Sports Geek: Big Dee celebrates first birthday

Richard Briggs | Dixie Sun

Big Dee celebrates his first birthday during the next home basketball game. The mascot has turned out to be cooler than everyone thought.

So I was wrong. Big Dee doesn't look like Alf.

Through trial and error Dixie State College has found a mascot that will live on year after year (assuming we keep finding enthusiastic and athletic students to fill the costume). And now we celebrate the red bull's first birthday.

Big Dee has grown into his fur well, especially this school year. The mascot scores behind-the-back half-court shots, he leaps from a trampoline over the cheerleaders to smash home slam dunks, and he leaps onto the scorers table to start slow claps with the DSC fans.

The vision DSC Athletic Director Jason Boothe and Dean of Students Del Beatty had when Big Dee was created has come to life.

"Big Dee has overwhelmingly exceeded all of our expectations," Boothe said. "He is a fantastic addition to our game day environment and a tremendous ambassador for Dixie State."

Beatty had similar sentiments.

"Big Dee has been a tremendous addition to student life at Dixie State," Beatty said. "A few years ago as we were working to re-design the costume and to develop the type of mascot we wanted for Dixie, we worked hard to make sure it would be a mascot that would be mobile and able to entertain the crowds."

Even I couldn't have predicted that Big Dee would be as awesome as it's been. The fans seem to love it, and the energy level rises when Big Dee is inside Burns Arena. That's Bizzaro World compared to the reaction DSC's first bull mascot received in the winter of 2009.

(Cue British accent) It was 731 days before the unveiling of Big Dee. The campus of DSC had gone without a school nickname for some time. The students were sad and needed an identity. Then came DSC Student Association representatives and other students onto the hardwood floor of Burns Arena to announce Red Storm as the school's new nickname. Disapproval from the fans at this basketball game ensued. (End British accent).

This turnaround can turn into something more. The school spirit is coming back, and it's started with basketball games and Big Dee. There's still much to be done to get it where it needs to go, but having an awesome mascot can't hurt.

Two NBA mascots will come to DSC in February. The Jazz Bear comes to town on Feb. 11, and the Denver Nuggets' mascot Rocky appears on Feb. 25. This will be Big Dee's time to shine. The Jazz Bear stole Big Dee's thunder on Big Dee's opening night a year ago, and although Big Dee may still be in the Jazz Bear's shadow this year, at least Big Dee will have some of his own cool stunts to show off.

We finally have a cool a mascot to show off when schools come to St. George to play against our teams. The students who attend the games are doing a great job of participating with Big Dee in some of his antics. Let's keep the momentum going forward.

And to the person wearing the Big Dee costume: Keep up the amazing work.