Houston Mascot Moves On After Fighting Oregon's Duck
Sept. 18, 2007(CSTV U-WIRE) HOUSTON — Houston junior Matt Stolt admits he was somewhat nervous when he took the field last weekend in New Orleans dressed as Shasta, the Cougars’ male mascot.
Houston was preparing for its Conference USA opener against Tulane, but Stolt, who doubles as a walk-on wide receiver for the football team, was on the lookout for a possible confrontation with Tulane’s mascot, a pelican named Riptide.
After suffering what he deemed an unnecessary assault at the hands of the University of Oregon’s mascot, the Duck, on Sept. 1, Stolt couldn’t take any chances. He wasn’t sure whether Riptide would try to goad him into a fight after he hardly fought back against the Duck, save for a blindside tackle.
Fortunately for Stolt, there was no altercation with Riptide. The Cougars defeated the Green Wave 34-10, and Stolt made it through just his second game as Shasta with no conflict.
More importantly, he managed to escape the weekend without any embarrassing videos of him fighting an opposing mascot being posted on YouTube or broadcast to national audiences on networks such as ESPN and CNN, as was the case last week.
Life is almost back to normal for Stolt, who gave the Daily Cougar an exclusive interview on Sunday.
The Daily Cougar: How did that first game back feel after everything that happened last two weeks?
Stolt: It was a little exciting. I didn’t know what to expect, if the other mascot was going to cause drama or if everything was going to be cool. I didn’t know how the fans were going to be acting, so it was kind of a new feeling, new situation and new butterflies.
The Daily Cougar: Were there any Tulane fans who heckled you? Did the mascot try to take a shot?
Stolt: To tell the truth, the Tulane mascot came out for the first part of the game and disappeared [after that] . He might have been scared, but I really have no idea why he wasn’t hanging around. None of the Tulane fans said anything to me, the Pelican didn’t come around me at all and none of the Tulane players or cheerleaders talked to me. Turner: Now, I know you’re a walk-on wide receiver for the Cougar football team. Have your teammates been giving you a lot of flak over the incident with the Oregon mascot?
I mean, to be on a football team, which is considered a manly sport, and to see videos of me getting beat up by a duck, of course it’s going to be a little embarrassing. (My teammates) have the right to kind of poke fun at me.
The Daily Cougar: Most observers seem to think that you took the high road by not going blow-for-blow with the Duck. You were the recipient of quite a few shots, but you come off looking like the bigger man.
Stolt: Yeah, that’s true. If you look back at the videos on YouTube, you can see I had my hands up; I’m not fighting. I’m not the one causing a bunch of problems. The Duck just got out of hand.
The Daily Cougar: No doubt, that’s an experience you’ll probably remember for some time.
Stolt: Yeah. I don’t think anyone will let me forget. (Laughs) People have been picking the video up off yahoo.com; it’s a big deal. It’s kind of a shame because people should be focusing on football. There’s been millions of mascot fights, and there’s been better ones. There’s nothing to see except me just sitting there taking it from the Duck. But people are liking it, watching it and just eating it up. The bottom line is that it’s funny. I watch it and laugh at it, and it’s me. I’ve seen all the videos and they keep making new ones with music and all kinds of stuff. It’s a good lesson, and it’s something that sucks, but it was a lose-lose situation. It doesn’t make UH or myself look bad.
