Sasquatch!

Sasquatch

     Anyone who knows me very well, or who has at least been around me for more than 10 minutes knows that I say this word often: Sasquatch.  
Why? Who is that? I have even been asked before, "whats bigfoot have to do with this?"  Let me share some tales with you one who are mutual woodland friend is and how I began using his name in my everyday speech...

Take Caution

Who wouldn't brake? Haters, that's who...

First of all what is that word? Well, the name is actually an Anglicanized version from the Salishan word: Sésquac  
The Salishan language was mainly created by the Flathead indians who could be found from northern California to midway up in America's hat (Canada).  The Flat head Indians were know for their fabulous pancakes... 
Just kidding, they were known for their flat heads, lol. 

The Flathead Sésquac Council of 1852

  The word Sésquac literally means "wild man." However, these feather heads (I can say that because I am 1/64th Chickasaw) used this name for the giant ape man who lived in the woods near them.  Seriously, they used this name before any of the "pictures" or home movies of Bigfoot came about.  They knew of Sasquatch before America was named. 

Sasquatch family reunion of 1889. Uncle Greg has horns.

So how did Sasquatch go from Native American Legend to a house hold name?  One man: Roger Patterson.  This kook Scientist was out one day with his buddy Gimlin when they came upon sasquatch. They just so happened conveniently had their film camera with them:

Spurred on by the reputation for a “Bigfoot” existing around Bluff Creek, Roger Patterson went there in October 1967 and “filmed” one. The Patterson Film has become the cornerstone of all Cryptozoology. It is regarded as real or as the greatest hoax ever perpetrated realer than real. 

You can't question this man! Just look at that stache.

So from there science and weirdos took over.  Hoaxes were everywhere. Legends, sightings, and tourist traps sprouted like weeds, having been documented from Washington to Florida and everywhere in-between.  

The greatest advancement in the Sasquatch legend since the Patterson-Gimlin film came when Universal Pictures released their documentary of a Critoid (mythical Creature) living with a family. Its called Harry and the Henderson's. 

Teaching Harry to "sit"

It won the Oscar for best Make-up. 

Seriously though, if you haven't seen this movie its the greatest.  LOVE it.  

Regardless of the great film that it is, it has nothing to do with my Jargon infusion of the Salaishan word.  Here is that tale...

Simoni Kigweba

My cool friend Simoni (whom I took to Hawaii my freshman year after winning the price is right... but that is a tale for another blog post...) and I were almost inseparable freshman year of college. We studied together, lived in the same dorm, and eventually rushed the same Frat (BYX, again, another blog post to come).  

Why someone felt the need to create this picture is beyond me...

Well Simoni had several phrases that he used that most people didn't.  Most of these phrases would come BURSTING out when ever we were playing the most popular game of 2006, halo 2.  Simoni would shout things in disbelief and objection through out the intense matches of Xbox battling;  things like, "Bush League!" "Crapsticks!" and of course "Sasquatch!"  So it was only a few short months of listening to this, before I adopted it as my own catch phrase.  There was some objection from others, saying "hey, you can't say that! Thats Simoni's word!", but after a time, it became my word just as much as his. 

Sasquatch likes to mime.

The summer I graduated from college, the word I often spoke (sometimes too much) became truer to me than I ever thought possible when I became a minor league baseball mascot for the North West Arkansas Naturals:  Strike the Sasquatch.  

Strike hitting on my sister...

I served as Strike for the baseball season before I joined staff with the Traveling team.  He was one of the funniest mascots I have ever been able to perform.  His suit was great, and he a "natural" knack for scaring children, lol. 

Contrary to popular belief, he does not eat children.

So, that's about it.  That's why I say the word.  I liked it and I lived it. 

What do you believe about Sasquatch?  Total hoax or tot's real?   

What should I post about next?  You tell me. 

The History of the Razorback!

Look at this picture! 
Razorback, Beard, and sword? Best picture ever!

Well readers, around these parts we like things red and hairy (hence the blog title). So, I thought I would write about the Razorback Mascot, what it is, & where it came from, because it was not always so...

 This guy will mess you up!

Pigs are not American.  I know we all would like to think they are, but they're not.  They were brought here by an explorer named Hernando De Soto.  Hernando was a famous conquistador in Spain because he killed tons of Natives in Peru (what a thing to be famous for, right?).  After he went home, he showed the King and Queen all the gold and stuff he had stolen, and they were ecstatic!  They wanted him to go back, so in 1539 he went back to the new world, only this time with more soldiers.  He was going to beat Johnny Depp to the fountain of youth, or something...  He ended up exploring much of the southern United States, except for Mississippi (and I don't blame him). 

Fun fact: The upper route of his journey (Carolinas) looks like a Pig head! 

 He discovered Arkansas and spent lots of his time there.  Even discovered Hot Springs!  

For this mega long hiking trip, he packed tons of weapons, supplies, and... You guessed it! Pigs!  For his 2 year journey, he packed 200 pigs onto one ship(He took 9 ships.  I'd hate to be on the smelly pig ship).
  

Tried to market the water at Hot Springs as 'DeSoto Pop'.

Well just like family road trips where you let the kids out at the rest stop to stretch their legs, some of the Spaniards let the pigs out in Florida, but they wouldn't get back in the ship!  This is known as pig dumping... 

This is known as pig flying.

Just kidding. Its normal to let your pigs run around and get fat.  Then you go looking in the woods for him when your hungry.  In fact, in the early US, you would go to the local county seat and register your pigs ears.  See, you would cut your pigs ears in a certain shape, and if you saw a pig in the woods with a different ear cut, you couldn't kill it.  It wasn't your pig...  anyways...

Wild feral pigs roaming the country side have been a major issue recently.  They breed so fast, and eat so much the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture says they do about $800 Million dollars of property damage a year.  Most states now have open season on wild hogs.  You see em? You can kill em.  Check this out:

Hogzilla.  A true story.

Wild Razorbacks, being famous for their prickly back, tenacity, and willingness to kill everything has shown up many times in popular culture:

Bufford Hollis is the secret Identity for a Marvel Super hero named Razorback.  He is from Texarkana Arkansas, is super strong, wears an electrified boars head, & has the super power to pilot, drive, and operate anything, yes anything. He built himself a super big rig that had rockets and guns and stuff.  He and Spier-man teamed up to kill a demon or something...

In 1984, an Australian horror film was released called, well, Razorback.

Desoto is famous because not only did he discover the best state ever, but introduced this tasty beast into our hearts and stomachs!  How, though, did the Razorback become the mascot for the University of Arkansas?  It wasn't always the mascot for the U of A...

In 1895, the Arkansas student body had a vote to pick their official university color.  It was between Cardinal and Heliotrope.  Cardinal won (thank goodness! Can you imagine? "Here comes the Arkansas heiotropes!") and along with the color came the mascot.  From about 1894 to 1910, we were the Arkansas Cardinals.  Who knew right? I did, thats why I'm telling you...

So we were know as the Cardinals, till one fateful night...  

Arkansas football coach Hugo Bezdek was coming back from an Amazing win.  On October 30th, 1909, The Arkansas Cardinals just beat the snot out of Louisiana State 16-0 in a big game.  The team was headed back with the coach on the train that night, and when they rolled into the Fayetteville station, there, waiting, was the usual, anxious crowd of students and faculty waiting to hear from the coach on how their team faired.  When the steam engine rolled to a stop, the students swarmed in.  When Coach Bezdek stepped out of the caboose the air filled with questions.  Coach Bezdek raised his hands to silence the crowd, and it quited, except one question was shouted over all.  "Hey Coach, How'd our boys do?!"

Coach Bezdek said in a quiet, sad tone, "Well, they didn't play like football players..." and he looked at his  feet.  The crowd was silent.  Then, with a roar he yelled, "They played like a bunch of Wild Razorback Hogs!" And, as they say, they crowd went wild...


The Newspapers started reporting, not about the Razorback Cardinals, but about "Coach Hugo Bezdek and his Wild Razorback Hogs!"  The new nickname became wildly (pun intended) popular.  The next year the Arkansas student body took another vote, but this time it was about the mascot.  In 1910, the Arkansas student body voted the 'Razorback Hog' as the Official Mascot of the University of Arkansas. 

Boss Hog, the greatest Arkansas Mascot.

What do you think of this Post?  Did you know how the Razorback became the mascot before you read this?