Tuesday (Goldy Gopher behaving badly?) edition: Wha' Happened?

Did Goldy cross the line at Penn State? One web site thinks so, but you can judge for yourself thanks to the magic of YouTube.

October 20, 2009 at 1:53PM

We start the day with a post from The Wiz of Odds, a very solid college football site. The post in question involves what appears to be just a few minutes before kickoff Saturday at Penn State, with the Nittany Lions taking the field. A video shows a Penn State player jogging toward the end zone after taking the field. He then takes off his helmet, kneels down and pretty clearly enters a short period of prayer. Goldy Gopher, meanwhile, walks over to the same area and, facing the player, kneels down and mimics the prayer. A person either recording the video or near the camera says, "He clearly mocked his prayer. That's not cool."

Now: mascots do all sorts of spur-of-the-moment things. They are there to entertain, to be goofy and, at times, mildly agitate opponents. We would imagine Goldy was following those principles at the time. That said, there would seem to be some areas that are off-limits to comedy. Would you say that Goldy, in this case, was well within those boundaries, slightly over the line or pretty far out of line?

We'd say it was a bad idea that shouldn't be repeated, but we're interested in your take. Here is the video:

about the writer

about the writer

Michael Rand

Columnist / Reporter

Michael Rand is the Minnesota Star Tribune's Digital Sports Senior Writer and host/creator of the Daily Delivery podcast. In 25 years covering Minnesota sports at the Minnesota Star Tribune, he has seen just about everything (except, of course, a Vikings Super Bowl).

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