Duke Dog loses mascot competion, with 11-0 online record

The JMU community eagerly clicked away to win the online portion of the 2004 Capital One Mascot of the Year, but the Duke Dog’s 11-0 online record was not enough to win the Capital One National Mascot Challenge.

“Fans did not vote for mascots they liked, they voted against mascots with good records to even the competition,” said senior Mike Kewn, athletics marketing intern and chief promoter for Duke Dog during the mascot competition. “Each week, the entire country was voting against us.”

Duke Dog came in first place in the online portion, gaining 12 points, while the second place winner, Hey Reb of the University of Nevada, received 11 points.

Since the University of Montana’s Monte was just two spots behind Duke Dog, they received 10 points for the online portion.

“The point system does not take into account margin of victory at all,” Keown added.

"We were one of the smallest schools with the smallest alumni population, yet we still outvoted the entire country,” Keown said. “That's definitely something to be proud of. It speaks volumes for the loyalty and spirit of the JMU community."

According to Keown, Monte from the University of Montana had the most number of points combined, from both the online portion and the judge’s scores, making him the winner.

Keown explained that the point system levels the playing field. Regardless of how much the winner is leading in the online portion, the mascot in second place will still receive just one less point than the winner.

The judges, comprised of cheerleading coaches, professional mascots, as well as people from ESPN and Capital One, scored the mascots based on their application and videos, which were submitted in June 2004. First place in the judges’ rankings gave the mascot 12 points, second place-11 points, third place-10 points and so on similar to the online portion.

Keown said the rankings of all the mascots by the judges were not released by Capital One.

Senior Matt Pipitone was perplexed when he found out Duke Dog did not win. “I do not understand how we can go undefeated, receive the most votes and lose to a mascot with a 6-5 record,” he said.

Junior Andrew Drayer, like many JMU students, was not pleased with the final outcome of the mascot challenge. “I think the judges’ system is flawed,” Drayer said. “It is almost like they ignored the online portion altogether.”