Butler Blue II: What I've Learned

You ever pick up an Esquire Magazine and read the “What I’ve Learned” piece each month? The section typically focuses on a famous person and basically captures their life lessons, in their own words, on one page, and often with some sort of poignant/introspective photograph.


One of the best “What I’ve Learned” editions of all time belongs to legendary basketball coach and fellow Hoosier, John Wooden. You can read that here: http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/learned-john-wood-0200?src=nl&mag=esq&list=nl_enl_spt_cel_032310_john-wood&kw=ist

“What I’ve Learned” is so popular that Esquire devotes one whole issue a year to feature, in addition to what appears every month. It’s the first thing my dad turns to when his monthly subscription to Esquire Magazine arrives in the mail. He likes people, he likes the spoken work, he likes the printed word; “What I’ve Learned” is right up his alley.

So, for my sixth birthday I thought it was as good of time as any to debut a “What I’ve Learned” of my own. After all, I’m like 42 in dog-years and given that the average lifespan for an English Bulldog is 8-10 years, well, I’m getting up there! It’s time to share, “What I’ve Learned.”

(Birthday information follows below.)

Butler Blue II: What I’ve Learned

Mascot, 6, Indianapolis

The infamous Butler University mascot, now six years-old, on being a dog, The Butler Way, and Blue III.


Cliché, or cheesy, that’s how some people describe “The Butler Way.” That’s fine, but the core of its message you just can’t get sneeze at…especially in today’s society.

The Butler Way...demands commitment, denies selfishness,accepts reality, yet seeks improvement everydaywhile putting the team above self.

You ever hear the saying, “God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason?” Yeah, same here, only I can’t articulate with that mouth. My intuition is second-to-none and ohhhhh, if this dog could talk!

My mind is like a steal trap. I never forget.

When people make over me and really get down on my level for a good scratching, it’s really therapy for them. They’ll say that it’s all about me and giving me the attention I deserve, and there’s some truth to that, but those are the people that truly find my presence therapeutic as well.

I’m not for everyone. I get that. Some people just aren’t “dog people.” And frankly, some people aren’t for me.

“Dog people” are some of the most compassionate people that walk the earth.

Butler has not always had an official live mascot. They’re getting better at it all the time. I’m constantly training them. The question remains, how will they honor me when I’m gone?

The power of sleep can never be underestimated.

George Clinton once said, “…nuthin’ but the dog in me.” He must have been a dog in a previous life. He knows.

The entire Butler family will forever be indebted to the university’s current president, Dr. Bobby Fong. Love him or hate him, the man has vision, and has been a true leader behind the university’s growth and success.

Bobby Fong will leave Butler better than the way he found it. I hope I’m so fortunate.

I was born for this job. Refer to the saying that “not all bulldogs are created equal” for proof.
I’ve embraced the role of mascot and it has embraced me.

A lot of people and businesses have generously offered their care, goods and services for my well-being. If only I could tell them how much it means to me.

From my behavior and conduct, to my blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc., I’ve done my best to self-promote, pull my weight, and shine in my own limelight. However, it’s the acceptance of the Butler community and the success of the university that has truly made me the mascot that I am today.

My breeder mentioned something to my dad about Butler Blue III coming on the scene in a few years and suggested I’d make a good trainer/mentor. I suppose I’ll be up for that when the time comes. It’s my duty.

I will embrace death knowing that I lived as full of life as a dog could live and hoping that my legacy takes on the likes of Paul Bunyon or Chuck Norris.

My parents will be a wreck when it’s time for me to meet my maker.

The English Bulldog might be the most misunderstood breed of all time.

The success of the Butler men's basketball team won't last forever. People need to realize just how rare and exceptional all of this is. I'd like to tell our administration, our alumni, our fans , our faculty, our staff, and even our players to take every advantage of it, but that's putting it too lightly. Just look at the likes of UCLA, Arizona, Indiana and North Carolina these days. We're not even half their size either, thus making our situation all that much more precious. Carpe diem, Butler University. Carpe diem.

All ships rise because of our basketball success, even academic programs. Those that can't get behind it are missing opportunities of their own and shared greatness for the university.

Living is running the football team onto the field. Living is running across the basketball court to grab my bone from the Dawg Pound. Living is destroying a basketball in a matter of seconds. Living is riding in my tail wagon. Living is devouring ice cream. Living is being loved and loving right back.

Just when I think I’m calling the shots, my dad reminds me who is the “alpha dog.”

“Bulldogs ever do or die.” Butler Bulldogs of all ages, races and creeds; take heed!


Well, I hope you liked my take at Esquire’s ever-popular “What I’ve Learned.” Hey, Esquire, if you’re reading, feel free to pick this up and run it in your next issue. Might be timely if the Butler Bulldogs make it to the Final Four!

As for my birthday, well, I turn the big six on Saturday, March 27th, but we’re celebrating on campus this Friday, March 26th! http://www.butler.edu/buconnection/staff/?p=19824

The Butler University Student Foundation (BUSF) is inviting the campus community to Starbucks from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. for “Blue II's Birthday Bash!” There will be free cupcakes and treats, photos with yours truly, fun games and prizes. Be sure to stop by and sign my birthday card or you can color your own special message for me!

All students, faculty and staff are invited to come out and show their Butler spirit in celebration of my sixth birthday!

Other than that, get your game-faces on because tomorrow our beloved Butler Bulldogs fifth-seeded men’s basketball team will take on the number one-seeded Syracuse Orange in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, tomorrow (Thursday, March 25th) at 7:07 p.m.

For more information on the game and viewing parties, visit: http://www.butler.edu/alumni/events/athletics/men

Go Dawgs!


Blue II

Butler University Homecoming 2009: A Dog's Eye View

It’s finally here, it’s homecoming 2009! Much like Christmas day, a birthday, first day of summer vacation, or any other highly anticipated day or event, homecoming week is one of the highlights of my job as mascot. I just love how the campus always comes alive with energy amongst a beautiful fall backdrop. And just as there are great events, activities and offerings, there’s even better reunions, renewed relationships and just people connecting with each other, their alma mater and/or this great university. Homecoming certainly is a special time.

As you could imagine, as mascot, I’m quite busy come homecoming week, although, I’ve spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday doing a lot of resting up by emphasizing a routine of lounging around the office and sleeping in anticipation for the hustle and bustle that is Thursday, Friday and Saturday of homecoming. Butler President, Dr. Bobby Fong only thinks he’s busy this weekend…he should see my social calendar!

On Thursday I have just a couple of appearances including my annual photograph with the Butler University Board of Trustees…nothing like getting a little face time with the “Top Dawgs!” And while they may have the reins to this place, I think they know who really calls the shots…why else would they put me front and center in their picture?

Thursday is a fairly light day, all things considered, but in addition to the trustee photograph, I’ve got an interview about the annual Bulldog Beauty Contest and an appearance at the dedication ceremony and grand opening of the new College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences building on campus.

Before I get started on my homecoming responsibilities on Friday, I’ve got a little personal business to tend to with the annual “Blessing of the Animals” service put on by our neighbor, the Christian Theological Seminary. The ceremony is held in remembrance of St. Francis of Assisi’s love for all creatures and its officially celebrated on Oct. 4th, but CTS holds their service a couple of days early so that it’s during the week. That’s Friday, Oct. 2 at 1 p.m. in the CTS courtyard if you are interested in attending. I rather enjoy the event and frankly, I’ll take a good blessing anytime I can get it!

After that, it’s back to campus and back to work. There’s a women’s soccer match at 4:30 p.m. versus defending Horizon League champions Milwaukee in the Butler Bowl that’s also an opportunity to support a very special cause…Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Come out and support the Butler women's soccer team as it hosts its Breast Cancer Awareness Day.

All fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness and the first 150 students in attendance will be able to attend a halftime tailgate, with each student getting a free hot dog, chips and a drink.

Friday's women’s soccer festivities will begin with a ceremonial pregame coin flip featuring Butler women's basketball coach Beth Couture, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last spring. Couture, who has won 363 games in her career - including 105 at Butler - is set to have her cancer treatments completed in time to lead the Bulldog basketball team this season. The women's soccer team will also be wearing pink warm-ups. Also at halftime, the Bulldogs will honor Joy (Aschenbrener) Sweeney (1995-98), who was inducted into the Butler University Athletic Hall of Fame last spring.

I might just have to trade in my blue jersey for a pink shirt on Friday afternoon. I’m not one for pink, my name is “Blue” after all, but I am one for a good cause so I’ll see what I can do.

Back across campus at 5 p.m. I have an open house to attend in the Fairbanks Building for the School of Journalism and then it’s off campus I go to the home of our resident IndyCar driver and 2003 Butler grad, Ed Carpenter, as I’ve been contracted to do an appearance for his daughter’s birthday party. I don’t normally do that sort of thing, but it’s a special friend and a special request, so I make exceptions.

After the birthday party, I’m headed home to host my grandparents who are coming into town and staying at my place. I’ll also use that time at home to rest up and get ready for a big Saturday on campus. Meanwhile, I’ll send my dad back to Butler in my stead to attend the President’s Dinner…formal dinners aren’t really my thing…that whole begging for food at the side of the table is considered faux pas, I guess.

On Saturday I can be found all over campus, whether riding in a Corvette for the parade, running the undefeated football team on to the field for their match against San Diego, showing my face at the young alumni Barktoberfest event, cruising the Butler Bowl parking lot for some handouts/table scraps at the tailgates or attending the volleyball game in the evening at Hinkle Fieldhouse. It’s sure to be a busy, but fun day.

And while all of that is well and good, perhaps there’s one event that I’m most looking forward to…an event that makes Butler’s homecoming different than any other homecoming. That event of course would be the annual Bulldog Beauty Contest!


You saw my post last month about the contest and it appears that my predictions were true as once again this year we are set to have our best competition to date! We have 74 dogs pre-registered for the event as of 9 a.m. on Oct. 1st and that’s a new record. Last year we had a total of 75 dogs show up, including walk-ups, so we are certain to exceed that come this Saturday, Oct. 3rd at 10 a.m. !

Keep in mind this event is free and open to the public, so whether you have a bulldog to compete with or not, you definitely want to attend…and bring a camera! Who knew a bulldog beauty contest would be such the spectator sport?! We’ll have increased seating this year (five sets of bleachers) for your viewing pleasure as well.

Held on the main mall, just south of Norris Plaza, these 74+ dogs (mostly bulldogs) will parade on a stage and catwalk and compete for the honor of being named the top dog in one of the following categories.

-Cutest Bulldog
-Meanest-Looking Bulldog
-Best Dressed Bulldog
-Best Dog Trick*
-Most Butler Spirit*
-Best Wannabe Bulldog*
-Oldest Bulldog
-Youngest Bulldog

-Best in Show*

Categories ending with an asterisk are the only categories open for non-bulldogs.

Keep in mind the “Best in Show” this year walks away with the grand prize of one year’s supply of dog food provided by Eagle Pack Holistic Select Pet Food, WellPet, and City Dogs Grocery! That’s a more than $600 value! Other category winners will take home prizes from City Dogs Grocery and all participants will receive a pack of Holistic Select Treats from Eagle Pack, WellPet and City Dogs Grocery. (a full list of sponsors is listed on the image below)

Oh, and we’ve increased our panel of judges this year from five to seven to include a couple of celebrities and our good friends at Indianapolis’ ABC affiliate WRTV-6…morning weatherman and traffic reporter, Paul Poteet and Tom Davis.

Why Paul and Tom? Well, we thought they might be able to help us on the weather and traffic Saturday morning, but even more than that, we know these guys like to have a good time. Just visit http://www.paulpoteet.com/ and their “Off the Cuff” videos for proof.

I hope to see you on Saturday morning for our Bulldog Beauty Contest…trust me, you don’t want to miss this event! If you can’t make it, then hop online as I’m going to try and do a live twitter-cast of the event either at www.twitter.com/butlerblue2 and/or www.twitter.com/butleru.

So that’s what my Homecoming weekend looks like, but of course, that’s just a highlight of events during Butler’s homecoming weekend…at least the ones that I’m involved with anyway. So for a complete listing, visit www.butler.edu/homecoming and take a look at the complete schedule of activities this weekend.

And if you can’t make it back, I’ll be tweeting my homecoming adventures at www.twitter.com/ButlerBlue2, so feel free to log on often for status reports and pictures!

Here’s to a great homecoming weekend, filled with victories, reunions, good times and great weather!

Go Dawgs!

Blue II

I Made the Cover of Sports Illustrated!

I wouldn’t say my life as a mascot is complete just yet, but a major notch in the wood has been made with the news that yours truly graces the cover of the Sports Illustrated (SI) NCAA March Madness issue.

You may remember each year that SI does a collage of photos for their March Madness issue, well this year, I was included in the collage. Albeit, a half-inch by inch spot, but I am quite visible in the top right hand corner of the cover wearing my Dawg Pound shirt and carrying my bone.

I can only speak for the canine eye, but I’m told that the upper right hand corner of any printed page is always where the human eye goes first in reading in English, and is considered “prime real estate.” I’ll take it!

You’ll see me and fellow Bulldog, A.J. Graves on the cover, but A.J. also has a two page spread inside the issue as well. He’s doing cartwheels at center court. That’s not a joke. Also on page 67, blog reader and senior Drew Streicher is shown for making SI's All-Tournament Brainiac Team.

As elated as I am with my cover shot, I am almost as equally deflated with it. Let me explain. So last night, my pops and I hop on the internet to check out a bit further. We go here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/ncaa/specials/ncaa_tourney/2008/cover_challenge/

And what do you know, they have ME, Butler Blue II, the Butler University Mascot, listed as “Drake Bulldog – Drake Bulldogs Mascot.” Are you kidding me? I get my shot at big time national exposure and SI mistakes me for “Spike,” the Drake Bulldog!

C’mon SI, it’s sports…that’s what you do! You can’t be getting mascots incorrect, and on the cover no less! That would be like listing Indiana’s D.J. White as “Purdue Pete,” or labeling UNC’s Tyler Hansborough as “Mike Kryzewski.” People would have you taken behind the wood shed for that sort of thing.

I’m just hoping they didn’t list me that way in the actual print edition because that would be a dog-gone shame. Pun intended.

(And yes, the University Relations staff at Butler is informing SI of their mistake.)

I am willing to forgive them for the whole thing and put it behind me if they are willing to write up a nice multi-page profile about me in a future issue and they consider giving me another cover shot, much like UGA’s a while back. (And to anyone with Nike connections, yes, I would like a custom Butler Nike jersey like UGA's Georgia version.)



Yesterday I got to go to the “send-off” pep rally for the Butler men’s basketball team over at Hinkle Fieldhouse. We sang “The Butler War Song,” did cheers with the cheerleaders, and just let the team know how proud we are of them before they headed to Birmingham, Alabama to take on South Alabama in the NCAA Tournament.

One thing of note from the rally, Butler President, Dr. Bobby Fong, gave A.J. Graves a hug when he went through and shook hands with each of the players. I’ve got no problem with that, unless A.J. goes for only two points in our game on Friday. If that happens, I bet nobody gives Dr. Fong the same harassment I received when A.J. touched me on “Senior Day,” then went for a career low. I’m just saying, fair is fair here, people.

You can see a photographic documentation of the rally on IndyStar.com with photos taken by one of my favorite photographers, Kelly Wilkinson. Go to the multimedia section or here: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=MULTIMEDIA

You’ll notice there’s a couple photos in the collection of dad and I. Since the NCAA won’t allow live mascots at tournament sites, I’ve been pretty bummed about not getting to go to the game. So dad tried to be funny and throw me into the cargo bay of the bus and sneak me down to Birmingham. His accomplice is Carl Heck. Both are now on my "list."

While you are also in the multimedia section, you can see the debut of my profile video that Kelly shot as well! You may remember me posting about that a while back. Well, it’s finally finished and ready for viewing. Look for the video titled “Butler’s mascot” and check it out here: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=videonetwork

Unfortunately, it’s only about three minutes long. Kelly actually shot enough footage to probably put together an hour long piece, but oh well; I’ll take what I can get. Great job, Kelly! I love it and thank you!

Today, I’ll be shooting another documentary at the office. It’s true, a group of students from a media arts class had to pick something to do a documentary on as a part of a class project. They chose me and shooting starts today. It should be fun.

I think that’s about it for now. Oh, I almost forgot, I have a couple of announcements before I sign off. First, don’t forget to vote for me again in the Bissell MVP challenge. I’m still trying to get on this vacuum box and I’m running out of chances so help me out!

Hopefully Bissell wouldn’t list me as the Drake Bulldog on their vacuum box. I can’t let it go. Anyway, click here to vote for me: https://bumail.butler.edu/owa/redir.aspx?URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.bissell.com%2fredirect.asp%3fpage_id%3d47161%26Pet%3d1449

Second, I have a birthday party coming up! I turn four on Thursday March 27th, and the nice students in the Butler University Student Foundation (BUSF) are throwing a party for me during lunch time over at Atherton Union. They will be playing “pin the tail on the bulldog,” figuratively, not literally, as well as a “guess the weight of Blue II” contest and other fun stuff. I’ll let you know how that all goes.

Finally, don’t forget to clear your afternoon schedule tomorrow for the Butler NCAA Tournament game at 2:45 p.m. (EST). There are plenty of Butler viewing parties around the country which can be found here: http://www.butler.edu/alumni/?pg=4781

Besides being the first day of spring, it’s also the “most wonderful time of the year,” as today is the official beginning of “March Madness.” Make sure the volume on your computer is up loud so all your co-workers can hear it. It's time....

http://www.ilovewavs.com/TV/Sports/TV%20Theme%20-%20CBS,%20NCAA%20Basketball.wav

Blue II