‘The Bird’ hopes to fend off ‘Aubie’ in mascot competition

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. John Ross
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) --  After defeating the University of Minnesota’s Goldie the gopher and Western Kentucky University’s Big Red, the Air Force Academy’s The Bird is now tied for the lead in the Mascot of the Year competition.

“Those guys were pretty tough,” The Bird said. “Goldie’s a clever little dude with that tail of his, and Big Red’s got those big belly slides he does. It’s taking everything I’ve got to win each week.”

After two weeks of competition, only two mascots remain undefeated. The Bird, with 199,742 votes, and James Madison University’s regal Duke Dog with 207,277 votes. The two will meet in week four.

“Duke Dog will be very hard to beat,” The Bird said, “but I have to be thinking one week at a time. Aubie’s going to be gunning for me.”

Auburn University’s Aubie the tiger is known for great dance moves and is The Bird’s prey for week three.

“His guitar playing is awful though,” The Bird said. “In fact, it kind of makes me go ballistic.”

The two have already had an incident, shown in a recent series of commercials. The Bird took Aubie’s guitar right out of his paws and threw it into a nearby swimming pool.

“I said I was sorry,” The Bird said of the mishap. “I don’t know why they had to put the footage in a commercial.”

Needless to say, there will be no love lost this week between The Bird and Aubie.

“I know I’ve got the greatest fans in the world behind me, so I can take him,” The Bird said. “I just want everybody to know we have to do this thing together. If they vote every day, that gives me room to work my magic.”

The mascot with the most votes at the end of the 11-week season will be awarded the popular vote, which counts for half the points in the contest. Winners are announced Jan. 1.