Squirrel Thoughts

Today, while I was tending to very important work-related matters on Facebook, I came across this article several Griz faithful had reposted.

While I don’t really care about the rest of the article, this quote from the South Dakota quarterback, who recently played Nebraska in front of more than 85,000 people in the Cornhuskers’ stadium, piqued my interest:

“Coming here, we thought this would be the loudest crowd we’ve ever faced,” quarterback Thomas O’Brien said. “But I’d say Montana was quite a bit louder.”

That’s right, biotches. Despite your big-name stadiums that hold two or three times as many people, the 26,000 fans who pack Washington-Grizzly Stadium will still blow you out of the water.

The fact that Wa-Griz is basically in a hole surrounded by sound-deflecting mountains may significantly contribute to the acoustics that enable this deafening crowd noise. However, that is not the point. The point is that Montana is awesome, and every other team that plays in every other stadium can suck it.

Washington-Grizzly Stadium (egriz.com photo)

This also proves Montana pretty much has the best fans in the country. And you know who’s behind every good fan base? Why, the mascot, of course! So go vote for Monte in the Capital One Bowl Mascot Challenge. He’s in a tight battle with that damn nut from Ohio State, who’s trying to get sympathy votes because he can’t defend himself from a Bobcat.

Griz Nation, I’m sure you’ll agree that’s just pathetic. Please, for the love beans, don’t let him lose to that.

Well kids, it’s official — I’ve taken my obsession with mascots to a whole new level.

This is perfectly normal. Trust me.

“But Squirrel,” you may inquire, “how, pray tell, is that even possible?”

Oh, it’s possible, people. It’s possible because I found out this morning that I am the official blogger representing the University of Montana in the Capital One Mascot Challenge.

If you don’t already know, UM mascot Monte is in the running for National Mascot of the Year accolades (a crown he’s won twice in the past, a feat no other mascot has accomplished ever in the history of the world). The Capital One folks teamed up with Danielle Smith at extraordinarymommy.com to present the Capital One Mascot Challenge Blogger Contest, and they chose me as the official blogger to represent UM! This means I am practically famous now!

But it also means it’s my job to get out the word on voting for Monte in the mascot challenge. You can do so here or by texting “Monte” to 69866. (Because the competition was so fierce last week in the matchup between Monte and Old Dominion’s Big Blue, Capital One adjusted the rules so you can only vote 250 times an hour. But still … )

So stay tuned for the most in-depth mascot news Squirrel Thoughts has ever provided! And get out there and vote, people! And you may as well spread the word about the contest while you’re at it. Let’s show the rest of the country what Griz Nation is all about!

EDITOR’S NOTE: I promise that tomorrow I will have a post on my epic Conan adventure, with photos. A masterpiece such as this takes time. I’m working on it. For now, you can enjoy the following post on another obnoxious obsession of mine: mascots!

When I first saw pictures of Wenlock and Mandeville, the mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, I was like, “What the F? These mascots are just one-eyed blobs of metal! There’s nothing cute and fluffy about that!” I’m pretty biased toward creatures of the cute and fluffy variety, so this was  a huge letdown, initially.

(Our London 2012 photo)

But then I watched this video about them, and they’re actually pretty awesome. I mean, what kind of  heartless brute could resist Wenlock posing like Usain Bolt? Totally adorbs! I’ve had such a change of heart that I even decided to be best friends with them on Facebook! (OK, we’re technically not “friends,” per se, but I am a fan. They’ll notice me some day!)

With all these exciting developments, I’m not sure I can wait another 799 days for the Olympics to start!

For the first few weeks we had Pancake, Zach and I worried that we’d taken in some sort of freak bunny who just sits in her cage all the time, plotting the evil humans’ demise. She refused to leave her cage, despite the door being wide open with a hearty helping of hay resting on it, in an apparently feeble attempt to coax her out.

Deadly red-eyed rabbit ninja bunny will eat you next!

Now, I know you’re supposed to love your animals for who they are, even if they’re not exactly how you want them to be. But damnit, I wanted a bunny that hopped and played around the house and could learn to walk on a leash and would like to some day get dressed up in cute little costumes like Tilly VonTiltenHausen here (just kidding — I would never subject Pancake to that. That rabbit just looks pissed off.)

But the other day, Zach had the brilliant idea that perhaps it was just too difficult, physically, for her to get out of her cage, since she had to go up and over and across the wire door, which hindered any attempts for her to break free.

So on Saturday, we basically just took the top of the cage off, and it took about two minutes for her to figure out that she could hop over the edge and explore the great unknown. Then we revamped her cage so the door opens flat against the floor, so it’s much easier for her to get in and out. And now she’s out there Jerry and she’s lovin’ every minute of it!!!

Look at her go! We’re so proud of our lil Pancake!

Now, if she would just let us pet/hold her so we could run a brush through her scraggly baby fur, maybe she wouldn’t look like such a damn ragamuffin. One step at a time though.

In my quest last week to find as much information as possible on owning a new bunny, I came across bunspace.com. It’s basically MySpace/Facebook for bunnies. No, not bunny owners. The bunnies themselves.

Well, OK, the bunnies aren’t actually posting photos and updating their statuses (they lack opposable thumbs); their owners are. But from the perspective of their bunnies. As in, instead of posting “I just fed Hopperton some lettuce and he loved it!” it appears on the site as “OMB! Mom just gave me some lettuces and it was super yum yums!”

Though you already may have suspected it, I’ll just tell you right now: These people are crazy. Crazy delightful!

Now, I could say the only reason I signed up was because I couldn’t post a question if I didn’t, but we all know that would be a bold-faced lie. I wanted to join in this absurdity the minute I found it, and Pancake was a proud owner of a bunspace.com profile about 30 seconds later.

As expected, Pancake was an instant hit on BunSpace. She had about 25 “bunny buddy” requests the first day, and she’s easily on pace to surpass Zach’s number of Facebook friends. (“Hey dude, heard your pet rabbit has more social networking friends than you do. BURN!”)

Despite all the silliness it entails, the people on the site are just really enthusiastic bunny owners who’ve been very helpful and encouraging. And they’re all rooting on shy lil Pancake to take her first brave steps out of the cage (it has to happen someday… ). Plus, someone posted this photo on her profile:

It just doesn’t get any better than that.