Pics, Tweets and all things Reunion thread

I don't know about the emotion part, but why does it have to a pressing issue? It's a mascot people like, bring it back. That's not a pressing issue. A pressing issue would be having so many games at 6 pm. It's almost impossible to get to Norman by 6 if you work in the city. Top Daug could be brought back in 10 seconds. "Hey, TopDaug will be the basketball teams's mascot for now on." Done.

Okay, so we agree that he has more pressing issues to deal with... That would probably be why he's tired of hearing about it. And, the fact that our administration is actually listening and looking for valuable fan input, and they just keep hearing about a fuzzy mascot probably makes them shake their head... Personally, it makes me wonder why we as a fanbase even deserve to be heard if that's the only thing we can come up with.
 
Okay, so we agree that he has more pressing issues to deal with... That would probably be why he's tired of hearing about it.
No, I said it's not a pressing issue at all. Easy way to stop hearing about it.

And, the fact that our administration is actually listening and looking for valuable fan input, and they just keep hearing about a fuzzy mascot probably makes them shake their head... Personally, it makes me wonder why we as a fanbase even deserve to be heard if that's the only thing we can come up with.
You act like people are rioting over Top Daug, or making a large deal out of it. It's a simple suggestion and an easy fix. The people making a big deal about it are the people responding to the reasonable request being made. And lol at deserve to be heard.
 
I got to talk to Coach Kruger briefly after the game when I got a tour of the facilities. What a nice guy. I got introduced to him as "Coach Kruger", and he called me by name and called himself Lonny Kruger. The little things count, and Coach K seems to know that. I was extremely impressed by him and by the current players. Of course, Joe C. was the opposite, but I've grown to expect that from him.

What I found quite funny is that the former players didn't seem to talk much to the current players. It was almost as if they were saying, "Screw you. You haven't earned your stripes. You're not in the fraternity yet."
 
The switch from Topdaug to the Horses falls into the category of, "If it's not broke, don't fix it."

Thus, the same questions some of you are asking can (and should) be asked of the administrators who made that decision. There had to be more pressing issues facing the basketball program during the time Topdaug was given the boot.

That said, no one is saying there aren't more important things needing attention than a couple of hokie mascots. Personally, I liked Topdaug better, and it's obvious I'm not alone in those thoughts. This has been a hot topic at times the past two or three years. Maybe that's because Topdaug was part of the tradition, and no one bothered to explain why he was replaced. I don't mean to me. But fans, as a whole, deserved to know.
 
I'm not a huge donor or anything, but have actually been impressed that I received a response to an email that I wrote to Joe C. and the degree of time and thoughtfulness that went into it. In a public setting, he is consistently getting hit with things, and although that is part of the job, I have heard that he does keep his guard up.

As to Top Dawg, he or "it" is just a part of OU Basketball tradition, a tradition that is considered by independent observers to be pretty fantastic and in the Top 25 in the country. I really don't have an opinion one way or another on the new mascots, but taking Top Dawg out of the LNC was the equivalent of what getting rid of the Sooner Schooner would be to football games.
 
As to Top Dawg, he or "it" is just a part of OU Basketball tradition, a tradition that is considered by independent observers to be pretty fantastic and in the Top 25 in the country. I really don't have an opinion one way or another on the new mascots, but taking Top Dawg out of the LNC was the equivalent of what getting rid of the Sooner Schooner would be to football games.

Well said. You made my point much better than I was able to accomplish in my feeble attempt.
 
As to Top Dawg, he or "it" is just a part of OU Basketball tradition, a tradition that is considered by independent observers to be pretty fantastic and in the Top 25 in the country. I really don't have an opinion one way or another on the new mascots, but taking Top Dawg out of the LNC was the equivalent of what getting rid of the Sooner Schooner would be to football games.

Nonsense.

I bet there are very few outside the OU basketball family that even knew who/what Top Dawg was. College football fans around the country and world know the schooner means OU football. Apples and oranges.

Some of you are missing the point. OU didn't take away Top Dawg to improve the OU basketball game day experience. They didn't care if it improved it or not. They didn't care if it made the experience worse or not. They did it, quite simply, to help consolidate the "OU brand". Simple as that. Instead of having 2, or 3, or more mascots running around, they wanted to focus on our main mascot, the one's recognized nation-wide b/c of our football program. Same with the logo stuff. It just makes sense to consolidate all of that into as few items as possible.

Joe C. isn't going to bring Top Dawg back, b/c it would go against the school's overall marketing plan. Agree or disagree, it appears to be a dead issue. And even though it sure seems like a lot of folks are upset about Top Dawg being gone, the group that is upset, while an important group, is still a fraction of the fan base these changes in marketing were targeting.
 
Nonsense.

I bet there are very few outside the OU basketball family that even knew who/what Top Dawg was. College football fans around the country and world know the schooner means OU football. Apples and oranges.

Some of you are missing the point. OU didn't take away Top Dawg to improve the OU basketball game day experience. They didn't care if it improved it or not. They didn't care if it made the experience worse or not. They did it, quite simply, to help consolidate the "OU brand". Simple as that. Instead of having 2, or 3, or more mascots running around, they wanted to focus on our main mascot, the one's recognized nation-wide b/c of our football program. Same with the logo stuff. It just makes sense to consolidate all of that into as few items as possible.

Joe C. isn't going to bring Top Dawg back, b/c it would go against the school's overall marketing plan. Agree or disagree, it appears to be a dead issue. And even though it sure seems like a lot of folks are upset about Top Dawg being gone, the group that is upset, while an important group, is still a fraction of the fan base these changes in marketing were targeting.

It obviously means something to the hardcore 4K basketball fans that actually attend the majority of the games.

Why not have both for some of the bigger games? What is the harm in that. They should bring topdaug back for the big games to help energize the crowd (isn't that the point of a mascot?)
 
Bringing back TD now would be nothing more than a gimmick. The time to do it would be during a strong season, at an important game. Hype it up as a big comeback. Right now it would not move the needle.
 
Nonsense.

I bet there are very few outside the OU basketball family that even knew who/what Top Dawg was. College football fans around the country and world know the schooner means OU football. Apples and oranges.

Some of you are missing the point. OU didn't take away Top Dawg to improve the OU basketball game day experience. They didn't care if it improved it or not. They didn't care if it made the experience worse or not. They did it, quite simply, to help consolidate the "OU brand". Simple as that. Instead of having 2, or 3, or more mascots running around, they wanted to focus on our main mascot, the one's recognized nation-wide b/c of our football program. Same with the logo stuff. It just makes sense to consolidate all of that into as few items as possible.

Joe C. isn't going to bring Top Dawg back, b/c it would go against the school's overall marketing plan. Agree or disagree, it appears to be a dead issue. And even though it sure seems like a lot of folks are upset about Top Dawg being gone, the group that is upset, while an important group, is still a fraction of the fan base these changes in marketing were targeting.

You're correct. It was also to incorporate the mascots into all sports, not just men's basketball. And probably geared more towards kids as well.
 
Nonsense.

I bet there are very few outside the OU basketball family that even knew who/what Top Dawg was. College football fans around the country and world know the schooner means OU football. Apples and oranges..

I've always been a "family first" kind of guy! I don't disagree with anything you said from a "branding" perspective, and OU made it through the loss of Little Red and Mex the Dog, so the loss of Top Dawg will probably just give me something to look back on and smile about every now and then, just like the other past "mascots" that were before my time gained iconic status to OU fans in those generations.
 
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