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Episode 1 - Mascot Challenge with Jacob Nave
11 Plays1 year ago
Welcome to the first episode of Afternoon Delights! This week we learn a little about our first ever guest Jacob Nave. We discuss his childhood, his college days and a fantasy football championship. We end the POD debating the best college football mascos.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Afternoon Delights'
00:00:12
Speaker
Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight, gonna grab some afternoon delight. My motto's always been, when it's right, it's right while waiting
00:00:26
Speaker
Good afternoon, Delights. Thank you for joining us in this new podcast adventure and the inaugural episode of Afternoon Delights. I am your host, Matt Latimer, and we're going to take an adventure this week. On this podcast, we will be debating the unserious, discussing nothing of importance.
00:00:47
Speaker
and just trying to brighten your guy's day a little bit, help push through
Jacob Knave's Background
00:00:51
Speaker
the week. And I could not do that alone, so this week we are joined by a very special guest, one of my best friends, Mr. Jacob Knave. Jacob, how are you doing today?
00:01:01
Speaker
I'm doing great, doing great. I feel delightful. Like that's a good mindset to be in as we record this. I could not agree more. We have been waiting for this for a long time. You know, our last podcast, the fantasy football one, it just ended. So we need something to fill our time with. Now, Jacob, for those new listeners out there that don't really know a lot about you, why don't you fill us in, give us a little bit of background here on your life. Tell us how, how'd you grow up?
00:01:25
Speaker
Yeah, so I grew up born and raised here in the great state of Ohio, did the first 18 years here. I moved away from college, went down to the University of South Carolina, proud Gamecock alum. Had the best four years of my life and moved on up to Charlotte, North Carolina from there. Swore I would never come back, but my wife and I, who I met at school and got married to, almost going on five years now, it'll be five years here in June, which is crazy to think about.
00:01:51
Speaker
Kind of sat down a couple years ago and decided we needed to get closer to family before having a family of our own. So we decided to make the move back up north back to Columbus, been here for almost a year and a half now. And we have a soon to be six month old daughter and yeah, life is good. New milestones every day, new challenges every day and can't complain.
Childhood Games and Memories
00:02:10
Speaker
Jacob, we've known each other for a pretty long time here now. I believe that we first met probably through Chris Evans or possibly the Clarks when we were just getting ready and going into kindergarten. We spent many a day together. I remember growing up, probably one of the best games that we played was a game called Bodyguard. Do you remember this game? Oh yes. If my knees would hold up, I would go play it tomorrow.
00:02:33
Speaker
For those of you that don't know what bodyguard was is it's a two on two game. You play two people off of a trampoline on the same team, two people on a trampoline jumping around and then you hurl a ball at each other as hard as you can. And the team on the bottom, they are trying to get the other two people on the trampoline out. Once those two people are out, then you get to switch sides. You try and knock the other person out. But when you're on the trampoline,
00:02:55
Speaker
If you are hit first on your team, then you get a drop to your knees and you become the bodyguard and you get to throw your body in front of the ball to protect your teammate and stay on for as long as possible. So usually one person tries to get hit on purpose right away. If they're the good bodyguard leads to at least a lot of good fun, you know, maybe a couple injuries, but there's some good times. Oh yeah, for sure. I can.
00:03:16
Speaker
feel the rug burn on my knee already. Yeah, just like a more dangerous version of dodgeball
Youth Soccer Team Adventures
00:03:22
Speaker
since you're on a trampoline. So that's what's more fun than that when you're a kid with good joints and a nice summer day. Yeah. What would you say was your most fun game that you remember from your childhood?
00:03:32
Speaker
That's tough. Honestly, pool basketball at the Latimer household. A lot of really fun memories from that. Some accidental drownings mixed in there from time to time. It basically turned into WWE match at times when people started driving the paint. That's up there. Played a lot of Pokemon video games and card games as a kid. So a lot of nostalgia for that. But yeah, I'd probably go pool basketball.
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah, we had a lot of legendary games in pool basketball. It was more pool wrestling most of the time. Like you said, Jacob, if you remember that we met in kindergarten, we were in elementary school through first grade and then in first grade, you tried to leave me. You didn't want to be my friend anymore. It was more because the district lines got redrawn and you got assigned to a new elementary school.
00:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, that is true. And then honestly, I could have come back there when my parents moved in fourth grade. But due to just being there at the other elementary school, my mom decided to drive us. So I had to kept us apart for another two years of school before reuniting in middle school.
00:04:33
Speaker
They tried to break us up, but as the fates would have it, Jacob, do you remember we played on the same little league soccer team in second grade? We got assigned to the same team. They were the wizards. I'll always remember some of my fondest memories coming back from practice with the nave family. Your dad always drove us to and from practice. After every practice, we would go to Ritter's ice cream. And unfortunately, Ritter's is rest in peace.
00:04:59
Speaker
Yeah, it is no longer available as an ice cream shop. It was an outdoor only ice cream shop that was only open during the warmer months. And my favorite flavor at Ritter's was turtle something. And that's not a mistake. I'm not forgetting part of the name. It was actually called turtle something and they only sold the flavor on Tuesdays. So that is how I know that we always had practice on a Tuesday night. I remember I went there one time when it wasn't Tuesday and tried to order it and my little eight year old heart was crushed.
00:05:29
Speaker
Now, I don't know if there are websites to be trusted, but it looks like there are a couple of ridders over in the Dayton, Ohio area. I thought the chain was long gone and dead, but, you know, maybe next warm Tuesday it's worth about a two and a half hour round trip drive to go have a taste of your childhood.
00:05:45
Speaker
it might be worth it unless it's a different ridders for some reason. Branding looks
Matt's Child Model Story and Friendship
00:05:49
Speaker
the same, but I don't know, you can't trust people these days. Now, Jacob, do you remember how good our youth soccer team was? Yeah. The Saudis were looking to get into sports way back in the day. I think they would have offered our second grade soccer team probably about a hundred million dollars to get their foothold in the burgeoning American youth soccer team. We were a dynasty.
00:06:10
Speaker
90s Bulls, Alabama football of the 2010s. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, we were a pretty good team. I don't know how we were so good. It was me, you, Chris Evans was on that team. Josh Ashwell was on that team. Remember Brady Blackwell was on the team. He ended up playing college soccer at Ohio State. Maybe that's why we were so good. I know that I played Goldie because I wasn't good enough to play anywhere else.
00:06:30
Speaker
But we went undefeated for a couple years in a row through both fall and spring. We dominated teams by double digits to the point that after the first year, so many parents in the league and on other teams complained to the D.Y.A. Dublin Youth Athletics Association that our team was too good. So they bumped us up.
00:06:50
Speaker
multiple age groups. We ended up playing kids two to three years older than us and we still the next year went undefeated winning every game by about five or six goals.
00:07:01
Speaker
Yeah, I remember the first game when we got promoted up. I guess, yeah, we'll use some soccer lingo, football lingo. The other team went down and scored right away and it was like, oh God, what have we done? But, you know, bounced right back. And yeah, that was fun. That was unfortunately probably the peak of my athletic success in my life. But, you know, wouldn't trade those memories for anything. It's okay. We all peak early. I peaked at four years old. I was a child model for Kroger, for one ad.
00:07:27
Speaker
I did not know that. I would love, is there a way we could get our hands on like a copy of that campaign?
00:07:34
Speaker
I have tried to find this photo all over the internet. I think that my parents still have the original poster in the basement, possibly. I'll have to check the next time I go over there. But me and Chris did a number on that thing with airsoft guns when we were kids, pelting it up. Basically, when I was a little kid, from the time that I was born until maybe six or seven, our first neighbors that lived next to our parents, one of them was a professional photographer. Took photos of friends, families, kids, and he did some stuff for businesses. So my mom went and got photos, nice photos of me and Chris, head shots and stuff.
00:08:02
Speaker
everything like that to give out family and holidays. We went and did that photo shoot. And then after the photo shoot, he was like, Hey, Matt is perfect for this campaign. Can we shoot them and use some of these photos for this thing for Kroger? And my mom was like, Yeah, sure. Go ahead. And then before, you know what, I'm up on this poster. It was like me and four or five other kids and then some photos of like different foods for a no kids hungry campaign. And that hung up in our basement. And then as we got older, me and Chris pelted it with airsoft guns.
00:08:30
Speaker
Were you guys just chubby little cute kids? So they're like, oh, these kids definitely don't have food insecurity. We'll get them front and center of the campaign. This is to what every kid needs to look like.
00:08:39
Speaker
Yeah, I don't remember any kids being fat. I think there was me and one other kid that was probably my age missing a couple teeth and then a couple other kids that were probably like anywhere from seven to nine years old. Some good times. There's nothing wrong with peeking early. Now, like you said, as we got older, though, we did, we started to play more games like pool basketball. We eventually graduated high school together. And like you said, you left me again.
00:09:01
Speaker
You left me all alone. I only had chase but even though you kept trying to get away. I didn't leave you alone I called you once a week every week for 10 years We kept in touch and eventually I wore you down and you decided I got to move back home to Matt I'll let you have that version of your truth. Yeah, I mean I remember those calls when you were especially out in Colorado there Craig Colorado place I hope I never have to visit where the the animals out number the people and you know All the other not great things you had to say about it. But yeah
00:09:31
Speaker
I mean, credit to you. I think in a world of social media and sending memes and TikToks back and forth. The old fashioned phone call is hard to beat and I don't think it'll ever go out of style. I tell my wife all the time that if I was in an emergency, I'd probably call you before I would call her because you would have about a 99% higher likelihood of picking up the phone call.
00:09:53
Speaker
Oh yeah, I would. I'd pick up for you. All right, now Jacob, let's move on to our new segment
Feel-Good Animal Shelter Story
00:09:57
Speaker
here. We're going to get some good news of the week, try and cheer some people up with some happy stories. Now, you have two rescue dogs, don't you? We do, yes. Got the information shelter in Columbia, South Carolina.
00:10:08
Speaker
Then this story is right up your alley. This is a heartwarming Christmas and new year's tail coming all the way from Pennsylvania. So over the holidays, Adams County SPCA kennels, they were able to find new homes for every single animal in their facility.
00:10:25
Speaker
They were able to either find new families to adopt or reunite all strays to their owners over the holidays. It was the first time in 47 years that the shelter had ever been empty. They were able to move about 20 cats and dogs in the final two weeks of the year to get the shelter empty.
00:10:41
Speaker
And this was all while the animals receiving full medical care, vaccinations, hardware medicine, flea and tick medicines, et cetera, and processing and all the adoption applications to find new homes for their furry friends. Adams County, they adopted out 94 animals and 26 strays since November 1st, and not a single one of those animals was returned to the kennel. So great work by everyone at the Adams County SPCA. Great way to wrap up the year, finding out that all these animals are getting their forever home.
00:11:08
Speaker
Now Jacob, do you have any good news that you would like to share with us?
Victory in the Copper Kettle League
00:11:13
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean you mentioned the original pod in this universe, but on Sunday night I was crowned the Copper Kettle League Champion.
00:11:22
Speaker
first time. All went down to the heroic efforts of Juan Jaden Reed, or as I like to call him, Baby Devo Samuel, came up with a 26-point effort in the first half before exiting the game with a chest injury, I believe it was, which put me over the top and got me to a narrow 7-point victory. I mean, I'm sure most of the people listening, and if you're not, are loyal listeners of the CKL pod.
00:11:44
Speaker
My opponent had Christian McCaffrey and Lamar Jackson, but my ragtag group of waiver wire pickups and trade acquisitions was able to knock him off. I not yet got my hands on the trophy, that's on the to-do list, but I got the league payout. Now what I'm most excited about, elaborating the Copper Kettle Chocolate Factory to see how we pay homage to this victorious campaign that I just completed.
00:12:07
Speaker
Oh yeah, we're not happy that you won. We all would have rather won, but you know, at least it's a new person winning for those that don't know. And our fantasy football league, we're sponsored by the best chocolate factory in the entire world. Copper Kettle chocolate factory. The owner of that chocolate factory and one of our league members, Mr. Ryan Kasuji has offered up the winner gets to make their own chocolate bar that he will sell in the shop for an entire year. So Jacob, have you been mulling over your chocolate creation? What kind of flavor profiles are we going with here?
00:12:35
Speaker
So again, that's where I'm going to have to consult with the expert to know with what exactly I might have at my disposal. I've always been a dark chocolate person, but I've also been always a like a chocolate with fruit in some way, shape or form. You know, I love chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate raspberries, chocolate bananas. Any fruit and chocolate is like right up my alley.
00:12:57
Speaker
That doesn't always translate to chocolate bar form. I have had the Copper Kettle Cookies and Cream chocolate bar. That's another sort of classic candy bar that's my favorite. So maybe a variation or a twist on that would be in the works. But again, I will talk with our lead chocolate connoisseur and kind of see if there's any products that have been up in his brain that he's wanted to bring to life because you have to follow them on Instagram or TikTok. What this guy does in the lab is
00:13:25
Speaker
second to none. Again, I will sort of just work with him and look forward to being a very collaborative effort.
00:13:31
Speaker
Nice. I'm excited to see what you two come up with. I've been telling Ryan for years that I need to pitch him some new chocolates. I did tell him that regardless of what he creates next, he needs to name the chocolate one bite away. And it needs to be a one bite chocolate to go with the moniker that was created on the pod. Happiness is only one bite away at Copper Kettle. That way, when guests come into the shop and they ask, why is it called one bite away? Then he can say, because happiness is one bite away.
00:13:58
Speaker
I mean, I love them. I'm on their website right now. See a link to their Facebook page. They've got about 3,700 followers. Why we don't have merch, t-shirts, hats, anything with that slogan on it already. There's one shortcoming, you know, 2024, New Year. Maybe they have that in the works too. They're opening up a second shop and merch will come. All right. Now, Jacob, you want to learn a little bit of something here? Always love to learn.
00:14:22
Speaker
Let's give you a little bit of fun tidbit. That's kind of a teaser into some stuff that we're going to talk about later.
Oregon Duck Mascot History
00:14:28
Speaker
But our fun tidbit of the week is the history of the organ duck. Now the University of Oregon, it first opened its doors in 1876, but they were not the beloved organ ducks that we know today. No, they were the Oregon Webfoots, which became the official team name in 1932 because of a student vote.
00:14:48
Speaker
Now, it's originally thought that the name Webfoot applied to a group of fishermen from the coast of Massachusetts who were heroes during the Revolutionary War, and that Oregon was honoring those people by going by the Webfoots. But some people also say that the people of Oregon were referred to as Webfoots by the people of California because of how much rain the state received.
00:15:11
Speaker
Now, even though the official moniker of Oregon wasn't the ducks, the duck did become a symbol of the University of Oregon because of their web feet, and a live mascot white duck named Puddles began appearing on the sidelines in the 1920s. His popularity grew, and then that is when the name Oregon Ducks started to stick around.
00:15:32
Speaker
Now a lot of people might be thinking when they see the organ duck he looks pretty familiar. Well that's because in 1940 students started to publish cartoons featuring the organ duck and they started drawing him to look like another famous duck, Mr. Donald Duck of Walt Disney World.
00:15:47
Speaker
Now, word got back to Disney in 1947, and thanks to a friendship with Disney cartoonist Mike Royer, the Oregon athletic director Leo Harris, he was able to get a handshake deal done with Disney for the University of Oregon to use Donald's likeness.
00:16:03
Speaker
Now in the 70s, 1970s, Disney questioned this handshake agreement and they sought legal action against the university to stop them from using Donald's likeness until Oregon produced a photo of Harris and Disney wearing matching organ duck jackets with the Donald Duck logo. In 1973, they reached an agreement where Oregon was able to license the image
00:16:26
Speaker
from Disney for their sports teams, but this effectively gave Disney ownership of the Oregon Duck mascot. They were allowed to decide when and where the mascot could perform, ensured that they weren't doing any antics, that weren't Disney approved, that it held up to represent the Donald Duck character name. The Oregon Duck wasn't allowed to compete in some of those famous mascot events of the early 2000s.
00:16:48
Speaker
But in 2010, the University of Disney came to an agreement that removed that trademark and it allowed to make more freedom public appearances and start joining in in those competitions. And then one little last interesting tidbit that I didn't learn until recently was that because the organ duck is based off of Donald Duck, it is considered a pecking duck and thus is a flightless bird. Who knew?
00:17:10
Speaker
Yeah, that is a great overview there. As a former college tour guide at the University of South Carolina, I love fun facts and little tidbits about mascots and, you know, the history of, you know, sort of the athletic association of so many of our country's fine institutions. And yeah, I would say that, you know, the jerseys and gear that Oregon just had on in the
00:17:29
Speaker
Fiesta Bowl featuring their little version of Donald Duck looked very sharp and I wish they stated those rather than weird monochromatic silvers, whites, and blacks that they tend to wear. Yeah, it'd definitely be a good throwback look to go back to for them, but Oregon's got no shortage of different jerseys by being partnered with Nike. All right, Jay, do you have any fun tidbits or knowledge that you would like to drop to our listeners?
00:17:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you know, I'll kind of stay on being there. So the South Carolina Gamecocks now, unfortunately, not the only Gamecocks in FBS football. Jacksonville State, which joined the level this year and actually played South Carolina. We had Gamecocks vs. Gamecocks back in November. We got our name thanks to Thomas Sumter. He was a Revolutionary War general who ties the South Carolina and his nickname on the battlefield was the Gamecock. And after a hard fought
00:18:22
Speaker
battle between South Carolina and Clemson University in the early 1900s. The state, which is the newspaper there in Columbia, referred to the team as the Gamecocks, kind of in a historical callback to General Sumpter. So that is how that name got stuck with the university over 100 years ago.
00:18:41
Speaker
I did not know that. Are you ready to get into the main staple of tonight?
College Mascot Draft
00:18:46
Speaker
All right, Jacob, we are going to be drafting tonight the best college football mascots. Now, how this is going to work is we are each going to get the opportunity to draft five mascots. We are going to do a snake draft. You're the guest. You chose to go first, so you'll go first, and then that means that I will go
00:19:03
Speaker
twice in a row, then you'll go twice in a row back and forth until we both have five. You take a pick, I can't take that mascot, and vice versa. And then we'll let the fans decide who they think created the better lineup of five. So I will dive right in. And my first pick is going to be the mascot who you have already given us a whole history of, the organ duck. So all that history, the Disney tie-in is really cool and something that I think sets him apart. But just kind of over the last
00:19:32
Speaker
you know, decade especially. It seems like at least once a year the duck just has an incredibly viral moment. There's the video of him running out at the national championship with all the fireworks going off behind him. You've got him hopping on a motorcycle with Lee Corso. The game day moment where Will Ferrell was on and he actually had a Lee Corso mascot head made and then Corso put on the organ duck and Will Ferrell was beating
00:19:59
Speaker
the duck with the weak Horso mascot head. Just earlier this year you had the organ duck come out and step into the little machine that created the miniature duck. Just so many moments. The iconic, this is Sports Center commercial where he's sitting at the computer then looking out and seeing his duck brethren just out in the pond.
00:20:18
Speaker
for so many moments that I could name. And while Brutus Buckeye was Lee Corso's first, I think the organ duck is probably number two in his heart and might even have a lot more iconic moments with him than Brutus himself. So that is why I'm going to take him number one overall.
00:20:34
Speaker
Hey, that is a great pick, some great reasons. Yeah, Oregon Duck is obviously super famous. He's definitely one of the most popular for creating the push-up trend. He had 546 push-ups in one game when they played Portland State, so big for him. He was my number two choice. As an Ohio State alum and just somebody that knows mascots, the number one overall pick is and always will be Brutus the Buckeye.
00:20:58
Speaker
That is right. Did you know that Brutus was the first ever costumed mascot in college football? All of college, everybody else had live animals or live people. Brutus was the first mascot in costume making his first appearance in 1965. He was also the second costume mascot just in any sport in general following Mr. Met. He was the first ever college game day headgear pick. He kicked off
00:21:36
Speaker
the tradition.
00:21:39
Speaker
He's probably more loved than any other mascot by their fan base in the country. The organ duck is a close second He's a symbol that represents the Buckeyes in the university on a truly great level. He's on t-shirts. He's on hats He's on everything you sign an autographs Brutus is the number one pick now my second pick in this draft He doesn't have the the long stay he's not an ultra famous historically, but as of late I'm taking this guy and
00:22:04
Speaker
Cosmo the cougar of BYU anybody that does not know what Cosmo is doing is not paying attention to college sports because right now he is Probably by far and away the most exciting mascot in college football. Yeah, maybe the college
00:22:19
Speaker
is not that special, but he's doing push-ups stacked four tables high. He's starting on the first one and he's working his way up the top. He's doing jump roping stunts with the jump ropes lit on fire. He's jumping on cars through rings of fire. He's riding motorcycles through rings of fire, like just a regular old daredevil. I mean, he's doing some pretty crazy stunts more than any other mascot is doing or has done ever. Cosmo the Cougar, he's a true sight to see.
00:22:47
Speaker
Two solid picks. Can't argue with either of those points that you made about either of those mascots, but I do want to sort of do a little bit of a switch up with my next two picks. So you kind of mentioned the history of live mascots and although Monday night will be a matchup of two Big Ten schools and maybe it just means more up north than down south now, the one advantage that the SEC has over the Big Ten is the live mascot.
00:23:09
Speaker
history, tradition, and culture. And, you know, my personal favorite of the mascots in the SEC is Reveley. So, maybe not as famous as some of the other dogs in the SEC, but the most notable. She is the highest ranking member of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M. It's important to note that the Corps of Cadets is independent from the yell leaders. You know, that weird cult male pep squad that has weird videos go viral. Seems like weekly during football season.
00:23:36
Speaker
The Corps of Cadets actually has a lot more of a, you know, tie to the military institution. So basically she gets another corporal that is assigned to her and that is her handler. And she lives at that cadet for the year, goes to class. If the cadet is in class and Reveley barks, it is a sign that Reveley is bored and the professor should dismiss class. If Reveley falls asleep in the cadet's bed, the cadet has to sleep on the floor because he cannot share a bed with her.
00:24:04
Speaker
Miss Rev will be featured running out football team every year. The first revelry was actually given a formal military funeral at Kyle Field and that included a 21 gun salute. I don't think any other mascot in college football has ever gotten that and all the revelries are actually buried outside of the north end of the stadium.
00:24:24
Speaker
and they have a special scoreboard so they can always watch the Aggies from beyond across the Rainbow Bridge. So a lot of great dogs in the SEC, but the tradition around Reveley, they're in College Station. So she's my number two pick. My number three pick is also going to be a live mascot.
00:24:42
Speaker
I went back and forth between two, but I'm going to go with Ralphie the Buffalo, a Colorado. And a lot of people don't know that Ralphie is a female. I don't know. They probably just think like masculine bull, beyond Sanders, you know, all that stuff, but kind of needed the smaller size, less aggressive temperament.
00:24:59
Speaker
So Run Ralphie Run is sort of the intro to all the Colorado football games. She can reach speeds of up to 25 miles an hour. Five handlers are with her to guide her around the field. This tradition goes all the way back to 1967. So basically there's some rumors about whether or not it was actually approved or whether these students basically just did it before the game without permission.
00:25:20
Speaker
Yeah, I like the history of that. She's transported to games from a ranch in a custom design trailer, insulated with vents to make sure she is as comfortable as can be. It's got rubber mats on the inside. So again, all of these mascots that are just treated royally and have a part in the game day traditions, I think they deserve their due. So those are going to be my two picks.
00:25:44
Speaker
Yeah, I had Ralphie on my list. That's a great pick. I did not have Reveley. I didn't do much research into Reveley because I thought there were other dogs that were better, but I think that you won me over with your arguments. I didn't know anything about that. Just the getting out of class alone because of Barking, I think jumps her up to the top of the list. Yeah, very cool. And, you know, Ugga, you know, don't want to spoil any picks. There's just too many bulldogs. Like, I feel like he's the most famous, but yeah, not, not a lot of originality there, in my opinion.
00:26:14
Speaker
I might have something to say about that, but with my number three pick, I'm taking a live mascot too. Also from the SEC, I'm taking Mike the Tiger from LSU. Now, LSU is the only school that I know of that actually has a live tiger, which automatically makes them better than every other school that's a tiger. Every other school that's a tiger should just change their name because they don't deserve it. Mike deserves it.
00:26:38
Speaker
Now I've been to LSU's campus. I've walked around. I have seen the enclosure that Mike gets to live in. And let me tell you, this cat is pampered. He's got an awesome enclosure and this LSU community loves him. Old coach, Mr. Ed Orzeron, he used to run shirtless past the enclosure every single day just to go say hi to Mike. They would roll them in in a cage. Cheerleaders would stand up on top of the cage. He would be roaring. You get to watch the games. And I think the coolest thing about Mike is that every game day they make
00:27:08
Speaker
a
00:27:23
Speaker
disparaged this mascot, but I'm taking at number four. I'm taking Ugga from Georgia because I love English Bulldogs. They are the cutest little ugly dogs in the world. They got all the rolls, all the smoosh faces and Ugga's got to be one of the cutest. Now he might not be the first and yes, there are other, other bulldogs, but none of them are quite like Ugga. This pup is feisty. All right. You can go and you can look at the video and Auburn wide receiver, he gets a little bit
00:27:50
Speaker
too close to Uggah and Uggah tries to bite his nuts off. That's right. He is not messing around. You come at Georgia, you come at Uggah, he's going to put you in your place. He's not afraid to take on the bigger mascots either. He got right up in Bevo's face when Texas played Georgia a couple of years ago in a bowl game. Uggah's not afraid. Okay. And he gets his own jersey, his own number. Everybody loves him. And not only that, he gets the chill on game days in his very own air conditioned doghouse.
00:28:19
Speaker
What other school is building an air-conditioned doghouse for their mascot? None of them because that's how much the University of Georgia loves Ugga and kind of like Reveley all of the uggas that have passed are buried in marble They got their own marble coffins that go into the stadium so that they get to become a part of Georgia Stadium And that is why Ugga is the top bulldog and in my opinion the best dog mascot in the country
00:28:45
Speaker
You gotta insert the clip of Lee Corso again, who we have both made reference to as a mascot aficionado, saying that that dog was ugly when he was making a pick one year. And then also, Ugga's lucky to be alive there with the sugar bowl a few years ago. Bevo kind of came at him, and if it wasn't for his handlers, we might be on Ugga. I don't know what number now, but the line of succession might have needed to be moved up. Ugga had Bevo on the run. Bevo was afraid. Ugga was getting in fighting stance. He was ready to take him on.
00:29:14
Speaker
So I'm going to go in a completely different direction here with these last two picks. I would be stunned if either of these were on your list. First, again, from a little bit of a smaller school, I'm going to go with Western Kentucky University's Big Red. Big Red kind of has like gritty energy as well as grimace energy.
00:29:33
Speaker
you know the McDonald's campaign character he's kind of a amorphous strange red blob but you know i kind of think live mascots are special in their own right but just kind of the zany weird like what the hell are you mascots you know kind of deserve their their shine and i think uh big red definitely fits that category um he actually met grimace this summer
00:29:53
Speaker
Western Kentucky did a whole campaign around that, which I thought was very well done. And then another thing that I think Western Kentucky did earlier this year that didn't get a lot of shine is they actually did a Big Red helmet. But depending on what position you played for the Western Kentucky football team, they customized what Big Red was doing. So if you were like an offensive lineman or a defensive back or a quarterback, Big Red was throwing a football or like in a run block stance or, you know,
00:30:21
Speaker
trying to defend a pass so just incredible creativity you know big uniform person too as well so mascot uniform tie-in that sold me again big red is going to be my pick so i actually did have big red on my list he was at number eight and i put the same thing as you i put he brings the same energy as the philly fanatic and gritty eventually i moved him off of my list into my honorable mentions because i couldn't decide between him and auto the orange
00:30:47
Speaker
The fifth and final pick I'm going to go way off the grid. Actually a mascot I didn't know about until I started researching for the podcast and I'm going to go with Delta State University. Now Delta State, their athletic teams are known as the Statesmen but they have a mascot who is called the Fighting
00:31:06
Speaker
okra. So I don't know if you've ever had okra, but fried okra was one of my favorite cuisines down south that I experienced. Shout out to the Salty Nut Cafe. I could go for an order of fried okra from there right now. I don't want to pour it to the pitch of a Long Island iced tea. But the fighting okra is okra, an okra plant with a frown on its face and like angry eyebrows that sometimes will wear boxing gloves. And basically what happened is that in the late 80s and the early 90s,
00:31:33
Speaker
students there kind of went on this road campaign to say it should be the new mascot because okra is tough green and prickly the school has green in its color and actually i kind of mentioned that this is sports center campaign earlier they actually sort of brought those back last year and the fighting okra was featured during the georgia tcu national title game he was sort of brought in to do like an employee review and you know he just looked like pissed off and angry the whole time they're like what on earth is this guy going to do so
00:32:01
Speaker
Again, I know we've had some conversations in the past where like, oh, it's so lame that it's the Auburn Tigers and they say war eagle and they have a, you know, flying eagle. So, you know, the mismatch between the statesman and the fighting okra, you know, might not necessarily be your cup of tea, but the originality, the creativity and the deliciousness, that's why I'm going with the fighting okra for my fifth and final pick.
00:32:23
Speaker
Yeah, nice. I tried to stick to just the division one teams, but that's a good pick. It kind of gives me the Louisiana Lafayette raging Cajuns vibe with their mascot, Cayenne, who's a big old Cayenne pepper. Yeah. I'd never heard of the Statesman or the fried okra, but I think you could sell some people on that one. I'll have to give it a little look up. Now you, you only got one of my top five mascots and that was the Oregon duck.
00:32:47
Speaker
So I'm not even going that deep onto my list. I did have Ralphie on the list, but he was not above this other large
Bevo the Texas Longhorn Mascot
00:32:54
Speaker
animal. We already talked about him before he took on Ugga, Bevo, the Texas Longhorn. Now, if you don't know Bevo, then you don't know football because he's probably one of the biggest mascots that there is. He escapes his enclosure all the time. He causes mass chaos, but Bevo is really a symbol, not just of Texas, but his college football as a whole.
00:33:16
Speaker
The University of Texas has used a live Longhorn mascot for over a hundred years. Bevo has been around for a hundred years. He's one of the oldest mascots in all of college sports. 1916 is when Bevo made his first appearance. And not only that, because of the Longhorn's color of the orange and white, that is what inspired the colors of Texas. And I think that Texas's colors are probably some of the most prominent and well-known in all of sports.
00:33:44
Speaker
And then not only that, but because of the long Texas horns, it inspired the hand symbol and the phrase hook them horns, which I think is probably the most popular in sports. There's a lot of other teams out there, especially in Texas that do the different things. You know, they got gig them at Texas A&M. They got the little horn frog hand gesture. Houston just does kind of like a Paul. So a lot of Texas teams do it, but most people don't know about the others. Everybody knows about Texas. You don't mess with Texas and you don't mess with Bevo.
00:34:15
Speaker
See, that's all great and all, but I feel like hook'em horns is now less popular than horns down. You don't get horns down without hook'em horns.
00:34:25
Speaker
You don't. It's a real chicken and the egg situation, but you're kind of inviting yourself to get dunked on every time. Hey, they might be, but Woody's going to be doing horns down if Bevo's coming charging at him. I'm a big Bevo fan. Missed out on a couple others, so we got some honorable mentions. I had Asakola and the Renegade. They got a cool tradition of lighting the spear on fire at Florida State.
00:34:47
Speaker
stabbing it into the ground and then also very similar USC Trojans and traveler riding in and jumping off the horse and stabbing it into the ground. Sebastian the Ibis is a, I think akin to an organ duck kind of legacy. Had we done this in the early 90s, he probably would have been the number one or number two overall pick. And then you got the, you know, the Notre Dame leprechaun, the West Virginia Mountaineer, Tennessee's old smoky.
00:35:10
Speaker
of good mascots out there. Be remiss if we didn't mention Yale's Handsome Dan. A bulldog, much like Ugga, Handsome Dan is considered the first college mascot ever. So we'll give Handsome Dan a little shout out there. Yeah, Handsome Dan was one of my major hurdles to including Ugga on my list. Again, Bevo was who I was debating with Ralphie on which ones to include. And then Smokey is also up there. I think he is just the cutest little coonhound. Again, a little bit more of a unique dog and
00:35:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a pretty encompassing honorable mention list. Yep, there were just too many to pick from. I thought we'd have a lot more similar, but hey, that's what afternoon delights is all about. We'll let the fans decide who they think has the better combination of mascots. It'll be me, but I appreciate your entry into the contest.
00:35:57
Speaker
Most of our fans are Ohio State fans as well, so I think I got it locked up with just one pick. You gotta put your bias aside. Alright Jacob, well that about does it for our first episode of Afternoon Delights.
00:36:10
Speaker
And it was an honor to be the first guest. Nice to take a little bit of a victory lap on my CKL victory. Yeah, again, hopefully we'll have a new chocolate bar in the rotation, and people will be ordering those. And, you know, when it's Tuesday at 2 o'clock and you get a little pickup and some delight, you'll be able to enjoy a nave. You'll be happy in no time.
00:36:28
Speaker
I'll be excited. I'll be the first one in line to try the nave bar. Thank you for joining us. Thanks out there to everybody listening on afternoon delights. Everybody can be a guest. So just reach out if you would like to be a guest on the show and we'll get you on one week. And I am your host, Matt Latimer. You stay classy, Planet Earth.
00:36:47
Speaker
Farewell, I'll be to St. Goodnight. I hate to go and live this pretty side. So long, farewell, I'll be to St. Andrew. I do, I do, to you Andrew, Andrew.