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