthday shoot involved an actual cake, of which I eventually got to feast upon. Mmm, mmm, mmm, creamy peanut butter deliciousness! It was worth being positioned in all sorts of ways, told to “stay” and “look here” countless times and wear silly hats. As soon as I was granted permission to allow my huge, pink tongue to smother that cake, I forgot all of the pain and suffering I endured during that shoot. Pure bliss.

I don’t have the actual photos from the proof yet, so bootleg YouTube videos and regular snap photos will have to suffice for now. Once I get the real shots, I’ll be sure to put them up on the blog.

After that, it was time for more rest and relaxation until my friends Xander and Xena came to visit me. Xander and Xena are English Bulldog pups from the same litter and are now five months old. You may remember them from the Bulldog Beauty Contest. They are owned by Stefanie Carel and her sister.

I had a good time with them, but after about 10 minutes, they completely wore me out! Bascially, I just stood around and dared them to try and take the toy out of my mouth, which you wouldn’t think would be hard work, but I seem to make a chore out of it. After that, I was pretty much wiped out again. I can’t keep up with these young pups anymore! A video is included below, and for more, visit BlueTube at www.youtube.com/butlerblue2

Speaking of the young pups, my half-baby-brother, Winston, stopped by to see me yesterday. It was good to see him again and even though we are family, we don’t necessarily play nice. I’m sure many can relate to that. We both think we should be the alpha-male in the relationship. That usually ends up in lots of barking, growling and charging. No hard feelings though. Here’s a little video from the encounter…

And with that, have a great Black Friday. May you find plenty of great sales and deals and may your shopping list be completed. And don’t forget to add your pets to that Christmas list!

Blue II