ASU's Sparky Gets a New (Demonic) Look. Thanks a lot, Disney

If you have seen my blog before, you'll probably sense that I am not very fond of Arizona State University. Leaving that aside, I do know quite a bit about the university since I am a former Arizonan. From my sense, people never had a whole lot of beef against ASU other than the fact that they have the highest undergrad population in the country, have consistently been named one of the best party schools, have the highest rate of STDs in a college campus, have a plethora of California chicks and bros that decided to attend their safety-safety school, have an alarmingly high number of alums that went on to be pornstars, and have a Devil as a mascot. In this post, I want to zoom in on their mascot Sparky.

A Brief History of Sparky the Sun Devil

Sparky in 1970

Sparky in 2011

ASU's mascot wasn't always a fiendish, pitchfork-wielding imp. Arizona's Second University was initially called Tempe Normal School and their mascot was the Normals. Soon, they became a state school and toggled through a bulldog then owl mascot. After a while, an ASU alum that was fired from Disney was given the task of creating a new mascot for the school. He then sent ASU a devilish caricature of Walt Disney, which has since become the image of ASU and has been named Sparky the Sun Devil.

Sparky in 1965

Over the years, Sparky has gone through quite a few changes; however, the constant has always been the Sun Devil logo




Sparky the Sun Devil (circa 2013)

This new look is unnecessary. It is tasteless, scary, and designed by Disney (pretty ironic). A classic case of "If it ain't broke, don't break it" in the sports world. The old Sparky had almost a stuffed animal charm about him, but now, it seems as though I am looking into the eyes of Lucifer himself. The mascot was intended to be more "child-friendly", but it looks more like a child's worst nightmare. Before, it seemed as though the devil-mascot debate has always been a silly argument, but now, this mascot gives it a devilish twist. At least it's Sunday so I can go pray.

Cats lose a crucial game to the rival Sun Devils, 87-80

Just look at the crowd in this picture. Take a good, long look. Now tell me, aren't there quite a few red shirts mixed into the yellow in the crowd. Yes. And those red shirts are the faithful Arizona Wildcats fans that made the trip up to Phoenix, only to see the Cats lose to their arch rival. Now after the game, ask any of the Arizona fans, who paid their hard earned money to ASU only to see the Cats lose, what they think are the Cats chances of earning an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. Slim. This is how important this game was. It was a chance to finish on a high note and let the committee decide. Instead it was an ugly loss, the kind of loss that costs you your season. As a Cats fan, I'm saying that ASU stuck a pitchfork into our hope for going to the NCAA Tournament and I do not think that this team deserves to play in the Big Dance.

Giants top the Niners in OT for NFC Championship, 20-17

The New York football Giants are going to Super Bowl XLVI to set up a Super Bowl XLII rematch with the New England Patriots. A game that was played in such sloppy weather conditions concluded in stunning fashion. Just as the AFC Title game earlier in the day, the team heading to the Super Bowl did not win the game, but the team that lost beat themselves. The Niners scored on an early 73 yard Vernon Davis TD, but did not do much after the quick score. New York would tie and take a three point lead at the end of the first half, giving them plenty of momentum headed into the locker room. However, the second half is where the Niners showed their true colors: stout on defense, well coached, but unable to take advantage. The Niners would take back a four point lead, but the Giants would go back on top with a TD set up by a Kyle Williams' muffed punt. The Niners' David Akers would then tie up the game with about five minutes to go, setting up an almost painful slew of drives that resulted in punts and OT. New York won the toss, giving them the ball first; however, they would fail to score. San Francisco received the ball once again, but they failed to end the game. On a New York punt, Kyle Williams would receive the ball once again in good field position, but he fumbled the ball, giving the Giants a short field to work with. As you may recall, Kyle Williams is an ASU product drafted in the 6th round of the 2010 NFL Draft. Williams, a solid punt returner, cost the Sun Devils the Territorial Cup against the rival Arizona Wildcats by fumbling a punt and setting up a short field for the Wildcats. Is it a coincidence that both San Fran and ASU wear gold and red, whereas New York and Arizona wear red, white, and blue? The similarities did not end there as the Giants ended the dreams of the Niners faithful in Candlestick on a 31 yard Lawrence Tynes Field Goal that will send the Giants once again to the Super Bowl.

Cats romp a sloppy ASU squad, 68-51

Take that ASU! Cats went into Pac-12 play as the favorites over an inferior ASU Sun Devil basketball squad and the Cats came out victorious with no letdown, whatsoever. ASU is a bad team, but they were awful as they had 13 first half turnovers and only 20 points in 20 minutes. The Cats didn't take advantage of the poor ASU team, but they didn't have to. The defense suffocated the Sun Devils and the offense started picking up late in the first half. The regulars for Arizona excelled (Solomon Hill, Jesse Perry), but the Frosh guards stepped up their game as Nick Johnson put up a few highlight dunks and 14 points against his dad's team and Josiah Turner was a spike in the Sun Devil's side as he came up with 5 steals. Cats go to the Honda Center next Thursday to take on a homeless UCLA Bruins team.

Boise State routs ASU for the Las Vegas Bowl, 56-24

Kellen Moore capped off his stellar career at Boise St. with a bang, but yet again, against an inferior opponent. His 50th win is the most for any QBs career in college football as he passed for 292 yards, however his RB Doug Martin won MVP. The Sun Devils could simply not stop the bleeding from their regular season as they let up big play after big play, including a Doug Martin opening kick-off return TD. By letting up a bunch of TDs to the Broncos, Brock Osweiler saw plenty of time on the field and put up good numbers with the thanks to his top wide receiver, Gerell Robinson. This will probably be the last we see of Boise in the Las Vegas Bowl since they're moving to the wide-spread Big East next year.

Arizona stuns ASU in Tempe, 31-27

Even though Arizona is a disappointing 3-8, nothing is more disappointing than losing the Territorial Cup to your arch-rivals. The Sun devils let up the Territorial Cup to the Wildcats as they also let up a 10 point lead in the 4th quarter. The Sun devils fell behind early but regained the lead at 27-17. The most penalized team in the PAC 12 had many personal foul penalties even though they played at Sun devil Stadium. Nick Foles passed a TD to GinoCrump to pull within three at 10 minutes in the 4th quarter. In their next possession, Foles got knocked out and Senior QB Bryson Beirne stepped in at QB. He only threw one pass, but the pass proved to be the most important pass of his life as Juron criner caught it for a 23 yard TD. Osweiler then threw an INT to Jourdan Grandon, but the Sun devils got the ball back. osweiler drove down the field to the Cats Red Zone, but Shaquille Richardson broke up the last pass to Gerell Robinson as the time expired.

2011 Territorial Cup Champs