Bring Me Home for 2010, But Without All of the Mess!

The Butler Blue II Calendar is back by popular demand and you can pick up your copy of the 2010 version today, in the Butler University bookstore and for the bargain basement price of just $5!

This fine piece also makes for a great stocking stuffer or gift for friends and family of all ages this holiday season.


It's been since my first year on the job that we've done a Blue II calendar, which we shot in 2004 and released for 2005. We finally created yet another because of the relentless requests from my admireres to do another. So the 2010 Blue II Calendar is for all of you who insisted that I do another 12-month spread. Now do me a favor and put your money where your mouth is...it's for a good cause after all!

Of course, I've got to thank my sponsors and friends for making this calendar possible, but a special thanks goes to Butler University photographer Brent Smith for taking all of those great pictures. I need to thank Claire Corbin of Claire Corbin Photography for letting us use my picture with jolly ol' St. Nick and a picture of me in a a festive hat as displayed in the December spread.

My sincere appreciation goes to Butler University designer Jackie Bilskie who designed this calendar and put together each spread. She did a great job in a short amount of time and I think you'll enjoy her work.

There was a great team effort, charicteristic of us Butler folk, to make this calendar and make it available for sale in the university bookstore. My thanks to all involved and I certainly hope you enjoy it all year long.

Outside of the making and release of this calendar, I've been enjoying some much deserved time off, if I do say so myself. My parents took off for California last week to support the men's basketball team in action at Anaheim, California's 76 Classic. So while they've been soaking up the sun and warmth of southern California, I've been residing in Wabash, Ind. with my grandparents and enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday, extra sleep and some good old fashioned rest and relaxation.

It's probably a good thing that I've taken some time away because this first weekend in December provides another triple-header on campus. On Dec. 5th, our Pioneer Football League champion Bulldogs will host the Gridiron Classic in the Butler Bowl at noon. Then at 2 p.m. our women's basketball team hosts Miami of Ohio in Hinkle Fieldhouse at 2 p.m., followed by the men's team's game at 7 p.m. versus Valparaiso.

I'm certainly going to need all of this rest in order to be able to get through that long day! I hope you'll join me on campus for those three great games...it will be the perfect opportunity for you to pick up a copy or two of my 2010 calendar as well!

Go Dawgs!

Blue II

Already a December to Remember

Thanksgiving 2008 is in the books and we are now officially amidst the Holiday Season. That automatically means things get busy as I’m sure you’ve probably already noticed. For me anyway, there’s been no Thanksgiving hangover. It’s been nothing, but Holiday hustle and bustle for me. But what’s new? I’m always busy, so I’ll just get to the good stuff.

Flash back to Saturday and it was the Butler versus Evansville men’s basketball game at Hinkle Fieldhouse where the Bulldogs looked strong in a convincing victory over the Purple Aces. This game was memorable for me for a couple of reasons.

Here’s the first item: Shelly Rabideau, who works in Butler’s purchasing services department by day and assists with the game day will call on the side, is famous for baking and bringing homemade chocolate chip cookies. For this game she put forth a little extra effort and made me some special peanut butter cookies with dog-safe ingredients in a recipe she got from Three Dog Bakery. I loved them! She even made enough for me to take some home so I’ve been enjoying them every night this week. Thanks Shelly!

The other reason that the Butler/Evansville game is memorable is because the State of Indiana Governor, Mitch Daniels was in the crowd and I was able to get my picture with him Thanks for the pic, Mitch!

Oh yeah, America’s Best Frisbee dogs also performed at halftime of the Butler/Evansville game and while I did enjoy the performance, those dogs only have one trick...catching Frisbees…so I’m not even going to waste my time on them.

After the game, my folks and I headed up to Wabash, Ind. for a second Thanksgiving dinner with my mom’s side of the family. Besides scoring a little more good Thanksgiving grub, I was able to experience the season’s first significant snowfall on Sunday morning. Between 2-4 inches fell in Wabash County on Sunday morning so I went out and enjoyed that just a little bit. I’m alright with the snow, it’s fun to play in, but as you’ll see in the video, when I just want to go out and do my “business” the snow is less than ideal.



Speaking of videos, it’s been drawn to my attention by my esteemed colleague, Brad Ward, that I’ve uploaded 102 videos on YouTube (currently only 97 show up on BlueTube, but five others were added in the favorites from a different account). From those 102 videos that have been uploaded over the last nine months I’ve had 30,348 total views; or about 110 video views a day! Not bad for a Bulldog!

So what does all of that mean? Nothing. However, I’ll do my best to have my dad record anything and everything and throw it up on my YouTube page because clearly some of you out there are enjoying watching that stuff. Fine by me, that’s why I do what I do.

In addition to video, I also do photo shoots, as you may remember from the video and pictures from my post last week. I finally have some of the official pictures from that and they are posted below. Feast your eyes on that!

(Photos by Brent Smith)

Pretty good stuff, huh? How many dogs do you know that could do that? I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t easy…took some serious restraint to not tear open those nicely wrapped boxes and completely devour that cake, but I finally got to enjoy the cake so it was worth the wait and temptation. Not to mention, thanks to my discipline the pictures turned out pretty sweet looking too!

Today I had the privilege of visiting Stone Gate Elementary School in Zionsville, Ind. to read a book to my cousin Lauren’s kindergarten class. Lauren happens to be the student of the week this week and as a result, it was her chance to invite a special guest to come to her class and read a book of her choosing. Naturally, she picked me to join my dad and her mom and the book was If You Gave a Cat a Cupcake. Lauren’s mom did the reading and I did the tricks. We also handed out my READ! bookmarks to the class. Good times! Thanks for inviting me, Lauren!

Speaking of reading, not only can our Butler Bulldogs play a mean brand of basketball, but they read a good book every now and again as well. This week you can dial up starting freshman forward, Gordon Hayward (pictured) and hear him read “Roly Poly Puppies” on the Indianapolis Public Library line at 317-275-4444. It only takes a couple of minutes and its fun to do, so dial it up and have a listen.

As I mentioned to open the blog, we are currently amidst the Holiday Season and that means, gifts, presents, prizes, treats and much more. I love it! The fun has already begun as Linda Cooley, the secretary for the Political Science Dept. has already brought me an early gift…a tin full of little Three Dog Bakery peanut butter snacks. They are delicious! Thanks Linda!

I think I also have a “Secret Santa” as I mysteriously had one of my favorite Build-A-Bear teddy bears show up in my office. Thanks to whomever left that for me. I’ve already claimed it as my own and I’m enjoying it very much! I hope this is just a prelude of much more Holiday cheer to come my way! I must have been a good boy this year and made it on Santa’s “nice list.”

I got a couple of other great items this week thanks to Butler grad and owner of Your Image Works, Mary Shaw, who was able to find some shirts that actually fit me. With such a barreled chest and skinny hips, it’s hard to find clothes that fit, but thankfully, Mary came to my rescue. I now have a custom Dawg Pound shirt to wear to the games and a special Butler recycle shirt for Butler’s Eco Dawgs program. I’ll have more to report later about the Eco Dawgs thing…this shirt is just the beginning, but I can tell you that “Butler Blue is going ‘Green!’” Here are some pics of my new threads…

Tonight I’m headed back to campus and over to Hinkle Fieldhouse for team pictures with the Cheerleading squad and I also got a couple of photos taken with the new mascot costume. You may remember their picture from last year contained a bulldog that was not the author of this blog. That’s all I’m going to say about it, but if you search the blog you can find my opinions on the matter. I’m excited that they invited me back and I’m happy to get my pics with the squad and the new mascot. Here's a few shots from tonight...

And don’t forget, that new mascot costume still needs a name and we’re asking you to help us select that new name. The Name That Dawg! mascot naming contest runs through Dec. 7, so don’t delay…log on to http://www.butlersports.com/ and place your vote today!

Talk of the new mascot costumes has reminded me of a story my dad showed me on FoxSports.com the other day about “Mascots Gone Bad.” You can read all about it here: http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/pgStory?contentId=8824820&MSNHPHCP&GT1=39002#sport=COLLEGE%20FOOTBALL&photo=8824504

Let’s hope that myself nor my esteemed costumed colleague don’t make this list any time soon!

Finally, I want to invite all of you dog and cat owners to the Furry Friends Holiday Open House this Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008 from 1-4 p.m. at the southwest corner of 49th Street and College Ave. One of my partners and sponsors, City Dogs Grocery, is located there along with building dwellers Claire Corbin Photography and The Paw Patch Veterinarian Hospitals. They’ve all teamed up to offer pet photos with Santa, treats, raffle goodie bags and discounts on their products. I’ll be there to support City Dogs Grocery and you should come on out as well!

Don't forget to tune in to ESPNU at 8 p.m. ET tomorrow evening to watch the men's basketball team take on Cleveland State who was picked first in the pre-season Horizon League poll!

Go Dawgs!

Blue II

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