Where the F&%# is Rhett

On December 21, I attended the Mount St. Mary's/BU game at the Roof. At least I thought it was a home game at the Roof, but I couldn't really tell... because our damn mascot still doesn't show up for games!!!


Because of the joys of being an out-of-town fan, I have been to 3 regular season home games over the last 2 years. And our mascot Rhett has been at exactly none of them. Does he even freakin exist anymore? Or did they put him to sleep because he's too damn lazy? I remember when Rhett was a mascot I respected. His old suit used to be a bad-ass muscular physique, not the girly teddy-bear look he has now. And he showed up for EVERYTHING.

What is the point of having a mascot if he doesn't go to games? I don't care if he's been to every single hockey game (he probably has in fact!) - this school's athletic program is thankfully more than hockey. And don't tell me this is a holiday thing. The cheerleaders and the entire band were able to be at all of those games.

How sad is it that our mascot can't show up to a game, yet this guy is able to be there and waltz around our gym freely:

I'm serious. Who wears this to a BU game? The ticket guy at the entrance should have knocked this guy out.

We Must Protect This House: The GW Preview

Today is the day we get to find out if the performance at the Terrier Tip-off worked. Coach Chambers can scream all he wants to rally the students, but if they still don't come to fill up The Greek tonight for GW, you have to wonder if they ever will.

I remember vividly the first game at Agganis Arena, a hope-filled win over Vermont seen by over 5000, a number that hasn't been matched since. Here's hoping today brings us back to that first game.

GW and I go back a long time. As they're my local team now and knowing quite a few alums, I attended quite a few Colonial games in 07-08, and flirted with sub-fandom for a while. I even have GW t-shirt. But it was a love/hate relationship, and ultimately the inferiority of the First Ladies dance team and the creepiness of the mascots pushed me to Howard instead.

However GW is a team that should be doing better. Long-time readers will know that a frequent target of mine is "Little George," who was described thusly by a blog ranking the 25 worst college mascots:

For some reason, the Colonial reminds me of the Norseman, McKinley High's mascot in "Freaks and Geeks." Both are unintentionally terrifying, with their gigantic heads and soulless eyes. While the Colonial isn't sporting a spine-tingling grin, somehow his look of placid indifference is even scarier.

The bad mascot news doesn't end there those. GW features an odd mix of several miscast mascots (see chart).


Now, there fantastic news for Colonial Nation, as Little George has been retired. I guess they got tired of re-painting his papier-mache face every year (really..) and replaced him with a much, much, much better version of Little George. Now they just have to puncture the 10-foot tall inflatable Big George and we'll be in business.

Damian Hollis has been my favorite Colonial for a while, mostly because he constantly looks like he's about to fall asleep. He comes from a long line of tall, athletic GW forwards like Rob Diggs and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, but has never achieved on the level of those two - again, mostly because he's about to fall asleep.

Hollis is the best player, and I'm not sure what to expect from the rest of the team. GW sucked last year, but still beat us.

I do know that BU is going to have to cut down on fouls and turnovers this game. The shots will fall eventually. Hopefully, many will be there to hear it. Hmm, there's a tree-falling-in-the-woods analogy somewhere in there...

Big George, Raspy Elmore and Trailer Trash: The GW Preview

I have a love/hate relationship with GW. First off, it's practically the same exact school as BU in almost every way. I live about 3 blocks from the Charles Smith Center, and I've seen more GW games over the past 2 or 3 years than any other college besides BU. I've got plenty of friends who attended (Facebook lists 37, but even that might be low), a few past girlfriends, and I have a healthy respect for all things Colonial.

LOVE: Froggy Bottom Pub - the site of our biennial DC BU Alumni happy hour when BU comes to play GW in basketball.

HATE: The "G-G-G...G-DUUUB" chant at their games.

LOVE: Coach Karl Hobbs. He's basically Dean Elmore's clone, but a LOT better at basketball and a raspier voice. Seriously, which is which?!?? (OK, you can tell... but it's close.)




HATE: "Big George" the retarded-looking 12-foot tall mascot, and "Little George" the extremely creepy-looking 6-foot tall mascot. And for some reason a hippo. However, I'm hearing rumors that one or both George mascots will be getting an overhaul this season, welcome news indeed.

LOVE: The ladies of GW who visit McFaddens for Trailer Trash Tuesday $1 beer night.

HATE: The dudes of GW who visit McFaddens for Trailer Trash Tuesday $1 beer night.

The game should be a very good one. We haven't had much luck against them lately - as Matt Whitrock has noted, GW has won the last 4 matchups by 13 points each time. GW is way down again this year, and we're up. Last year, GW beat us (despite 100 screaming BU fans) but lost to both Binghamton and UMBC - that cannot happen again.

Over in enemy territory, the guy at GWhoops.com does a better job of breaking down the BU lineup than I ever could (find "Next: Boston U." on the lefthand side). He's right about the Terriers' front line, but I think he undersells BU's tremendous defense and the ability of Holland and Lowe to completely take over a game.

GW has insanely athletic big men, especially compared to us. The best Colonial is Rob Diggs, who has murdered us in the past few meetings. The other guy on the team that I like is Damian Hollis - he's got a good inside-out game and always seems to be dominating when I watch GW. He can also thrash down a nasty dunk. The problem with Hollis is he always looks like he's asleep. I'm hoping the Hot Dog can make a sign or a chant to that effect. GW is pretty weak on the perimeter and we have a major advantage there, however if you leave him alone Noel Wilmore will sink a 3-ball at the worst possible time.

It'll be interesting to see how Wolff will use the freshmen to combat GW's advantage down low. An article in the Freep today said Wolff might even start O'Brien today! I think all BU fans generally agreed that we thought we'd have a lineup like this:

G Morris
G Lowe
F Wolff
F Holland
C Brittain

If O'Brien starts (in place of Wolff? Brittain?), that would be an interesting way to shake things up. Oh, and the High Roller mentioned it yesterday, but for those out of town, the game will be streamed on the 'net - you have to pay for it but whatev.

My prediction for the game: BU 73 GW 65

[UPDATE] And we have our answer on the starting lineup question. According to the Hot Dog, Scott Brittain will not play tonight due to a concussion sustained in practice this week. This hurts when going up against a team with such a huge inside presence. Look for freshman Jake O'Brien to take Scott's place, with Vlad Sirutis and fellow frosh Jeff Pelage getting serious minutes as well.