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Indy Star looking to put Hoosiers through mascot hell.

by sea.of.white on May 20, 2011 10:20 AM EDT

Seeing all the fabulous publicity and the glorious outcome of Purdue's mascot redux, the ~~worthless, IU-homer rag~~ fine folks at the Indy Star felt it was time that Bloomington put an end to the eternal question: "What's a Hoosier?".

We Boilers know all to well the process of a few busy-bodies trying to come up with a 'let's please everybody' revamp of a mascot. But what about when a school has no established mascot?

Previously, our in-state rival had made attempts at establishing an on-field mascot. One, from the late 1960's, is what appears to be the front half of a buffalo (gee, how did that fail?!?). Budget cuts at the time forced a "wait and see" policy on purchasing the other half of the buffalo. I'm thinking that was a "no". Later in 1979, Don Imus himself was on the field for the Hoosiers, but was forced out due to unpublished racist comments (totally unconfirmed, but c'mon - how could he not have?).

via cmsimg.indystar.com

Both the Indy Star article and our always-ready-for-a-debate rivals at the Crimson Quarry weigh in on what should and should not be when it comes to an official mascot. They seem to be struggling quite a bit, so feel free to drop in and offer some suggestions. There's been suggestions of various members of the animal kingdom (white tail deer, giraffes, and bison - oh my!). They do seem to agree that the country 'bumpkin' is not the way to go (although that does appear to be the actual origin). Seems to work for WVU.

via www.thenextgreatgeneration.com

Looks like John and AJ could use some help here. The suggestions so far are not terribly inspiring, many of which fall into the status quo category of "we don't need a mascot".

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More importantly...

Seeing the Mountaineer reminded me something I’ve wondered about for a long time.

Why does Purdue Pete need a fake cartoon head????

He’s just a guy, a guy who’s supposed to be a tough coal shoveling train dude. So why don’t we just get some student tough guy every couple of years to put on the gear, hold a big hammer, but sans the goofy fake head? Wouldn’t this solve any problems in the future with ‘redesigning’ the mascot? He’d just always have to be a big tough dude, because that is historically what a boilermaker was.

As for the Hoosier thing – they will look stupid any way they go, because a hoosier simply was a word that was at some point used for uncouth rednecks from Indiana. Mountaineer at least glosses over the whole inbreeding Apalachian mountain folks thing that it really comes from. Hoosier doesn’t. If they really want a mascot they should turn a big IU sumbol into a costume. Still stupid, but the least stupid thing they could do.

In reality, though this would never happen, it should just be Bobby Knight. Knight should just get paid to walk around at sporting events in a red sweater and scream profanities. Most IU fans didn’t go to the university anyway, and just became fans because Bobby was a badass. As far as they’re concerned, he is IU.

by boilerhen on May 20, 2011 10:39 AM EDT reply actions

I think what really happened is that Hoosier Pride Imus called the half-bison a “nappy-headed ho,” and the athletic department decided to let both go on their way. Seriously, I really don’t see the need for a mascot. There’s no particular controversy, other than Terry Hutchens needed to write his biweekly IU story at a time when absolutely nothing is going on. Perhaps he should have written about the baseball or softball teams, but that could be said of me as well.

If IU were going to have a mascot, I would prefer a bison. An anthropomorphous bison, not the creepy dismembered beast from the 1960s. It actually was a pretty common feature of IU merchandise in the 1970s and 1980s, so I don’t know why they never tried it.

The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog

by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on May 20, 2011 11:17 AM EDT reply actions

Bwahahahahaha! Nappy-headed hoes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui1jPNDWArM

by ZMack on May 20, 2011 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions

o this one is better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMvfEdTUO6Q&feature=related

by ZMack on May 20, 2011 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions

I've always been partial to the German Hussars explanation of Hoosiers (I'm German in origin)

so if we were going to get some stupid ass mascot it should at least be a patriot looking thing with a musket. I could live with the bison thing, but would rather just have nothing than anything.

-Contributing Writer at The Crimson Quarry.
- Follow me on the Twitter for worthless thoughts and IU updates.

by JustAJ on May 20, 2011 12:24 PM EDT up reply actions

hey-ooo!

well played, John…. well played

>Hoosier by birth, Boilermaker by the grace of God
>Don't cry for me, MSU --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycDSLYHJHwo

by sea.of.white on May 20, 2011 4:06 PM EDT up reply actions

There is only one solution

And his name is Schrute.

by Mattdsm on May 20, 2011 2:13 PM EDT reply actions

would have to defeat Imus in a death match

>Hoosier by birth, Boilermaker by the grace of God
>Don't cry for me, MSU --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycDSLYHJHwo

by sea.of.white on May 20, 2011 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Nothing.

Nothing should be IU’s mascot.

by jffiv on May 20, 2011 3:11 PM EDT reply actions

Bob Knight

He should be the mascot, especially for IU basketball – which is really the sport ( along with soccer and swimming) that best represented the athletic program there.

You can have him standing next to the cheerleaders in his famous red plaid jacket, holding a chair.

Visit Drafttek.com

by BoilerMacR on May 21, 2011 12:49 PM EDT reply actions