Meet the Competitors of Mascot Madness 2019 – Region 2

Our yearly competition to figure out who is New York’s number one mascot has returned! We’re celebrating our 7th anniversary of the SUNY Mascot Madness tournament, and we’re excited to see what our 34 mascot competitors bring to the table this year. Our mascots are eagerly anticipating the first round, which kicks off on Tuesday, March 19. The schedule for the entire tournament is as follows, by round:

• Round 1: Tuesday, March 19 12:00 p.m. – Friday, March 22 3:00 p.m.
• Round 2: Tuesday, March 26 12:00 p.m. – Thursday, March 28 3:00 p.m.
• Round 3: Friday, March 29 12:00 p.m. – Tuesday, April 2 3:00 p.m.
• Final Four: Wednesday, April 3 12:00 p.m. – Friday, April 5 3:00 p.m.
• Finals: Tuesday, April 9 12:00 p.m. – Thursday, April 11 3:00 p.m.

Yet before you cast your vote, you need to get to know our competitors and what they’re all about. Check out the profiles below, in alphabetical order, to learn all about our competing SUNY Mascots in Region 2 of this year’s bracket to help you make your decision:

Baxter Bearcat – Binghamton University | Big Blue – Alfred State | Blaze – SUNY Cortland | Hugo the Hawk – New Paltz | Leo the Lio – Nassau CC | Perseus Panther – SUNY Purchase | Red Baron – Corning CC | Reggie Raider – Fulton Montgomery CC | Stitch – Fashion Institute of Technology 

1. Who are you, where are you from, and who do you represent?
   “I’m Baxter from upstate and I’m here to say, I represent Bing in a premier way.”
   I try really hard, okay?
2. What is your wackiest attribute?
   I can recite Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” from memory. True story.
3. What would your autobiography be called and why?
   “Dat Bearcat Tho: A Story of Mascotting, Diehard Fans and a Whole Lotta Fur”.
4. What is the biggest school victory/triumph you have been witness to?
   That’s hard to say because Binghamton University triumphs in some regard every single day. Maybe our new Pharmacy School. It’s a real beaut.
5. Who is your on-campus partner that helps you stay on top of your game, the Robin to your Batman?
   Does Batman have 17,000+ Robins at his side? Because every Binghamton student is my sidekick. It’s just so hard to find good tights in Pantone 342.
6. If you could trade places with any mascot for a day, who would it be and why?
   I’d trade with the Kool-Aid Man because it’d be great to crash through walls.
7. Should you make it to the finals, what would your entrance song be when you enter the final competition?
   “Baby Shark”.
8. What is your favorite series to binge watch?
   Surprisingly, “The Dog Whisperer”.
9. Everyone has a good app idea. What’s yours?
   UberBaxter. Place your order and I’m there in 30 minutes or less to get you psyched. Work, home, the laundromat, Target. You name it.
10. What one fact about your school do you love to surprise your fans with?
    Not everyone here is from Long Island. Mic drop.

1. Who are you, where are you from, and who do you represent?
   I am Big Blue, the new mascot for Alfred State. I reside in the college farm just outside of the main campus. I represent our 19 intercollegiate athletic teams and the great students and staff of Alfred State.
2. What is your wackiest attribute?
   I am an Ox but I am more comfortable walking on two feet which has allowed me to study and become a black belt kung fu master.
3. What would your autobiography be called and why?
   “Rolling with Big Blue – Life Leading the Charge”. My main job has always been to pull the covered wagon on all our adventures but when I am not doing that I am leading the team into battle and leading the cheers from the sideline.
4. What is the biggest school victory/triumph you have been witness to?
   When I was the mascot in waiting last year I snuck down to Texas with our wrestling team to see Ian Van Valen win the NCWA National Championship in dominating fashion.
5. Who is your on-campus partner that helps you stay on top of your game, the Robin to your Batman?
   Orvis, our retired mascot. I watched how Orvis did his responsibilities and model myself after him. I still hang out around the campfire with him the night before a big games.
6. If you could trade places with any mascot for a day, who would it be and why?
   Benny the Bull from the Chicago Bulls. I have always looked up to him and remember how he got the crowd pumped during the Michael Jordan Championship Era. I also think it would have been fun to hang out with Dennis Rodman.
7. Should you make it to the finals, what would your entrance song be when you enter the final competition?
   Started from the Bottom by Drake – the version without the curse words.
8. What is your favorite series to binge watch?
   Little House of the Prairie, Around the Horn, and the movie Mascots.
9. Everyone has a good app idea. What’s yours?
   I would make an app that creates real waffles instantly – I LOVE WAFFLES!
10. What one fact about your school do you love to surprise your fans with?
    I was a prize recruit for our football team years ago but we were never able to find a helmet large enough to allow me to participate. I was going to either study culinary arts or interior design.

1. Who are you, where are you from, and who do you represent?
   My friends call me Blaze, and I represent the best all-around college on the planet, SUNY Cortland. They call me Blaze because my real name is largely unpronounceable by my SUNY peeps. See, my branch of the dragon family tree has its roots in the Celtic kingdoms of Wales. (My hatch name is Y Ddraig Goch if you want to give it a try) In fact, you may have noticed that one of my ancestors posed for the traditional Welsh flag — carried into battle by King Arthur, and still flown today!
2. What is your wackiest attribute?
   Seriously? Do you have any idea what happened to the last person who called me wacky? I am a fire-breathing, castle-destroying, population-threatening legendary beast of unimagined power. Nobody calls me wacky. I am enchantingly eccentric.
   But OK, if you MUST have an answer, people are usually surprised to learn that my shorts are grafted onto my body.
3. What would your autobiography be called and why?
   “Angela’s Ashes.” Angie was the first person to stand too close to me when I sneezed.
4. What is the biggest school victory/triumph you have been witness to?
   That’s a tough one. Nearly everything that happens at SUNY Cortland is an epic victory/triumph.
5. Who is your on-campus partner that helps you stay on top of your game, the Robin to your Batman?
   Without question, that would be President Erik J. Bitterbaum. He’s been great. We’re usually at all the same campus events, and he frequently fills in for me when I’m busy doing important dragon stuff. He loves engaging with students, alumni, faculty, staff and community members, and gives them his full attention. He’s smart, compassionate and level-headed. Which is good, because I tend to get mad and incinerate people.
6. If you could trade places with any mascot for a day, who would it be and why?
   That salamander dude from Oneonta. To show them how Red Dragon is DONE.
   
7. Should you make it to the finals, what would your entrance song be when you enter the final competition?
   “Dragon Age” by Lindsey Stirling. Did you know that Lindsey performed at SUNY Cortland in 2012? The crowd was so big that the College had to stop admitting people into the venue. So, what did this avant-garde violinist/dancer/YouTube star/dragon-lover do? She performed an unplanned SECOND show THAT SAME NIGHT so she wouldn’t disappoint her fans! Now THAT’s Red Dragon Strong!
8. What is your favorite series to binge watch?
   Um, duh, “Game of Thrones.” Three of my cousins are on it. You know them as the dreaded Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion. But to me, they’re just Danny, Rachael and Vinny. We used to sneak away together during family reunions and devour herds of sheep. Once, Vinny got caught with burnt wool hanging from his teeth. He told his parents he’d just been flossing! And they believed him! Can you believe it! Hahaha … good times, good times. My cousins. Always causing trouble, the scamps!
9. Everyone has a good app idea. What’s yours?
   Match.com. No, it’s not that lame dating app. Dragons think more literally. With my app, you just strike the icon and flames shoot from your phone.
10. What one fact about your school do you love to surprise your fans with?
    SUNY Cortland has been providing life-changing educational experiences for students for 150 years and is in the middle of a year-long Sesquicentennial Celebration! A century and a half is an impressively long time to maintain that standard of excellence. If you’re human, that is. It’s less than a decade in dragon years. But still…

1. Who are you, where are you from, and who do you represent?
   I am Hugo the Hawk and I hail from the Shawangunk Mountains in the Hudson Valley. From a young age I always wanted to help people. I was tired of constantly flying over people and looking down on them. I always thought to myself “I want to make everyone fly.” I knew that human beings cannot fly on their own, but I wanted to make them fly somehow. I flew over to SUNY New Paltz and made that campus my nest. Now I makes students, faculty, and staff “fly” through encouragement. Everyone flies in my eyes because of their hard work determination and resilience. Sure I represent many sports teams, but I also represent many student scholars and club leaders. It is through these many representations that I learned that people do not need wings to fly.
2. What is your wackiest attribute?
   My wackiest attribute is his ability to eat twenty earthworms at one time.
3. What would your autobiography be called and why?
   If I had to have an autobiography it would be called “Blue Blur” because I’m simply too fast.
4. What is the biggest school victory/triumph you have been witness to?
   The biggest victory that I have seen the school have is the participation in the SUNY’s Got Your Back Program in which volunteers packed comfort bags for victims of sexual assault. Our participation in the program and our acknowledgment of the issue was a victory to me.
5. Who is your on-campus partner that helps you stay on top of your game, the Robin to your Batman?
   I would say that on campus of course I am batman, but my Robin would be Donald P. Christian our President.
6. If you could trade places with any mascot for a day, who would it be and why?
   If I could trade places with another Mascot for a day it would probably be SUNY Albany’s Damien the Great Dane.
7. Should you make it to the finals, what would your entrance song be when you enter the final competition?
   If we ever make it to finals my entrance song would have to be “I will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor.
8. What is your favorite series to binge watch?
   My favorite series to binge watch is Daredevil because that’s where I learn all of my martial arts moves from.
9. Everyone has a good app idea. What’s yours?
   A good app idea that I have been thinking about for a while is something I would all “InstaWorm.” It is similar to UberEats except with this app you get different types of worms delivered to you with different toppings and sides.
10. What one fact about your school do you love to surprise your fans with?
    A fun fact about the school that I love telling people is SUNY New Paltz has been listed as one of the Top Green Colleges Nationwide!

1. Who are you, where are you from, and who do you represent?
   I’m Leo the Lion and I represent Nassau Community College.
2. What is your wackiest attribute?
   I’m actually a good hair stylist – all those years working on my mane.
   My singing is fantastic. You must have heard my roar? My pride.
3. What would your autobiography be called and why?
   “My pride”. I’m very proud of them.
   “King of SUNY”. – for obvious reasons.
   “It’s a jungle out there”. Believe me: I know.
4. What is the biggest school victory/triumph you have been witness to?
   That would be when our football team won the Red Grange bowl. Closely following was…
5. Who is your on-campus partner that helps you stay on top of your game, the Robin to your Batman?
   Well, you know we lions are social animals, so …
   The Dean of Students and I have been through a lot together: She’s the jelly to my peanut butter, the milk in my coffee.
6. If you could trade places with any mascot for a day, who would it be and why?
   
7. Should you make it to the finals, what would your entrance song be when you enter the final competition?
   I Am Leo, Hear Me Roar: The Fight Song.
8. What is your favorite series to binge watch?
   I do watch The Lion King over and over again. There’s something about the show Nature, especially when I’m thinking about dinner…
9. Everyone has a good app idea. What’s yours?
   Safaris and how to avoid them.
10. What one fact about your school do you love to surprise your fans with?
    About one million people have attended Nassau throughout our history. Our 140,000 graduates include doctors, attorneys, teachers, and business and political leaders.

1. Who are you, where are you from, and who do you represent?
   I am Perseus the Panther…born and raised in Purchase, NY…represent Purchase College and the entire Panther community, both near and far.
2. What is your wackiest attribute?
   My school pride runs so deep that I my fur is now blue.
3. What would your autobiography be called and why?
   I Am Panther, Hear Me Roar.
4. What is the biggest school victory/triumph you have been witness to?
   Teams winning the Skyline Championship and competing in the NAA Tournament.
5. Who is your on-campus partner that helps you stay on top of your game, the Robin to your Batman?
   The students. They bring me to life!
6. If you could trade places with any mascot for a day, who would it be and why?
   Phillie Phanatic… who wouldn’t want to be large and fury with an extendable tongue?
7. Should you make it to the finals, what would your entrance song be when you enter the final competition?
   Nonstop by Drake.
8. What is your favorite series to binge watch?
   Planet Earth I and II.
9. Everyone has a good app idea. What’s yours?
   An interactive game (similar to Pokemon Go) to bring more fans to the home events/games.
10. What one fact about your school do you love to surprise your fans with?
    Purchase College was the former training facility for both the NY Knicks and NYCFC.

1. Who are you, where are you from, and who do you represent?
   I’m the Red Baron, but most of my friends just call me Baron. I’m of the brown bear species, writing to you from the enchanting hills of Corning, N.Y., where I represent my fellow mammals from our home at SUNY Corning Community College.
2. What is your wackiest attribute?
   Even though I’m an aviator, I’m afraid of heights.
3. What would your autobiography be called and why?
   Sleepless Winters, because even though I’m a bear, I don’t get to hibernate. Some of my busiest nights are during basketball season.
4. What is the biggest school victory/triumph you have been witness to?
   The college received $1 million in New York State funds as part of the 2018 Regional Economic Development Council Awards to the Southern Tier. It will help us establish the Center for STEAM Innovation.
5. Who is your on-campus partner that helps you stay on top of your game, the Robin to your Batman?
   The president is my co-pilot! She’s been supportive of me from the beginning.
6. If you could trade places with any mascot for a day, who would it be and why?
   Staley Da Bear of the Chicago Bears!
7. Should you make it to the finals, what would your entrance song be when you enter the final competition?
   It’s the Final Countdown.
8. What is your favorite series to binge watch?
   Rachel Ray … cause I’m always hungry.
9. Everyone has a good app idea. What’s yours?
   Where’s the closest shop that sells honey?
10. What one fact about your school do you love to surprise your fans with?
    Eileen Collins, the first female astronaut, is one of our grads!

1. Who are you, where are you from, and who do you represent?
   I am Reggie the Raider! I represent Fulton-Montgomery Community College in Johnstown, NY!
2. What is your wackiest attribute?
   My height ranges from 5’1- 6’5 on any given day.
3. What would your autobiography be called and why?
   “Yes, I work out” – Duhh check out these abs.
4. What is the biggest school victory/triumph you have been witness to?
   The Lady Raiders beat the number 1 nationally ranked team in Division 3 NJCAA Poll on November 4, 2018 the score was 59-53 and the game was played at Onondaga Community College. WOOHOOO…. GO RAIDERS!!!!!!!
5. Who is your on-campus partner that helps you stay on top of your game, the Robin to your Batman?
   The Director of Athletics: Kevin Jones! He gives me my baths and keeps me safe.
6. If you could trade places with any mascot for a day, who would it be and why?
   Let’s go with the Onondaga Community College Lazer. That mascot is just plain cool! That said, I am sure I could outrun him!
7. Should you make it to the finals, what would your entrance song be when you enter the final competition?
   The Sponge Bob Theme Song!
8. What is your favorite series to binge watch?
   Pirates of the Caribbean of course! ARRGGGHH….
9. Everyone has a good app idea. What’s yours?
   Findmybooty…. Would help me find the treasure a lot quicker. I can’t tell you how much time I waste finding that X!
10. What one fact about your school do you love to surprise your fans with?
    That for a small rural community college, we have a great athletic program and always compete well within the conference. Our sports teams’ rock!

1. Who are you, where are you from, and who do you represent?
   I am Stitch from FIT and I proudly represent the FIT Tigers!
2. What is your wackiest attribute?
   My stripes.
3. What would your autobiography be called and why?
   My autobiography would be called How to “FIT in” by Being Different. At FIT, we embrace being unconventional, and I want everyone to know that it’s grrrreat to be a unique individual and that you can “FIT in” while being true to yourself!
4. What is the biggest school victory/triumph you have been witness to?
   The 2018 Women’s Swimming and Diving Non-Scholarship National Championship!
5. Who is your on-campus partner that helps you stay on top of your game, the Robin to your Batman?
   FIT Student Austin Kear!
6. If you could trade places with any mascot for a day, who would it be and why?
   Victor E. Knight from SUNY Geneseo, so I can find out his secrets to winning SUNY Mascot Madness two out of the last three years!
7. Should you make it to the finals, what would your entrance song be when you enter the final competition?
   Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”!
8. What is your favorite series to binge watch?
   Gossip Girl.
9. Everyone has a good app idea. What’s yours?
   The app would be called Stitch, a social networking app that threads together the college mascot community!
10. What one fact about your school do you love to surprise your fans with?
    Michael Kors was once an FIT Tiger!