Mascots

Common sense tells us what should happen Saturday when ETBU hosts Howard Payne in the annual battle of Baptist brethren on the football field.

It doesn't matter who plays quarterback, running back or linebacker for either team, right? That turnover thing, it's way overrated, right? Penalties? Injuries? Mistakes? Won't make a big of difference.

Common sense says no way a Yellow Jacket can take down a Tiger.

We love our mascots. At ETBU, of course, that means we love the big cats. Is there any animal as majestically beautiful and powerful while at the same time being as terrifying up close? I remember a few years ago when we had an actual live tiger mascot, Sarge. Sarge attended a handful of games in Ornelas Stadium and was quite possibly the final, magic touch we needed during our playoff season in 2003. ETBU was 3-0 in Ornelas Stadium that year when Sarge was in attendance, including the playoff win against Trinity that ended with Littleton Dean blocking an extra point attempt in overtime.

I never found out for sure, but I've heard that we requested a special place for ol' Sarge on the airplane to Williamsport, Pa., the next week, to play Lycoming in the second round. The airline must have said no, however, because I was on the plane and Sarge wasn't. And we all know how that ended up...

Anyway, I remember a lot more about Sarge that really had nothing to do with football or anything else. To see him walk gracefully off his personalized trailer and right into his cage at the stadium was a sight in and of itself. But Sarge was also still just a kitten, in terms of tiger age. That meant he liked to play like a kitten, despite the fact he was slightly larger than a t-rex I think.

Sarge's toys included an empty refrigerator box, which would last about 10 minutes as I recall. He'd rip and tear that thing to shreds and then clean the pieces of cardboard from his claws and teeth as though he'd just taken down a deer in the woods around Marshall. Then came time to eat -- which meant more toys. That little packaged stuff you find for your house cat, of course, would only make Sarge mad. No, he had to have chicken -- whole chickens. Now, they weren't live chickens, just store-bought hens. But he would cut those things to pieces, and yes it was a bit sickening to hear the bones crunch in his mouth as he sat lazily in his pen, ready to strap it on with his favorite college team a few feet away.

Sarge doesn't come to ETBU games anymore, but his legacy remains -- especially around my office and in our publications. You can find his picture on some of our athletic web pages. Yes, that's Sarge peering from the background at the top of our football and basketball pages, watching over our athletes.

Yes, there's something about a tiger. It's a perfect mascot for ETBU. It's a perfect mascot anywhere, really. The tiger would make a great blue-chip athlete: big, strong, fast and aggressive. If you don't think so, just ask the chicken.

And while we're on the subject of mascots, ETBU still does have a live mascot at just about every event -- Toby the Tiger. As I recall, Sarge was particularly fond of Toby in the few times they came across each other over the years. They'd sit and stare at each other through those cage wires, Sarge wondering why in the heck he was surrounded by a fence while that other thing, which looked sort of like him, was roaming free -- on two legs, no less.

Of course, Toby is actually a disguise for ETBU student Lia Frederick. I will go on record as saying Lia is the best "mascot" in the country, at any level. She's a natural. She's also quite a story in and of herself -- Lia plays on the Lady Tiger soccer team as well as running cross country. Conceivably, she can run a cross country meet on a Saturday morning somewhere close by, make it back to the stadium in time to suit up as Toby for a football game, and then head over to Cornish Field and play a soccer game that night. It's simply amazing, and I hope to have a feature story sometime this fall on Lia's adventures. That would be the best way to describe it, I think.

So bring your Tiger paws and your Tiger gear to Ornelas Stadium Saturday and get ready to swat those annoying Yellow Jackets. Remember, the bite is always better than the buzz.