(above) Eyes & teeth are all thats left to be completed
(above) The mascot will fly from Toronto to Washington D.C tonight via FedExThanks go out to all the donors, all the fans who wrote emails and letters, everyone who helped make the dream a reality.
Thanks to Loonie Times Character Productions in Toronto. They were great to deal with.
Thanks especially to the young DU alum who headed up this project. We could not have done it without you.
Never give up when you have the courage of your convictions. Go DU
Thanks to Loonie Times Character Productions in Toronto. They were great to deal with.
Thanks especially to the young DU alum who headed up this project. We could not have done it without you.
Never give up when you have the courage of your convictions. Go DU
38 comments:
YES WE CAN!!! ... YES WE DID!!!
GO DU!!! WE BROUGHT BACK BOONE!!!
WAY TO GO EVERYONE!!!
HE LOOKS AWESOME!!!
Wow, unbelievable. It's better than I thought it would be. I hope the athletic department is notified that the costume is complete!
DG, thanks for all of your hard work.
Stunning.
Scott, DG, Rich and everyone else - Excellent work. Can't wait to see it in person.
-Cross-Czech
The mascot is fantastic!! I may actually have to get my photo taken with this cool dude. Can't wait to see him roaming Magness next season.
The only thing we forgot to do was make this a non-profit group so all those donations were tax deductable :D
Any chance Boone could make a guest appearance at the hockey banquet, or is that pushing the issue?
Looks good - a true accomplishment by everyone who donated. Kind of puts into perspective how truly assenine "Ruckus" looked, huh? Tread with caution though; those Administrators sure seem hellbent on keeping this unofficial, and they wouldn't think twice about kicking Boone out of an event.
Looks awesome though!
Awesome! I can't wait till next hockey season.
Chancellor Coombe has stated that students and alumni can use Boone "as they may wish", so it would look pretty bad if they locked the mascot out of events.
Nice work!
It will be interesting to see how many hits you get from DU today one this starts floating around...
Great job, DG. It looks great, and will look even better with the teeth and eyes! :) I'm a bit concerned about the administration coming up with an ad hoc rule about "no large costumes at athletic events" or some BS like that, in order to keep the Boone at bay. But hopefully they're smarter than to stir up a hornet's nest like that.
I can't wait to see the Boone in person--too bad our hockey team couldn't join him in D.C.!
Nice work!
This looks awesome. Talk about a grass roots movement that's taking the initiative.
Best of luck to Boone at the Frozen Four and at future games!
I'm not expecting any issues letting the mascot into the arenas. We're doing this to build school spirit and awareness at DU. This is going to draw publicity to DU athletics and athletes.
The mascot issue is over. We won. Doesn't it feel good? :-)
If by winning you mean your school's administration has twice deemed "Boone" inappropriate then yeah ... you guys rocked it.
I was tired of the jelly-donut jokes (as I'm sure you all were) this new mascot should provide me with some new fodder next year.
I find it mildly disturbing that some many apparent adults are displaying the sort of glee usually reserved for 9 year olds ... but whatever makes you happy!
LOL ... and don't get your panties in a bunch. I know you folks threw tons of your personal money into this and lots of time to make it happen. Good on ya for that ... misguided or not.
Finally a mascot we can all be proud of!
Great job to everyone and especially DG for heading up this important DU mission. A true pioneer. This great country would be NO PLACE without the PIONEERS. No body, not even Coombe, can kill the great pioneer spirit. Welcome back Boone. Long over due. Long live Boone!!!
Why do you think it's misguided?
Donald, Donald, Donald.
Mascots, bands, and student sections are just fun. Its a way to connect with the program. Great schools have great bands, mascots & student sections. Which in turn leads to alumni and fan involvement.
DU has work to do, but at least we're pointing the ship in the right direction.
Mr. Donald Dunlap,
As much as everyone in Denver appreciates your opinions, I would suggest that you keep thoughts up in Alaska where they belong (along with that 14-17-5 joke of a hockey program you have up there). Who the hell are you to judge what other people do with their time and their money? Why don't you get back to your igloo and help your seawolves lick their wounds to get ready for another sub .500 season.
As a student, this is something I find very valuable to my experience at the University of Denver, and we wouldn't be able to do it without the support of generous alumni who are successful enough and have enough school pride to give back to a worthy cause. I know you guys don't have a lot going for you up in Alaska, but down here in Denver we have something called tradition and history that we are trying to keep alive. So I suggest, Mr. Dunlap, that you keep to yourself and your joke of a blog in Alaska Anchorage. No one cares what you have to say.
I care what Donald says. He's a good guy, he knows his hockey, and his blog is always interesting and extremely well-written.
I also appreciate how hard UAA works to build its hockey program despite a lot of obstacles, and appreciate how hard they play on the ice in a tough league.
A UAA fan trying to give us crap is sorta like hearing the dorkiest kid in school try to insult someone from the cool crowd...
Alaskan Trolls FTL.
That is all.
Anon:
My use of "misguided" is obviously subjective.
One man's trash is another man's treasure and all that. Since you asked though ... I think it's all more than a little bit infantile to put so much effort and money into something that 90% of adults in Magness are going to pay about a minute of their life noticing. Some little kids will remember it ... half of them will think it's cool and the other half will be terrified (par for the course for any "mascot"). But hey ... it was your money and time so more power to you all.
DG:
None of those things are my cup of tea. I'm more concerned about DU's vote on the upcoming Bemidji entrance. I'm thinking DU and CC will turn to yes votes in return for the schedule they covet and UAA will get fucked with MSUM and Bemidji as "rivals". If you and Puck Swami and others would jump on my "20 game league schedule" bandwagon then we'd all be better off.
Seawolf Slayer:
First of all you ignorant fuck ... it's Dunlop ... not Dunlap. How difficult could it be to re-type what you see in big blue bolded lettering? Was it intended as some sort of slight? Weak attempt if so ... for you edification the names come from pretty much the same place in Scotland at pretty much the same time.
Do you honestly believe that the record of the team I support in any way reflects on the validity of my opinion (one which I've expressed on the Internet for over a decade now)? What philosophical school is that from? Fascism? I know DU tends to lean to the right and caters to the "new-elite" but I didn't know they'd imbued their students with such attitudes so quickly. And whether or not anyone "wants" to hear it ... they're going to.
An igloo reference? That's about as stupid as falling into the "Godwin's Law" trap. Look that up yourself since I'm tiring of schooling you.
And lastly, I'll put the content and reader participation of my blog squarely up against ANY other team-specific college hockey blog on the web. I've built my readership organically and couldn't be any more proud to say that.
Swams:
As always, you are truly a valuable moderating force in our little online college hockey world.
Last Anon and Trev:
What part of ... "don't get your panties in a bunch" did you have a hard time understanding? Are you DU students as well? Combined with Seawolf Slayer's illiteracy, I'm growing concerned that DU's entrance requirement is really just mommy and daddy's checkbook balance.
To which I must respond that I'm growing concerned about the impartiality that is obviously not present in Alaska.
Rather sad that you feel the need to improve your self esteem by attempting to rain on the parade of a campus trying to recapture it's pride. Althuogh, I suppose the only thing that you can recapture in Alaska is the elk that trashed your backyard last night...
Dunlop,
Thanks for the response on the misguided question.
I think what you are missing here is how much this is going to help the atmosphere at the games and around campus. For the longest time the joke around campus was "DU students will only rally together if they close the local North Face store." Boone has finally brought the students together in a way that I never experienced when I was a student.
Outside of the CC and UND games, the atmosphere at Magness is bland at best. If this 'rogue' mascot can help get Magness rocking like it does for those games, it would be great (and we need all the help we can get). The place was like a funeral home during the WCHA first round games against UAA - I know it was spring break and all, but still, it was rather pathetic.
Suck it Donald. What part of "don't get your panties in a bunch" did you think wouldn't get ignored and bring out the flamethrowers instead? Oh I see, you're just trying to get a teensy bit more traffic to your blog to help justify your existence? Retard.
"more than a little bit infantile..."
Dunlop....your smugness and haughtiness is laughable. It's a mascot, homeboy. It's for fun and spirit. Good grief. If the fact that DU fans might have some more fun at games next year bothers you try therapy....your insecurity must be through the roof.
I would love a 20 game league schedule. It would open us up for more non league play, and cut down on the meatgrinder of too many league games that leave WCHA teams looking like hospital wards by the end of the year
Anon@508 and Shram:
Your obvious lack of experience with me means that I didn't express myself here often enough. I'll correct that in the future. Then you'll come to understand that when and if I have something to say that I say it.
I certainly don't have ulterior motives. DG will tell you that I'm not trying to drive traffic to my blog. Not my style. If it was then my blog would be more in the model of this one rather than filled with my boring hockey pontifications.
I have no impartiality and wouldn't claim such.
And you'd have to drive for at least a couple of days out of Anchorage if you wanted to see an Elk. Moose, Bears, Wolves and Coyotes are the only large-ish wild mammals you'd see in Anchorage.
Anon@519:
We've had much the same discussion in our fanbase regarding attendance and enthusiasm at our games.
There are those that believe "atmosphere" will attract more fans and contribute to enthusiasm. I don't subscribe to such things. Sports fans are by nature attracted to a winner and no amount of manufactured enthusiasm is going to make a big difference.
I think what you've got here is a few DU Internet hockey fans that got tired of jelly donut jokes from 1999 til now. Combine that with their affinity for "kitschy boone" from their own days at DU and viola ... they became motivated to start a PR campaign to "bring Boone back".
Was there an existing campus groundswell for Boon that DG tapped into? Not really ... this blog created the initial buzz and DG et al saw the opportunity and ran with the ball. They scored a touchdown too. But without Damien and his "minions" (sorry DG) todays students on the DU campus wouldn't have even known what/who Boone was.
Anon@522:
I'm Popeye The Sailor Man. I am what I am. I say what I say the way I say it.
Swami:
Apparently the major stumbling block to reducing the league schedule is that WCHA coaches would have to make a few extra phone calls in the off-season.
I'll be honest ... I'm advocating it because it would be the sort of benefit for UAA that UAA deserves. Every year I watch the continuing whining about having to get on a plane to fly to Alaska for ONE series a year. The NCAA even feels bad enough about it to give DU (and others) exemptions against the 34 game schedule limit. Where is UAA and UAF "exemption" for all the travel? I want a 20 game league schedule so that UAA can maximize it's home dates versus making money for every other team in the league. I believe UAA is responsible for more revenue across the league than ANY other team in the league because of the exemption.
And frankly I'm a little taken aback at this whole "rivalry/clustering" solution to the schedule because in EVERY scenario I've seen UAA gets the short end of the stick.
And I know you are well aware of the benefit to the WCHA if we adopted the shorter league schedule. The benefits to RPI/PWR would likely mean 5 teams in the NCAA's every year.
I've had a discussion with the AD regarding this and I'm certain he sees the strength of the position. Hopefully, he can convince others in the league to manage Bemidji's inclusion by reducing the schedule rather than unbalancing it more than it already is. Without such an arrangement, I'm sure UAA will vote NO.
Funny how when you call someone a troll they just get mad and say you didn't understand them.
Apparently that can be the only reason for calling said Internet person a "troll".
And don't be jealous of my mommy and daddy's checkbook please ... I know zeros make you sad.
:(
/outtrolled
Ok Dunlooper--THAT'S ENOUGH FROM YOU!! You have exceeded the 10 thousand word limit for this blog. Other people also need space. You are repeating yourself and frankly have become quite boring.Go out and wrestle with a grizzly to work off that aggression. We here in Boone country have had enough of your preaching. GO AWAY!!
Dunlop,
You are a sad loser and always will be. Might as well get used to it.
Suck my dick.
HEY EVERYONE!!!
RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE 20 GAME SCHEDULE!! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE I'M SMARTER THAN EVERYONE BECAUSE I KNOW SOME BIG WORDS RABBLE RABBLE, I HATE DU RABBLE RABBLE I LOVE PUTTING OTHER PEOPLE DOWN FOR NO APPARENT REASON RABBLE RABBLE EVERYONE HERE IS STUPID RABBLE RABBLE!!!
ALSO, RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE I WISH SOMEONE GAVE A SH*T ABOUT MY BLOG RABBLE RABBLE!!
LOVE,
Dunlop
As a DU alumni and as someone who has followed this Boone issue for some time, I'd like to point something out to Mr. Dunlop that might be difficult to understand as an outsider. While the mascot issue may be trivial and at times childish, it is a representation of a larger issue at hand. What Boone represents is not a mascot, or "micro-aggression" as the University refers to it, it is a symbol of DU trying to ignore and subvert the will of their current students and alumni. Between Boone, the crackdown on normal collegiate life (purging of Greek Life from the Greek system for instance), and various other issues, it is another chapter in the the University versus the alumni and students in a battle for the soul of what DU is and what it should be.
This has been going on for decades, and it will most likely continue until everyone from both sides of the Boone issue are long since past.
Jon,
Interesting post. I've noticed this as well.
DG
DD - "There are those that believe "atmosphere" will attract more fans and contribute to enthusiasm. I don't subscribe to such things. Sports fans are by nature attracted to a winner and no amount of manufactured enthusiasm is going to make a big difference."
I agree with this notion. The paradox that DU finds itself in is that our hockey team is a winner. One of the greatest programs in history and also one of the best programs in the country currently.
There's a handful of "reasons" that have been discussed at length on USCHO. Most of these reasons DU can do nothing about (e.g. the popularity of skiing, the outdoor culture of residents, already saturated sports environment, etc.).
As a contributor to this project, my goal is to create a better atmosphere at home games (get more students to come, and get the morgue in the rest of the arena awake). Maybe this will do nothing and Boone will die a horrible death again. But, maybe with a new mascot (one that a majority of Denver seems to connect with over the jelly donut), somebody to interact with the crowd and lead cheers...the crowd could be a little more energetic. In turn, hopefully students and regular people will have more fun and want to come back and be more of an active participant.
This is just one step of many that DG (and others) has taken and everything else he has done has had noticeable results. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out, but I am excited (a little like a 9 year old :-) )
Atmosphere can still attract fans. Look at the Chicago Cubs. Horrible team, but probably one of the most enthusiastic fan bases in history...
Dunlop Said:
"Was there an existing campus groundswell for Boon that DG tapped into?"
Yes, yes there was.
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