True life: I'm a mascot

Way back in June, I wrote about attending the Strawberry Daze parade in Glenwood Springs. As my alter-ego, Rowdy the Roadrunner. In that same post, I wrote about being grateful to have a place to talk about my mascot stories. Well, here I am again. So pull up a chair, get a beverage and read on while I entertain you with a couple of my favorite mascot tidbits.

1) I can remember my first mascot basketball game. It was March 2002 at the RMAC Basketball Championship. I had only been the mascot for about three weeks and was about to learn a very important lesson: When you are in character and something comes off (i.e. your head, shoe, glove, usw.), cover up quick. For Rowdy's character, the manufacturer made the costume so that you can wear your own shoes underneath Rowdy's shoes (basically, the big shoes cover your tennis shoes). I had forgotten to tighten the straps that kept Rowdy's shoes on, so I wasn't extremely surprised when I was running with the ball and Rowdy's shoe came off. In fact, I thought it was hilarious and I preceded to laugh. I laughed so hard, I had to lay on the ground.

2) This didn't happen to me but to a fellow mascot: Cam the Ram was running late to an event and was speeding along the highway when she was pulled over by the police. Not only was she able to get out of the ticket, but she was able to speed the entire way to the event. I guess the police officer was a CSU fan.

3) Regis does not have a mascot (one more reason why Metro is cooler, in my opinion). Every time I go to an event, the same mascots are in attendance: CU, CSU, Metro, UNC, School of Mines. All of the fans want to see CU and CSU duke it out; what about the rest of us? School of Mines, Marvin the Miner and I have decided that since we are in the same conference, we would act like rivals. When Marvin isn't around, my rival is Klawz the Bear from UNC. It works out pretty well and gives us something to do when Cam and Chip are fighting.

4) I remember in my first year that I tried to choreograph a half-time skit, using a couple of cheerleaders and Metro's #1 fan, Elaine. What started of as a great idea soon turned into something else. We were in the middle of this dance-off (Rowdy was pulling out all of his moves) when a young fan ran onto the court. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but Rowdy loves his fans, no matter when or where they seem to pop up. So, of course I bent down to embrace this little girl in a huge hug and was held down by her grip until the music ran out.


Really entertaining, right? But that's the life of a mascot. Always on your feet, always making the crowd go crazy with laughter.

More to come in the future.