As baseball season heats up another sport has got to be in our sights, football, both Louisville coach Charlie Strong and Kentucky coach Mark Stoops have had a recruiting blitz in recent months to try to establish their squads as strong as they can possibly be.
Meanwhile, down in Western Kentucky Bobby Petrino is trying to bring the Hilltoppers to national prominence despite his fall(s) from grace.
That said, this article isn’t about the teams really, the athletes or coaches, no this article is about something a little different, that all too important contest; the Capitol One Mascot Challenge.
The “Challenge” pits various mascots from colleges all over the country and decides winners based on votes. Right now, their still collecting votes to see what mascots will compete this year, so regardless of your team go and support your mascot by writing them in at CapitalOneBowl.com.
That is of course, unless you want to write in Capital One legend, Big Red from Western Kentucky University. Despite never claiming the championship in the contest, Big Red was a perennial favorite for pretty much the contest’s entire existence. As such, Capital One made the decision to induct Big Red as the first hall of fame inductee. In eight years, Big Red proved himself to be one of the most popular mascots in the competition.
Beginning in 2002, area universities outside of Western’s beloved hilltopper that have competed include the University of Kentucky’s Scratch who competed in 2003 where he finished in seventh place and 2004 when he won Silver being beat out by the University of Montana’s Monte.
In 2006 Kentucky sent another mascot to the contest with “The Wildcat” who finished tenth. A few years later in 2009, the Cincinnati Bearcat won the whole thing. The following year the Bearcat returned to conclude the event in eighth place. Images courtesy of Surviving College and Facebook
