Soon the dust will settle on UTD's quest for a new mascot. The road has been long and occasionally unpleasant, but at least it's almost over.
Now, The UTD Mercury finds itself in the unpleasant position of asking the question, was it all worth it?
We believe it was, but maybe for reasons that may not be immediately apparent.
The whole process has been a public relations coup for Temoc. He's been around campus more than ever before, attending events far beyond the normal purview of our mascot. He's been at the groundbreaking ceremony for UTD's new residence hall and he was at the reception celebrating the Chess Team's dominance over pretty much every other collegiate chess team in the nation.
As much as we really hate to admit it, he's grown on us.
When the possibility of finding a replacement for the quirky little guy first came up, this paper joined the chorus of voices claiming we can do better.
The odd thing is, it really looks like we can't.
This conclusion isn't intended to offend the committee that worked so hard to find a new mascot to UTD, nor is it intended to offend the people at the Office of Communications who worked so hard in their spare time to help the committee realize their concepts. We never would have come to this conclusion without their sweat and hard work.
However, in the end, a comet-type character ended up on the final slate, and there's just no way to look at a comet-type character without seeing that this is exactly what Temoc is.
Maybe all Temoc needed was another look. Perhaps with a fresh design and a new name, our mascot can be something the students can get behind.
The other concepts are all very nice, but none of them really possess that quirky flavor that really defines UTD.
Like it or not, we are a different kind of school and traditional mascots just don't reflect that. We might as well take a little pride in it.
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