It's a hot summer day smack dab in the middle of one of the hottest weeks Buffalo has had this summer. August 5th, 2015. How is this a relevant sentence for a site dedicated to Athletics you ask? Well, it is for this story. On this hot summer day, I sit and ponder what I got myself into. In less than a half hour I would be the guy that everyone pays attention to: The mascot for the State University of New York. How I got here was simple, I was leafing through Bull Run one day where I found that UB had an opening for their mascot Victor E. Bull. It was interesting to me because the first time I saw Victor was at a UB Football game last year against Duquesne. I watched Victor throughout the nail biter of a game (which shouldn't of been considering they were against an FCS team), and I couldn't help but think here and there that "I could be better than that guy" (Even though that turned out to be a girl inside that costume).

I emailed the marketing department as soon as I heard of the opening. I promptly was given and email and to say the least, here I am now. August 5th was Athletics night for UB on the Green, a small weekly event held over the summer for the Buffalo community near South Campus. I strapped on my new alter ego for the first time. To say the least, I was in for a treat. I put on the decapitated head of UB's mascot and brought him to life a few hundred feet away from the event. It was a weird feeling that for the next hour, I'm not going to be me, the soon to be Sophomore Geology student at UB. Instead, I was going to be a Pizza loving, Bobcat hating Bull. Everything turned out great. Despite it being over a hundred degrees in the costume, it was great being the person who brightened up so many children's days. Giving high fives to random people and handing out beverage koozies to the crowd (which of course had this year's football schedule) was a simple task. I knew I had found a great way to have fun. After trading fist bumps with Coach Leipold the event was nearing an end.

Fast forward a couple weeks and I've done many events for the athletics department. All with the hopes of getting a few more people here and there to get their bodies to a football game. It's been a crazy few weeks during that time. I've changed in multiple crowded rooms, learned some interesting stories about the athletics department, and most of all: I represented the school of my dreams. The crazy part in this is having to work enough to make rent and juggle this hobby at the same time. It's been a great ride and I recommend any student out there to try it at least once, considering that this one hasn't even tried commanding a crowd of 22k yet. So here I sit, on an ordinary Thursday night, reading syllabi and getting ready for another great semester. Only one question is on my mind though: Is it football season yet?

*Stay tuned for more insights on the life of Victor E. Bull

** I am NOT Victor, he just eats me sometimes and I have no choice but to hang on for the ride. As a result I take observations and call myself Victor in this post.