Otus the Head Cat

Hogs no more; UA hopes new mascot lifts morale

Chelsea Clinton poses with the new Razorbacks mascot Monty at the Clinton Presidential Library in April. Monty is set to debut in the Hogs’ season opener against Auburn.
Chelsea Clinton poses with the new Razorbacks mascot Monty at the Clinton Presidential Library in April. Monty is set to debut in the Hogs’ season opener against Auburn.

Dear Otus,

What in the H-E-double hockey sticks (pardon my French) is going on across town on the hill?

First those college-educated idiots went and changed the colors on the Razorbacks uniforms to dark gray with red sleeves. Then they changed the helmets to black. Black!

The last time I checked, the team colors were still cardinal and white.

Now I hear rumors that they plan to replace the Razorback sideline mascot. Do you have any insight into this idiocy?

-- John Franklin,

Fayetteville

Dear John,

It was wholly a pleasure to hear from you and an additional pleasure to commiserate with your bewilderment and outrage.

It is with a baffled and mystified heart that I am able to confirm that my usually reliable, highly placed inside sources at the University of Arkansas inform me the athletic department does, indeed, plan to unveil a new mascot during halftime of the Arkansas season opener at Auburn.

Evidently, it's intended to be a psychological boost.

The contest against the highly touted Tigers is set to kick off at 3 p.m. Aug. 30 at Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium in front of 87,451 screaming Tigers fans. The game is expected to be embarrassingly one-sided.

Die-hard fans had a small moment of hope when Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn announced last week that quarterback Nick Marshall, who led the Tigers to the national championship last season, would be punished due to a recent run-in with the law.

Marshall was cited for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana during a traffic stop in Reynolds, Ga., on July 11. His mother paid the $1,100 fine on July 23 and the case is now closed.

Marshall's "punishment" is to warm the bench for the start of Auburn's first game. That means Arkansas stands a 50/50 chance of not being behind 7-0 after Auburn's first possession. The game, and the rest of the season could go downhill badly after that.

Sadly, the Hogs are still rebuilding from last season's painful 3-9 record. The media consensus is the team will be the worst in the SEC this season. It could sorely test the resolve of the faithful.

That's why UA Coach Bret Bielema and Athletic Director Jeff Long are reaching deep into their bag of tricks in an attempt to buck up the team, pump up the fans, and generate any positive interest they can.

The snazzy new anthracite gray uniforms were one attempt last year.

The controversial uniforms were concocted by a Nike design team. Arkansas has a uniform contract with Nike and every new color combo other than the official cardinal and white ostensibly translates into fans wanting to add the new items to their collection of Razorbacks memorabilia.

"Tradition? Fie on tradition," some say. "If it meant they would win more games, I'd support them playing in pink polka dots."

But old-school fans lamented the flouting of a century of tradition for a quick monetary gain on officially licensed products, and scoffed at the notion that black helmets were anything more than a nod to a passing fad.

Black helmets? They look like Arkansas State's colors, but I'm told that the university paid $813,000 to Endelman Research Group, a New York context-based strategic marketing consulting and research firm that specializes in qualitative interviewing and public relations, to come up with some sure-fire motivational elements for the team.

The next phase -- the new mascot -- will be unveiled at halftime on the 30th.

Let's put the mascot history in perspective. Back in 1894 (the first football season), the UA team was called the Arkansas Cardinals. But at a pep rally following the undefeated 1909 season (7-0), Coach Hugo Bezdek referred to his team as "a wild band of razorback hogs." The name stuck and it has been the Razorbacks ever since.

Three generations of students came and went without benefit of corporeal representation of their fighting athletic spirit.

Starting in the mid-1960s, a succession of massive Duroc hogs, wild boars and feral hogs terrified children from their cages on the sidelines. Eventually, animal welfare groups began to protest, and the university opted to join the national trend toward cutesy costumed human mascots.

None of UA's extant costumed mascots -- from Ronnie Razorback and Sue E. Pigg to Pork Chop -- passed muster with focus groups. What was a huge hit? Monty Monotreme, a fuzzy red platypus with a purple bill.

Monty's final focus group was in April at a double blind appearance for Global Youth Service Day with Chelsea Clinton at the Clinton Presidential Center. Monty was an enormous success with the youth and adults and that's why he'll be the new Razorbacks mascot. Look for him at halftime on the 30th.

Until next time, Kalaka reminds you that somewhere Indian Joe weeps.

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