Mustangs...it's gonna be OK

[Nacho]

if a mustang is completely trained it is no longer a mustang. it is just another horse.

[jtstang]

I go to ALL of the games, as do my friends. We support SMU in the community and contribute a lot of money to the school.

Well here's a newsflash junior, the four of you do not make up the vast majority of alumni under 30. You can't even carry a simple majority within the 1500.

[SMU21TCU10]

This is ridiculous. SMU has one mascot and that is Peruna. Have your ceremony, draw attention to the worthy cause, ask for donations for godsake, and then send these horses back to the ranch they belong on permanently and get out of Peruna's damn way. Wake up Turner and prevent a trainwreck before it happens for once.

If this was a youtube post i would give it a thumbs up! Well said!

[couch 'em]

Good point. Continue ignoring the fans 30 and under and this program should really take off. Continue with game presentations that appeal to a 75+ demographic because they're the true die-hard fans. The product on the field is paramount to building a fan base, but it doesn't hurt update traditions to infuse a bit of life into the program.

Guess what: upgrading ANYTHING, other than winning, will do NOTHING to improve the fan base. Gameday presentation, mascot, colors, stadium, sound, band, cheerleaders, uniforms, ticket prices, in/out policy, NONE of that will help.

Why? Because that isn't the reason people stay away. Nobody has ever said "damn, I love going to watch SMU get pounded every game for years, but I'm not going because of that dumb mascot!". Nobody has ever said "despite our humiliating and soul-crushingly bad athletic performance, I'm going to watch that awesome mascot and listen to that great marching band!" Doesn't happen.

Go back and read some TCU student's opinions on the 'horned frog' as a mascot and 'purple' as a color when they were losing. Compare it to now.

[SMU21TCU10]

The riders are going to be the horses' trainers for the Navy game because the horses are still very unsettled and it would be dangerous for anybody else to ride them. They will only attend the halftime for the presentation to Turner by the Pickens.

You will not see them again until next year. This is their only appearance for this year as they have to further trained and the decisions made as to how to use them in addition to Peruna. The students will decide on the names later in the school year.

And how do you know all this?

[SMU21TCU10]

I am under 30. I started at SMU in 04. I have been to SMU games my whole life and Peruna is one of my favorite traditions! I specifically remember as a little kid when we played at the cotton bowl once being so excited when Peruna was walked by me! The tradition of two guys running Peruna across the field is something else I have always loved! Seeing Peruna on the Blvd is pretty cool too. How can you walk a once wild horse down the loud, crowded blvd?! Emelio and El whatever can kiss my [deleted]!

[Hoop Fan]

i graduated in the 90s. this is not about 1959. your arguments for a new mascot are weak at best.

I wonder how Tulsa recruits at all with its mascot or lack thereof. How does TCU recruit kids to wear purple and be called frogs? Proof that it doesn't matter a lick. Win and players and fans will wear purple and proudly call themselves frogs for godsake. This is just another form of inferiority complex by SMU and its own failure to produce competitive football.

[Dooby]

i graduated in the 90s. this is not about 1959. your arguments for a new mascot are weak at best.

I wonder how Tulsa recruits at all with its mascot or lack thereof. How does TCU recruit kids to wear purple and be called frogs? Proof that it doesn't matter a lick. Win and players and fans will wear purple and proudly call themselves frogs for godsake. This is just another form of inferiority complex by SMU and its own failure to produce competitive football.

well put

[JackSon 3]

You need to worry about putting butts in the seats. Alumni, staff and fans don't show up, it's a ghost town. The team is getting better. Maybe the students could actually show up and watch it happen.

[PK]

I'll say it again. The only Mustangs we need on the field are the ones in the uniforms playing the game and until they get their [deleted] together and start winning games consistently all the rest is superfluous. They don't need to be wasting time worrying about what is running out in front of them at the game...they need to be worrying about playing the game better and winning some fricking games against real teams.

[Hoop Fan]

Irony #3052: the guy who starts this thread wanting a bigger horsey calls himself PonyPatrol. Probably because the word Pony associates with the Pony Express which happened to be a cool, affectionate term made so by WINNERS and winning. There is no substitute. I'd rather have no mascot than demonstrate our inferiority complex and change a 70 year old tradition.

[Mama Bouche]

I'm in the Peruna camp. One of the great mascots in college football. I'm telling you even with two guys leading around the Mustang (a rider is just ridiculous), one miss-step and someone will be drug across the field, someone will get kicked and/or someone will be stomped. I've owned, trained and raised horses before. Can T Boone even afford the liability insurance after what has happened to his hedge fund? Stall on campus or with the equestrian team is fine. I even like Michael Martin Murphy, but this one is tough to take. I have a friendly wager on the game with an Academy grad/Hornet driver. I hope he doesn't see this. I'll never hear the end of it.Their mascot is Bill the Goat for crying out loud. Here's my suggestion for the name the T-shirt campaign: "Keep the pony, can the horse." Kinda catchy if you think about canned dog food.

[couch 'em]

I'd be fine with a herd of these things running around on campus.... such as just south of the Bush library. Just keep them out of the stadium - Peruna's turf.

[NickSMU17]

Class of 02 here and I will never donate or go to another game if peruna is taken away.....

[PlanoStang]

I can say with 100% certainty that the vast majority of alumni under 30 think Peruna is a joke and a longstanding symbol of our ineptitude. Like a previous poster mentioned, I too have heard players over the last 10 years complain about how ridiculous it is to have a DOG serve as our Mustang mascot. Some of you throwing these fits may want to question your criticisms of a perspective that is shared by many current and future SMU players.

I understand tradition and I appreciate how furvent some of the supporters on this board are about particular topics, but why does this offend so many of you? Peruna may have been relavant decades ago, but as our program teeters on extinction, it may be time to acknowledge a change is appropriate to connect with a new generation. All traditions must begin and end somehwere - this is evidence of a new beginning and hopefully it coincides with the rebirth of our program.

True, changing our mascot (to an infinitely more accurate representation of its name) will not win us more games this year. However, it will strip off another layer of perceived failure by our athletic department to represent a real football product.

There are much better ways of supporting your team than whining about the inevitable phasing-out of Peruna. This program needs to start embracing changes and not pointing to success that predates the current college football landscape. After 100 years in existence, SMU finally has real Mustangs. Personally, I think it's long overdue.

Most people 30 or under do NOT have fully developed brains, and do NOT realize the meaning of TRADITION



You can't coach against speed.