This is not the SMU I used to know!

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

Let's play football. Enough horse b.s.

This message board has become an embarrassment.

Um, the embarrassment is the administration for their [deleted] poor handling of this situation.

[ponydawg]

This isn't the SMU I used to know either! We are 3-2!

Mission Statement:

1) Beat Navy
2) Save Peruna
3) Return VHS copy of "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo" to sound warehouse.

[Garret]

I am sure there were traditionalists at Hawaii that were against changing the name from Rainbow Warriors to Warriors. Think about that change.

Yeah, I'm sure there were. But their voices maybe weren't as loud as ours are. And, Peruna has been around as the SMU mascot longer than Hawaii has been a state in the union. Thank about that.

I'm going to post here what I sent a regular here via PM:

Believe it or not, the outcry was WORSE when JJ changed from the Rainbow to Warrior and changed to the "H" logo. It was led by the head newscaster on the #1 TV news show in Hawaii (he has more than half of the TV news market share in Hawaii) who criticized the change and STILL called UH the "Rainbows" and still goes on anti-JJ rants. He was still criticizing JJ for it when Hawaii was 12-0.

A decade or so later, 99% of Hawaii fans are happy with the change, the recruits especially are happy with the branding, and the "H" logo clothes are huge sellers for Hawaii.

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

This isn't the SMU I used to know either! We are 3-2!

Mission Statement:

1) Beat Navy
2) Save Peruna
3) Return VHS copy of "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo" to sound warehouse.

Well, I have a Delorean with a Flux Capacitor available to you when you're ready to complete #3.

[EastStang]

I think its more incompetence and ignorance than lack of caring. They are trying to rebrand the product, but didn't test market the new brand. Someone compared this to the New Coke, or my favorite Schlitz beer, as a marketing disaster. If you recall, Coke was worried about losing market share to Pepsi among young soda drinkers, so it changed the formula of the best selling soft drink in the world and guess what, people stopped drinking it. Schlitz was tired of being the #2 selling beer in the USA to Bud and changed its formula to taste like, but, guess what, people stopped drinking it and a few years later Schlitz was gone. Now, SMU takes on 20 years of losing by diminishing the role of the one thing that ties it to the glory days, its mascot without running it by all the constituencies of the University and in fact trying to pass it off as some charitable endeavor. Steve we have a very good marketing department in the business school, I think you need to visit with some of the professors.

[couch 'em]

And worse, by framing it as charity, they are just outright trying to deceive us!

[KnuckleStang]

And worse, by framing it as charity, they are just outright trying to deceive us!

That is what I am saying. Go back and read the article, watch the video, then read Orsini's letter again, and the top of your head will blow off

[OR-See-Nee]

I think its more incompetence and ignorance than lack of caring. They are trying to rebrand the product, but didn't test market the new brand. Someone compared this to the New Coke, or my favorite Schlitz beer, as a marketing disaster. If you recall, Coke was worried about losing market share to Pepsi among young soda drinkers, so it changed the formula of the best selling soft drink in the world and guess what, people stopped drinking it. Schlitz was tired of being the #2 selling beer in the USA to Bud and changed its formula to taste like, but, guess what, people stopped drinking it and a few years later Schlitz was gone. Now, SMU takes on 20 years of losing by diminishing the role of the one thing that ties it to the glory days, its mascot without running it by all the constituencies of the University and in fact trying to pass it off as some charitable endeavor. Steve we have a very good marketing department in the business school, I think you need to visit with some of the professors.

Or the change to the SMU logo a few years ago.

[VarsityShop]

Believe it or not, the outcry was WORSE when JJ changed from the Rainbow to Warrior and changed to the "H" logo. It was led by the head newscaster on the #1 TV news show in Hawaii who criticized the change. He was still criticizing JJ for it when Hawaii was 12-0. A decade or so later, 99% of Hawaii fans are happy with the change,

Thanks for the insightful information. It will be the same here. Eventually the new horse will be very popular. You must realize no matter what you do some people will not be happy.

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

Believe it or not, the outcry was WORSE when JJ changed from the Rainbow to Warrior and changed to the "H" logo. It was led by the head newscaster on the #1 TV news show in Hawaii who criticized the change. He was still criticizing JJ for it when Hawaii was 12-0. A decade or so later, 99% of Hawaii fans are happy with the change,

Thanks for the insightful information. It will be the same here. Eventually the new horse will be very popular. You must realize no matter what you do some people will not be happy.

So...how many times today have you told JJ and Steve-O "Me love you long time?"

[George S. Patton]

Believe it or not, the outcry was WORSE when JJ changed from the Rainbow to Warrior and changed to the "H" logo. It was led by the head newscaster on the #1 TV news show in Hawaii who criticized the change. He was still criticizing JJ for it when Hawaii was 12-0. A decade or so later, 99% of Hawaii fans are happy with the change,

Thanks for the insightful information. It will be the same here. Eventually the new horse will be very popular. You must realize no matter what you do some people will not be happy.

Ever get the feeling that Varsity Slop is just a recording? Pretty clear this individual has no soul.

[Stallion]

the horse "will be very popular"? I thought no decision had been made([deleted] [deleted]) about the future of the two Donkeys. You need to get the proganda straight or you might get tossed by your boss.

[PonySoprano]

Eventually the new horse will be very popular. You must realize no matter what you do some people will not be happy.

Popular? Only if we have a large influx of Texas Tech grads to our fan base.

Peruna is popular because he is one of the few live mascots in the country that fans can get close to. You can't go up and pet Bevo or the Baylor bear.

Two dudes on horses does not help your fanbase connect with your mascot - people focus on the people riding the horses, not the poor beast of burden that is hauling the person around.

Why do we take something that makes us different and trash it? We are already lost in the college football landscape and this an additional loss of our identity.

[ozfan]

but to bash those in charge as if they don't care or are deliberately trying to move in a negative direction is pure idiocy.

How do you know that they don't care? I get that they want to move the football program and athletics in the right direction, but at the expense of a tradition that goes back to the 1930s?

Would you call that a really sound decision? These quotes from the Botox queen is from somebody who doesn't give a damn about our university and will only use this school to advance her political cause.

So disappointing.

A tradition that goes back to the 1930s is not old by my standards. I was born in the 1930s and the mascot is not that much older than I am. This is a chance to fix what should not have happened in the first place. Either go with a Mustang as the mascot or keep the pony and change the name of the school teams to the Ponies and drop the Mustang as the school team name.

[mr. pony]

[quote="Garret
Believe it or not, the outcry was WORSE when JJ changed from the Rainbow to Warrior and changed to the "H" logo. It was led by the head newscaster on the #1 TV news show in Hawaii (he has more than half of the TV news market share in Hawaii) who criticized the change and STILL called UH the "Rainbows" and still goes on anti-JJ rants. He was still criticizing JJ for it when Hawaii was 12-0.

A decade or so later, 99% of Hawaii fans are happy with the change, the recruits especially are happy with the branding, and the "H" logo clothes are huge sellers for Hawaii.[/quote]

Jones changed the name from "Rainbow Warriors" to just plain "Warriors."
Fans had called them the "'Bows" or "Rainbows" for short.

I don't know if we can judge which outcry will be worse yet.