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Bird Brains
Most of this year's mascots say they never noticed Big Jay and Baby Jay until they thought about trying out. Chelsea Demars, Keller, Texas, graduate, says she used to hug the mascots and thought they were funny, but also thought they stunk. She never imagined being inside one. After two years of giving spirit to Baby Jay, she now has respect and a cool perspective on all the personalities at sporting events. "I see them all, from rowdy people who beat me up to kind children."
The mascots have various reasons for why they wanted to, literally, become Jayhawks. Demars and Kate Eichten, Topeka, graduate both around 5 feet 2 inches, say their height influenced them to try out. "There's not a lot you can do when you're short," she says. Jesse Plous, Leawood, senior, and Big Jay for one year, was overcome by the spirit of the Jayhawk at Traditions Night. Among the thousands of students, Plous found himself singing the alma mater and swaying arm in arm with complete strangers. "I knew then there was something different, something special, and I realized how proud I was to be a Jayhawk," Plous says.
Bird's Eye View
The mascots love what they do but wearing the costume isn't always the best part of the job.The mascots have a totally different experience than most students while attending games.The suit is not the most comfortable thing to wear. As Nick Erker, Wellington, graduate student, and Big Jay for two years puts it, "It's really, really, really hot." Even while it might be 30 or 40 degrees outside, it is still around 100 degrees in the suit, he says. The birds have to be in constant motion, which is like working out in a fur coat with weights in it. The heads are heavy. They reduce normal vision about 90 percent. The mascots have a lot of trouble walking down stairs and often plow over kids who run up and grab their legs.
Before games, the mascots have an adrenaline rush. Demars thinks about looking peppy, which she says is hard, especially if she's hungover. She is always thinking about being more animated and making people laugh. Elaine Jardon, Overland Park, junior, hopes she remembers the complicated pre-game routine but also says there is some goofing off before the game. "Most of the time we're just messing around," she says. "Unless the suit is not all there and then it's a wild goose chase to find Baby Jay's left wing or something. Then we're all laughing and trying to find it." For this reason, Tim Welch, Salina, junior, says he always has a checklist in his head before a game. With gloves, shoes, tail and all, it's a lot to remember. Erker just hopes the team wins. "It's hard to be peppy when we're losing," he says.
During games, the mascots mostly concentrate on not yelling and actually paying attention to their surroundings. Each of the mascots have a loud voice. But youd never hear it on the football field, the basketball court or the baseball diamond, because Big Jay and Baby Jay have to keep their mouths shut. The atmosphere of a game is much like an obstacle course for mascots. Plous says he primarily looks for hazards like small children and steps, then checks on how the team is doing and then tries to remember to wave to the crowd occasionally. After games, the mascots fight their way through a sea of people wanting pictures and autographs to make a mad dash for water, air and a shower.
At first glance the Jayhawk might not seem like the toughest mascot around. But it has a mean streak. Unfortunately, not all mascots are created equal. Here are some mascots that don't stand a chance in the world.
Being a mascot means never having a dull moment — and the mascots have many funny stories to share. Demars remembers in her first year as Baby Jay when the University of South Carolina's Gamecock got a little feisty. Demars ran away, but when Big Jay innocently went to say hello, the Gamecock started wailing on him. Erker will always remember his first appearance as Big Jay at the opening of a hair parlor because he had to jump on a trampoline with girls from the
Top ten weakest college mascots
A Little Bird Told Me
10. Sugar Bears
University of Central Arkansas Women's teams - where 9-year-old girls go to college.
9. Gentlemen
Centenary College of Louisiana
Where they pull out your chair and open doors
for you before every game.
8. Penguins
Youngstown State University Sure they're impressive in "March of the Penugs."
7. Violets
New York University They may be the bobcats now, but they'll never live this one down.
6. Squirrels
Mary Baldwin College
Look at me, I'm a fluffy-tailed little nut dealer.
5. Gulls
Endicott College Where they scavenge for food in the dump and annoy people at the beach.
4. Koalas
Columbia College Jack Black even called them sissies in School of Rock.
3. Blue Hens
University of Delaware Where flightless, egg-layers who submit to roosters, live.
2. Prairie Stars
University of Illinois-Springfield Why not go with something else, far from tough and sickeningly serene, like Prairie Wind or Prairie Field?
1. Banana Slug
University of California-Santa Cruz
All the hype this mascot has gotten has driven
me crazy. It's a slug. It's gross and slimy and you
can kill it with salt.
Women of KU calendar. Anonymity that comes with wearing the costumes allows the mascots to do things they wouldn't normally do. Eichten says she once accosted a Mizzou fan who was wearing a "hideous" tiger cowboy hat. She wiped her armpits with the hat and threw it down the stairs.
— Compiled by Erin Shipps
Plous was doing the circle run before the end of halftime of a women's basketball game versus Iowa State. He was rounding the half-court circle with Baby when his beak — from which he sees — was suddenly filled with Iowa State uniforms. He decided to get out of the way and speed up, only to see a giant number 23 fill his vision. He remembers hitting the floor and thinking "What the heck did I run into?" Turns out it was then junior guard, Erica Hallman. The whole place when silent as the two crashed and the announcer said, "Whoa, I hope Big Jay can recover from that one!"
Birds of a Feather
Mascots are not wannabe cheerleaders who couldn't make it. They are mascots to be mascots.They are a different breed."Mascots are not normal," says Jarzemkoski. "They say if you have ADHD you'd be a great mascot. These people have an even higher energy level out of suit than in it." They also wish fans understood that they can't always hear or see them."Sometimes people chase us down, screaming at us and we don't hear them until they're right behind us;" Jardon says. They also wish people wouldn't take their heads off or punch them in the head because it hurts even through the costume. "People get excited
and don't think," Erker says about his very first football game when a punch left a dent in Big Jay's head.
Bringing Big Jay and Baby Jay to life is hard work, but all the mascots say it's worth it. "There's nothing else like it, I get to be goofy, see places and it blows my mind," Jardon says. Welch says his private appearances make it worthwhile for him. He recently went to a preschool where the kids looked up to him — metaphorically and literally.
For future generations of mascots, one past Big Jay offers some words of wisdom: "Exaggerate everything and live life to the fullest, because normal actions just don't cut it," he says. He graduated last May and says his last time out as Big Jay during pre-game last year on Senior Day was just as exciting as his first. "I was in awe," he says. "Even more so than being in Madison Square Garden, I realized the importance of who I was. I looked up at the 16,000 fans in Allen Fieldhouse and felt chills run up my back."