Now that the democracy cakewalk of 2008 has come and gone, it’s time us young adults really started talking about matters of urgency and importance: mascots.
You read that right. Mascots.
I’m one of the many conspiracy theorists who are still emotionally broken by the loss of our beloved Top Daug.
I have nothing against the new guys, Boomer and Sooner, but the forced retirement of a living legend in the mascot world was an absolute travesty, to put it lightly.
But who says we can’t bring the pup back just to be the basketball mascot?
For those in need of a refresher, Top Daug was OU’s furry ambassador to the sporting world from the mid 1980’s until 2004.
He was both engaging and entertaining. He was also a good buddy of thousands of young OU basketball fans who eventually became students here.
I was one of those kids.
As a youngster, I accompanied my dad to a rather burly number of OU basketball games.
In fact, I was such a regular attendee that Top Daug often found it appropriate to come take a seat in the aisle next to where my father and I always sat.
I never heard Top Daug say an audible word to me. He would just look at me with those big puppy eyes and then amaze me with his ability to turn his head backward.
The message, however, was clear. OU basketball in those days was a thing of beauty, and Top Daug was every bit a part of it.
Top Daug was born in the mid 1980’s when legendary offensive mastermind Billy Tubbs declared that OU would become the “top dog” in the Big Eight conference.
Billy Tubbs is second only to Barry Switzer in the competition for “coolest dude to ever walk campus,” so anything created from his wizardry should remain sacrosanct.
But Top Daug became a casualty at the hands of blasphemers.
A student-led initiative a few years ago led to the Daug’s replacement by spiky-haired and snarling horses, although their look has since been improved.
My intuition tells me these students who led the drive to kill Top Daug are unbearable nerds from Texas who have a remarkably low number of friends.
Sure, a dog in a top hat doesn’t exactly scream Oklahoma history. But let’s remember that our state’s glorious history has produced a school nickname that honors those ancestors of ours who intentionally cheated the system in order to gain property.
And why are we still mad at Rhett Bomar, again?
While we’re on the subject, dogs actually do have a historical relation at least to this university.
After all, one of the central themes of the conspiracy to assassinate Top Daug was that he had no relation to Oklahoma history or university lore.
OU’s original mascot was a real-life tan and white terrier who wore a red sweater and hat and whose head didn’t rotate 360-degrees. His name was Mex, and he was our first mascot from 1919 until 1928.
Mex was a supremely talented dog. He would wow fans at football and baseball games by snagging apples out of mid air that were thrown to him by members of the spirit squad.
I bet your dog can’t catch apples. Boomer and Sooner sure don’t catch apples.
Furthermore, Mex meant so much to the university that, upon his
death in spring 1928, he was buried in a small casket underneath what is now Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
For a school that’s been so adamant in publicly denying its status as a football school, OU sure needs help in proving its case.
The conversation about the sleepy and anti-climactic nature of the Lloyd Noble Center has gained steam. Athletic director Joe Castiglione has acknowledged the fact that fans tend to experience a feeling of sedation while inside the building.
Keep in mind the sudden influx of energy and life that suddenly exploded from the fans and the Sooners alike when Top Daug made a cameo appearance at the men’s game against Texas A & M last
spring.
For a second, I forgot that football season was still months away.
Consider this my official plea to rally for the reinstatement of a Sooner tradition.
I’m too old to be starting any petitions of the sort. I’m too worried about petitioning for a job or a spot in law school. But for those of you young Sooners who enjoyed the days of OU basketball before the university bought Kelvin Sampson a cell phone, bust out your old Ryan Minor jersey and start the doggy revolution.
Let Boomer and Sooner keep pacing the sidelines at football games, but here’s my vote for Top Daug to get another chance to crowd-surf all the way around the Lloyd Noble Center and pretend to steal as many purses as he wants.
The basketball programs at OU deserve a good watchdog.
Eric Combs is a journalism senior. His column appears every other Tuesday.
JWade 3 years, 6 months ago
Conceded, u2dy. I do, in fact, suck and should be disregarded.
I can't speak for EN, but I would guess he sucks worse considering that he basically plagiarized my comment.
We suck.
JWade 3 years, 6 months ago
Do you have anything to add, kdbp?
kdbp1213 3 years, 6 months ago
bring back top daug.
JWade 3 years, 6 months ago
Let Top Daug die.
I loved him, too. But to say that he was a "living legend in the mascot world" is ridiculous.
What you are asking for is a zombified Top Daug. A Frankenstein. A freak of nature.
Boomer and Sooner are head and shoulders better representations of our school than Top Daug - the random totem with doughy ears that was losing patches of fur every year.
We gave Top Daug the Old Yeller treatment for a reason.
Bang. Get over it, move on, goofball.
u2dy 3 years, 6 months ago
These last two guys suck, and their opinions should be immediately disregarded since they disagree with my own.
Top Daug was the best. Bring him back, please.
EN 3 years, 6 months ago
Let Top Daug die.
To resurrect him would be an act of defiance against the Laws of Nature and, depending on your religious beliefs, the Laws of God.
I'm no fan of Boomer & Sooner, let's be honest. They frighten the children and they frighten me.
But ask yourself. Are they worse than a resurrected Top Daug? Think about it. You dig up a puppy you buried years ago and no matter how much life you breathe into him - not the same, bud.
Tim4Daug 3 years, 5 months ago
Well, insults aside.....I think Top Daug IS A TRADITION for OU Basketball. Are we forgetting the reaason we have Mascots? It's to let everyone to enjoy the experience of cheering on our team as much as possible. I think that alone states that Top Daug is not only a tradition to OU Basketball but intensifies the fun and excitement at games. I don't want to trash the mascots we have now but if people enjoy it more and the majority of the fans want him back, what's the big deal? Top Daug should be our mascot. By the way he was nationally recognized as one of the highest profile mascots in college basketball during that era.
KDETopDaug 3 years, 5 months ago
Wow! It is truly amazing to see how much passion is being expressed (positive or negative) about our Mascot Characters. Because SOONER Athletics are very STRONG, Coach Tubbs was right on point with indentifying SOONER SPORTS as the TOP DAUG!...(see references in the original design that the O and U interconnect, which is why DAUG has a "U" and not a "W"). Being that I was the one who most are making the comparisons to from my performances, local and national recognition came in many forms. These articles and the return performance during the “88 Reunion” was incredible and knowing that those I entertained back in the 80's, 90's and again in the 2000's are now the adults voicing their opinions that TOP DAUG was very worthy of representing all of our sports means that we should not discard the idea of bringing back such a great character. This same character could easily be put into every OU uniform for all of our athletic sports and the functionality of this revised costume character would allow for amazing entertainment value and more. I'd gladly volunteer to help again in the redesign of a new character and a new push for TOP DAUG to come back in a positive explosion of entertainment for OU Athletics......Kenny Evans
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