While Homecoming was a big weekend for me, that certainly hasn’t been the only thing filling up my work schedule (that’s code for “this is going to be a long post”). In fact, it all started a week before Homecoming when I was invited to pay a visit to Clinton Young Elementary School on the south side of Indianapolis.
You see, Clinton Young Elementary has these little learning communities where classes at various grade levels get together and learn about going to college and all of that good stuff. Well, it just so happened that one of their learning communities picked the bulldog to be their mascot, and it just so happens that I work for a university and I happen to be a bulldog. So, I’m pretty sure that’s why they invited me to be a part of their kickoff convocation.
We all gathered in the gymnasium where the kids got me barking when they sang “Who let the dogs out?” Then I did my routine of tricks, posed for pictures and let my dad do a little talking about me to the students. Good times.
Fast forward past Homecoming and into the week following Homecoming and I got things going right away with an appearance downtown at the Indianapolis Marriott on Monday. The Office of Admission invited me down there to take part in the annual IACAC Conference. The IACAC is basically a nerd-speak way of just referring to the Indiana delegation of admission counselors and professionals. Sweet.
Anyway, they had a little competition with other state institutions to see who displayed the most spirit at their respective admission booths. So it was set up like a giant college fair, only there were no aspiring college students, just a bunch of has-beens with name badges and school gear. I have no idea how Butler faired, but I think we should have won. Sure, other schools had guy-in-suit mascots on hand like the rat, er greyhound from UINDY (sorry Mom) and the grizzly from Franklin, but nobody had the live mascot thing going.
On Tuesday it was a visit to my favorite professor’s class. That’s right, Dr. Vibbert invited me to call on one of his PR classes. He lists me on the class agenda as the “guest speaker.” That just means I get to go run around the classroom for a few minutes, enjoy some loving from the students and of course, perform my tricks.
You may remember that Dr. Vibbert was the one included me in his commencement speech this last May. That alone earns you honors as being one of Blue II’s favorite professors.
Wednesday it was time for the annual men’s and women’s basketball tip-off luncheon in Hinkle Fieldhouse. A capacity lunch time crowd filled the main floor in Hinkle to hear Coach Couture and Coach Stevens speak about their impending seasons. I had the honor of welcoming those folks to the event and then my dad stashed me in one of the admin offices while he enjoyed lunch…hardly fair, but I that whole reasoning and speech thing puts me behind in these arguments all the time, so I just have to deal with the consequences.
Although, he awoke me afterwards to another adventure that involved heading back downtown for an appearance at the new Lucas Oil Stadium, so I forgave him for leaving me out of lunch pretty quickly. Funny, I remember not being allowed in that place for a grand opening ceremony because of some policy about dogs. Just a month or two later and I guess the sheen and prestige has worn off enough for dogs to enter. Whatever, I wasn’t going to complain.
It was the gracious NCAA who happened to make arrangements for me to be there as they were unveiling the new logo for the 2010 men’s basketball final four which will be hosted at Lucas Oil. Butler is the host NCAA institution for that event, thus my/our involvement.
I had a good time greeting guests and media there and posing for pictures with the Butler cheerleaders and dignitaries. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get down on the field to “mark my territory,” but I still had fun.
At this point, we were only half way through the week and I was exhausted. I think my dad could tell as I was asleep in the car before we even left downtown proper. So he drove me straight home where I basically slept, or was in some state of sleepiness from 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday until about 7 p.m. on Thursday. And after some dinner, back yard business and some play time, I was back to sleep for the night on Thursday as well.
And for good reason too as I had a big weekend ahead of me including the made out to be scary, but actually ridiculous holiday known as Halloween. But before my parents subjected me to the costumes, parading and pictures, I had real work to do, and early in the morning too!
After being carried from the bed to the car on Friday morning, I awoke in the parking lot of the Glendale Mall at 6:15 a.m. where the Smiley Morning Show was set up and doing a remote broadcast for their annual pumpkin drop. However, my role there had nothing to do with Halloween, pumpkin destruction, or anything like that. Instead, I was there to promo Smiley’s presence at the Butler Bowl on Saturday as a part of his college tailgate tour.
Again, I let me dad do the talking, but I really enjoyed running around the parking lot, checking out the big crane that was to drop the pumpkins, barking on-air, and stealing the show.
After that I headed to campus where Brad Ward from the Office of Admission picked me up and took me over to Atherton Union to visit with all of the prospective students and families in for the big open-house. Someone told me that there were 900 visitors on campus for the open-house, but I don’t really know for sure.
One thing I do know is, I got my picture taken with a lot of folks and Brad promised all of these people that their smiling mugs would appear on my blog, so here they are…
After work we headed over to Schwitzer Hall where the residents were hosting trick-or-treaters for the evening. My parents dressed me up in my lobster suit and took me over to greet the youngsters and families that came. I also ran into my pals Addison and Wrigley (Bulldog Beauty Contest winners) who were also dressed up as a bumble bee and a piglet (respectively). It’s all pictured below…
On Saturday it was back to campus for another round with Dave Smiley of WZPL-FM, 99.5, who had his camper trailer all set up and ready for the Butler stop on the Smiley Morning Show College Tailgate Tour.
Smiley always knows how to get me fired up and while hanging out with he and his producer “Weedman,” I located one of Smiley’s footballs in his camper and made myself at home. And by “made myself at home” I mean that I destroyed his football. Just check out the video…
Following the family photos I went home and napped to prepare for the first men’s basketball contest of the 2008-09 season: an exhibition matchup with Marian College. I had been looking forward to getting back in Hinkle Fieldhouse for a basketball game since our final game there last season. I was so thrilled to be back. Of course, I did my pre-game routine with the starting five players and the Dawg Pound and even though we started three freshman, they are all quick learners as all five starters gave me a little good luck tap when announced. You can check out the video here…
You see, Clinton Young Elementary has these little learning communities where classes at various grade levels get together and learn about going to college and all of that good stuff. Well, it just so happened that one of their learning communities picked the bulldog to be their mascot, and it just so happens that I work for a university and I happen to be a bulldog. So, I’m pretty sure that’s why they invited me to be a part of their kickoff convocation. We all gathered in the gymnasium where the kids got me barking when they sang “Who let the dogs out?” Then I did my routine of tricks, posed for pictures and let my dad do a little talking about me to the students. Good times. Fast forward past Homecoming and into the week following Homecoming and I got things going right away with an appearance downtown at the Indianapolis Marriott on Monday. The Office of Admission invited me down there to take part in the annual IACAC Conference. The IACAC is basically a nerd-speak way of just referring to the Indiana delegation of admission counselors and professionals. Sweet.Anyway, they had a little competition with other state institutions to see who displayed the most spirit at their respective admission booths. So it was set up like a giant college fair, only there were no aspiring college students, just a bunch of has-beens with name badges and school gear. I have no idea how Butler faired, but I think we should have won. Sure, other schools had guy-in-suit mascots on hand like the rat, er greyhound from UINDY (sorry Mom) and the grizzly from Franklin, but nobody had the live mascot thing going.
On Tuesday it was a visit to my favorite professor’s class. That’s right, Dr. Vibbert invited me to call on one of his PR classes. He lists me on the class agenda as the “guest speaker.” That just means I get to go run around the classroom for a few minutes, enjoy some loving from the students and of course, perform my tricks.
You may remember that Dr. Vibbert was the one included me in his commencement speech this last May. That alone earns you honors as being one of Blue II’s favorite professors.
Wednesday it was time for the annual men’s and women’s basketball tip-off luncheon in Hinkle Fieldhouse. A capacity lunch time crowd filled the main floor in Hinkle to hear Coach Couture and Coach Stevens speak about their impending seasons. I had the honor of welcoming those folks to the event and then my dad stashed me in one of the admin offices while he enjoyed lunch…hardly fair, but I that whole reasoning and speech thing puts me behind in these arguments all the time, so I just have to deal with the consequences.
Although, he awoke me afterwards to another adventure that involved heading back downtown for an appearance at the new Lucas Oil Stadium, so I forgave him for leaving me out of lunch pretty quickly. Funny, I remember not being allowed in that place for a grand opening ceremony because of some policy about dogs. Just a month or two later and I guess the sheen and prestige has worn off enough for dogs to enter. Whatever, I wasn’t going to complain. It was the gracious NCAA who happened to make arrangements for me to be there as they were unveiling the new logo for the 2010 men’s basketball final four which will be hosted at Lucas Oil. Butler is the host NCAA institution for that event, thus my/our involvement. I had a good time greeting guests and media there and posing for pictures with the Butler cheerleaders and dignitaries. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get down on the field to “mark my territory,” but I still had fun. At this point, we were only half way through the week and I was exhausted. I think my dad could tell as I was asleep in the car before we even left downtown proper. So he drove me straight home where I basically slept, or was in some state of sleepiness from 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday until about 7 p.m. on Thursday. And after some dinner, back yard business and some play time, I was back to sleep for the night on Thursday as well.And for good reason too as I had a big weekend ahead of me including the made out to be scary, but actually ridiculous holiday known as Halloween. But before my parents subjected me to the costumes, parading and pictures, I had real work to do, and early in the morning too!
After being carried from the bed to the car on Friday morning, I awoke in the parking lot of the Glendale Mall at 6:15 a.m. where the Smiley Morning Show was set up and doing a remote broadcast for their annual pumpkin drop. However, my role there had nothing to do with Halloween, pumpkin destruction, or anything like that. Instead, I was there to promo Smiley’s presence at the Butler Bowl on Saturday as a part of his college tailgate tour.
Again, I let me dad do the talking, but I really enjoyed running around the parking lot, checking out the big crane that was to drop the pumpkins, barking on-air, and stealing the show. After that I headed to campus where Brad Ward from the Office of Admission picked me up and took me over to Atherton Union to visit with all of the prospective students and families in for the big open-house. Someone told me that there were 900 visitors on campus for the open-house, but I don’t really know for sure.One thing I do know is, I got my picture taken with a lot of folks and Brad promised all of these people that their smiling mugs would appear on my blog, so here they are…
After work we headed over to Schwitzer Hall where the residents were hosting trick-or-treaters for the evening. My parents dressed me up in my lobster suit and took me over to greet the youngsters and families that came. I also ran into my pals Addison and Wrigley (Bulldog Beauty Contest winners) who were also dressed up as a bumble bee and a piglet (respectively). It’s all pictured below…
On Saturday it was back to campus for another round with Dave Smiley of WZPL-FM, 99.5, who had his camper trailer all set up and ready for the Butler stop on the Smiley Morning Show College Tailgate Tour.Smiley always knows how to get me fired up and while hanging out with he and his producer “Weedman,” I located one of Smiley’s footballs in his camper and made myself at home. And by “made myself at home” I mean that I destroyed his football. Just check out the video…
Following the family photos I went home and napped to prepare for the first men’s basketball contest of the 2008-09 season: an exhibition matchup with Marian College. I had been looking forward to getting back in Hinkle Fieldhouse for a basketball game since our final game there last season. I was so thrilled to be back. Of course, I did my pre-game routine with the starting five players and the Dawg Pound and even though we started three freshman, they are all quick learners as all five starters gave me a little good luck tap when announced. You can check out the video here…At halftime of the game, I then headed next door to the HRC to visit some youngsters who were in the pool and enjoying a Riley Teen Retreat. They got me a little wet, but I didn't mind. I was hot by that point so it felt pretty good actually. I really wanted to join them in the water, but I'm not exactly a good swimmer so I had to refrain.
On Sunday, I tried to relax, but I did my fair share of running around too as I helped my parents rake leaves in the yard and later went to a Colts viewing party. And that was my week. Whew. It was even tiring just to watch my dad type all of that! Hopefully you haven’t been working as hard as I have. If so, take a break. If not, don’t change.
Blue II
Blue II
Anyway, the contest was great. As I mentioned last week, we had more than 70 dogs pre-register, which was a new record and while we had some no-shows the day of the event, we also had some late additions so it evened out nicely.
Youngest: Addison at just over 3 months and Owned by Sam Ford 
I enjoyed the parade as a lot of people would yell my name as I hung out of the car. I was on display for all to see and I didn’t have to walk! Perfect. That’s a mascot’s dream!
Besides a couple of appearances on Friday morning, thankfully I still get to rest up before it all goes down on Saturday.
