Joe Bruin, Stanford Tree walk the mascot walk

Published: Friday, October 31, 1997

Friday, October 31, 1997

JOE BRUIN:

The most famous man, err ... bear on campus is having an identity crisis.

No, don't worry, Joe Bruin is not going through his third metamorphosis in as many years - rather he is merely searching for an identity.

"It's kind of sad in a way," said the man inside the costume who would only identify himself as - you guessed it - Joe. "Even if you hate Oski, it's still kind of cool how he has a definite personality about him. I just think it's cool how he has that tradition. I just don't think we have that tradition with mascots, they don't have a personality."

If you missed him last week, the Oski that Joe speaks of is the Cal mascot who is generally considered the thug of the Pac-10 mascot circle - security guards didn't allow him on the UCLA sidelines in fear of Joe's safety - but is so beloved in Berkeley that he has a secret society dedicated to him. And Oski himself can never talk - legends have been told of past Oskis needing medical attention at games but refusing to scream for help or even take off their masks in an ambulance in fear of revealing their identity.

And last week, when Joe Bruin and Oski took a bathroom break at the same time, Joe said that Oski even did his business wearing the cumbersome mask.

Those are the type of traditions that Joe speaks of. Those are the types of traditions that Joe so desperately wants.

For Joe, though, the only recent tradition has been change. For two and a half decades, the old Smiling Joe was popular with students and alumni alike. However, like any old dinosaur in this age where greed always seems to dominate loyalty, the old Joe was eradicated in 1995, when a new mascot and logo was designed in hopes the school would sell more merchandise.

"Steroid Joe," as he is called now by those that occupy his suit, was hard-pressed to find any supporters and was abandoned after only a year. He was replaced last year with "New Joe."

"In all honesty the new one has kind of grown on me," Joe said. "I don't think it's all that bad, but I won't even talk about the Steroid Joes. The Smiling Joe was real popular with the kids and we always have people coming up to us saying they like the old one. Any time you change something like that, it's hard."

But there is some good news, sort of. Old Joe is still around lying lifeless in some closet in the Alumni Center. And though the Spirit Squad wanted to bring Old Joe back for Homecoming last Saturday, he was forced to stay locked up, due to some copyright infringement.

Though Smiling Joe died two years ago, if Joe has his way, tradition will soon return to Westwood.

"I would love to give Joe a personality, some tradition," Joe's human side said. "It's hard sometimes because the fan support is not always fanatical - you feed off the crowd in the games and when they're not into it, it's harder to get motivated."

Not that he doesn't love the Bruin faithful - it is because of them that Joe likes his job so much.

"You're out there in front of all those people and stuff and it's just like something comes over you and it's really exhilarating," he said. "It's just tons of fun, it's a really exciting thing to do."

Making appearances at football, basketball and women's volleyball games as well as attending other sporting events and special events like book fairs generally take up about 10 hours a week for these volunteers chosen by the Spirit Squad every spring quarter.

There are actually two different Joes and Josephines that rotate duties throughout the school year.

Speaking of Josephine, her role is still yet to be defined. Sister? Friend? Wife? Girlfriend?

"Nobody knows" said Joe, amazingly calm despite the ambiguity of this very important detail. "I'll look jealous if she sits on somebody's lap, and she'll do the same, but we've never really set anything up. Whatever people think is what they get."

What Joe, a senior business economics student gets is an experience that he'll never forget.

"It is the single best thing I ever decided to do," he said. "It's just an incredible experience."

That is, except of course after halftime of the basketball games when the mascots are treated as sacrificial lambs - carrying pizzas into a section full of hundreds of starving students to give away to the craziest, loudest fans.

"It's absolutely hellacious," Joe growled. "All they care about is getting the pizza. I've been pushed, I've been booed, and one guy even punched me in the stomach because I didn't give him the pizza."

Keeping in line with Smiling Joe's laid-back personality New Joe refused to retaliate.

Hey, maybe some traditions do live on after all.