What, exactly, is "Big Red", the Western Kentucky mascot?
You ever have a question that you just can't help but ask?
"Big Red"
© Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
What is this?
In an effort to satisfy my curiosity, I started digging.
It's name is "Big Red", officially described as a "huge, furry, loveable creature" by Western Kentucky University. It's also, officially, genderless.
WKU mascot guide, circa 2017
Big Red may be mute, but still has ways of expressing displeasure. Look at this response at not having the Big Red helmet decal chosen for the blackout game with Shaquille O'Neal in attendance.
Big Red loves animals.
And is pretty good at multiple sports.
Still doesn't answer what it is, though. Western Kentucky University is called the "Hilltoppers", a name which goes back to the relocation (and renaming) of the school in 1911. Western Kentucky State Normal School was moved to a hill, on the former site of then-closed Potter College for Women. For the move, students were seen carrying supplies "up the hill" to the new location, inspiring the name Hilltoppers.
This all makes perfect sense, if you think about it. The students had to carry things to the top of the hill, hence "Hilltoppers". The mascot is big and red, hence the name "Big Red". The logic's impeccable.
But here's what I'm concerned about:
Big Red's birthday is December 1st, 1979. Not "creation date", or "arrival date", or anything like that. BIRTHDAY. Day of its birth.
Which implies that this...thing, this amorphous blob of red belly shakes beloved by millions, can reproduce.
That there can be more of them.
Maybe there already is. Remember Grimace, from McDonalds? I'm not the only person that's had this idea.
At the end of the day, here's what we know:
Big Red is big, and red, and expressive despite the fact that it can't talk.
It's also beloved, but still doesn't hold a candle to our sweet prince, the TEN-TIME National Champion, Aubie the Tiger.
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