To Tat or Not to Tat...That is the Blog

Many people have asked me over the years to describe the experience of being a mascot.  How could I sum it up?  I believe an answer that best describes the experience is this:  It's the only thing I've ever imagined tattooing on my body.


However, I'll admit that I've never pulled the trigger on getting one.  I just can't imagine something on my body like that 40 years from now. I have met and heard stories from many mascots who were so impacted and had such a great time portraying whatever character it was, that they got the mascot tattooed somewhere on their body.


To look more closely at the phenomenon of mascot performers getting tattoos of their mascot, I'm going to examine two collegiate mascot programs whose tattoo tradition, I have some knowledge of.  Everyone knows I'm a Michigan State Spartan, but I'm not going to start with the Sparty mascot program.  I'm going to start with another collegiate mascot program that I have great respect for, Aubie from Auburn.

I reached out to Aubie XXIII-XXIV to discuss the Aubie tattoo tradition in further detail.  Wait, what's XXIII-XXIV?  That's a little piece of college mascot history that I find very interesting.  All former Aubie performers are able to create their own unique identity by the roman numerals signifying their years performing as Aubie.  Some have chosen to get the roman numerals tattooed to serve as a memory.  Here is Aubie XXIII-XXIV's description of the tradition, "As for mascot tattoos, I do know a few guys that have them off hand. And there are probably more that I don't know about. It is true that all the "friends of Aubie" use roman numerals as a way to refer to their years of service. For instance, I was a part of Aubie XXIII-XXIV. I don't know where it started, but it's been referred to that way long before me as far back as I can remember. Aubie made his debut in 1979. As far as the number of guys that got Aubie tattoos over the years, I'm afraid that's a mystery to me too."  Interesting.

Aubie

Only Aubie tattoo I could find, I reached out to a few Aubies and didn't hear back.  If you have an image of the roman numeral tattoo...send it in!!

The Sparty mascot program is near and dear to my heart and I still feel like I'm a part of it.  However, one of the traditions that I didn't do was the tattooing of the Sparty head or logo on me.  Part of our tradition was that the tattoo was something you got after your time as Sparty was up.  A reason for the tattooing after your service was done, is due to the secrecy behind the identity of Sparty.  Bad karma has come the way of some performers who jumped the gun and got the Sparty tattoo before graduating.  There are no identifying numerals for Sparty that depict years of service, however guys have gotten images of full-Sparty, the signature or just the head.  It really varies in taste.

The face that inspired a few tattoos.

Sparty signature tattoo.

In summary, tattoos are for life.  In the case of mascot tattoos, I think those that get them, like having them as a reminder of the times that they've had.  It speaks volumes that someone can be so deeply impassioned by portraying a mascot.  I envy those who will be able to look at their shoulder or ankle or chest or wherever, see the mascot tattoo, and be brought back to a time when they were able to create a lifelong memory.