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Sun Belt Syndicate
A podcast dedicated to Sun Belt conference football, basketball, & baseball. Season previews, game previews, weekly wrap-ups, & also experiences while traveling around the conference.
Join host Dominick Crosetto & TJ Courman as they break it down and get you ready for Sun Belt football action!
Look for Round Ball Round Up to stay up to speed on Sun Belt hoops!
And new for this season, check out Belt Baseball Beginners (3B)! A show with the additions of Seth Johnson & Marv Dickens. We take a look at the conference as a whole each week through Sun Belt baseball.
Sun Belt Syndicate
Cajun Passion & Culture...in Mascot Form! Ft. Cory St. Ewart
Could a mascot be more than just a game-day gimmick? Cory St. Ewart certainly thinks so, and his passion for reimagining university spirit is both infectious and thought-provoking. Join us as Cory, a vibrant figure in the Cajun fan community with deep Creole roots, shares his colorful journey from Baton Rouge to Lafayette. He brings to life the tension between tradition and innovation, recounting how his personal and academic experiences, including his current remote semester at Columbia University, have shaped his unique perspective on school pride. Cory’s humor and dedication shine through as he reflects on his role in the exciting mascot campaign.
The episode takes a fascinating turn as we explore the bold transition of the school mascot from Cayenne to Albineaux, the albino alligator, symbolizing diversity and resilience. Cory dives into the controversies and challenges of introducing this fresh identity amidst a backdrop of historical resistance and traditionalism. The story of Albineaux's emergence reveals a fight against administrative pushback and a grassroots effort to redefine school spirit. We navigate the complexities of representation, touching on sensitive language issues and drawing parallels to broader cultural debates, showcasing how thoughtful dialogue can lead to positive change.
As the conversation unfolds, the spotlight turns to the community's spontaneous embrace of Albineaux. Cory shares heartwarming tales of fan-driven creativity, from custom merchandise to online tributes, highlighting the organic growth of this rare mascot phenomenon. Fans have taken Albineaux to heart, crafting a unique culture around this symbol of unity and difference. The episode paints a picture of how small, meaningful symbols can captivate and unite communities, fostering a rich tapestry of pride and enthusiasm.
presented by dan-o's seasoning. Yum, yum, get you some!
Dom:What's going on everybody? Welcome into another episode of the sun belt syndicate. Very excited, uh, to be able to bring this one to you tonight. If you're a Cajun fan, you're already familiar with our guest of the hour tonight, or hour and a half or 40 minutes, whatever. Whatever Cory wants to give us, we're going to let him give us tonight. But, yeah, welcome to the show, cory.
Dom:Before we get fully in with him, thank you to our sponsors, w Energy, fanplex Graphics, tsn Off-Road, dano's Seasoning. And we can't forget the wonderful people that allow us to do this to bring to you guys collegefootballdogscom. So be sure to check them out, as they're writing a lot of stuff for Senior Bowl down there in that Mobile area. And we know Mike Green's been going off former Marshall defensive end. Yes, he is. Yes, he is absolutely lighting up Twitter. So if you haven't been on there in a day or two, good luck scrolling through the same video of him plowing through somebody many, many times. So welcome into the show, cory. It's a pleasure to have you here tonight. I know we've been kind of following along your journey, but we're going to ask you a bunch more questions about it tonight and kind of see where everything stands, but first and foremost, man personally, how are you?
Cory:doing I'm doing good. Let me tell you that the pleasure truly is all mine to be here and talk to you guys Pretty, you know, a pretty big moment. I've been talking a lot to local news and our own fan base, so it's, you know, so great to be able to talk more about. You know, this campaign to guys from you know a completely different fan base and school and state and you know just goes to show how cool and fun and exciting this idea is. So, believe me, the pleasure is all mine.
TJ:We're happy to have you, for sure, yeah absolutely, we definitely are.
Dom:I want you to go over the pronunciation of your last name because I, as I told you guys before we went live, I learned a little something new about TJ's last name. So you can both kind of go off on that for just a second, because I would have absolutely butchered it. I'm not going to lie. So please correctly pronounce your last name for everyone else to be aware as well.
Cory:We found out that that me and tj are creole adjacent. Adjacent is the keyword, adjacent as as creole, uh, as tj wants to put on the record. But um, santa wa is how you say my last name's. The saint is san in french and you don't pronounce the t in in it, so it's a Santa wall.
TJ:Awesome. Yeah, I got a little bit of Creole lineage, french Creole lineage, and my last name was actually pronounced Corman. For y'all who have been listening to me for two years, that's actually not Corman, but in the States and as just a regular black dude which is how I identify it's just Corman, but it actually is pronounced Corman which is how I identify.
Cory:It's just Corman, but it actually is pronounced Corman. But, like I told TJ, he can claim his creole side at any point, like you know, just come on, come on down to the bayou, we're waiting for it.
TJ:I got you, I got you actually, surprisingly enough, I actually have family um in Louisiana, uh, mobile, uh, abbeville, um, where else, mobile, abbeville, new Orleans? Got a bunch of family members in New Orleans. Almost probably a good third of my family is actually from or lives in that area. I'm telling you, I know your people I know.
Dom:You are not actually in Lafayette at this point, though actually I am, you are okay.
Cory:At this very moment I am, I'm finishing up my last semester at columbia and I only have one class. It's remote and, um, my fiancee's from abbyville, um, in lafayette. So, uh, might as well, you know, be with her while I'm, while I I'm finishing school and you know, honestly, save a little bit of change, because New York isn't getting any cheaper.
Dom:How often do you have to get back up to campus? Is it routinely or is it just sparingly?
Cory:This is really my only semester that I've been remote. I've been up there for two and a half years. So I'm going to be up there in March, come back in April and then basically spend the end of April to May doing my thesis defense and graduating and all that. Wow, I'll be here just long enough to cause up more trouble in the city of Lafayette, oh man.
Dom:Yeah, that seems to follow you around with this.
Cory:Yeah, I don't know what it is about me, but I don't know. If I see a problem, I just feel compelled to do something about it. So here I am, here you are.
Dom:It's gotten you on the biggest Sunbelt show. No, I'm just kidding, it's probably. Not even it's gotten you on the biggest Sunbelt show.
TJ:No, I'm just kidding, it's probably not even it's got you on a Sunbelt show.
Dom:A Sunbelt show.
Cory:That's pretty big to me. That's pretty big to me.
Dom:We are expanding the horizons of the other folks who have not been following this journey as much. I hope to get a lot more people. I think we'll get to a graphic in a second, but before we do that too, tell the people. I mean, you are from the area. I believe I read that you were from Baton Rouge originally Correct, okay. And then you went to Lafayette. Obviously, I mean, I don't know why you'd do all this work if you had no attachment to the school.
Cory:So, uh, where were you there? Uh, so I moved to lafayette to go to ul? Um in 2012 and I fell in love with the city, the culture, the people, the food. I mean, even though baton rouge is just an hour away from lafayette, um, it's just two completely places like completely different places, different culture, just approach in life, it's just different, and I like it here better, completely honest. And I stayed in Lafayette up until 2022, when I had to move to New York for graduate school. So not only did I fall in love with the people, but I fell in love literally with a person here. You know, um, so you know, I consider um Lafayette a second hometown for me, um, if not my primary hometown. Um, since then, I, you know, since moving to New York, I've gone on to make a whole short film in Cajun French, um, the first narrative entirely in Cajun French, the first narrative entirely in Cajun French in decades. I've become fully a part of just this Louisiana French renaissance that's going on in the southern part of the state right now. So, and on top of all that, I'm a proud raging Cajun.
Cory:I went to a bunch of the games when I was here in the city as a student and as an alum. That's part of the reason why I started this whole mascot campaign, because it's no secret that UL has some of the worst attendance across the board in games outside of baseball and softball. And we've been lucky just because the traditions there are built up and we've just been successful. Right, jerry Glasgow was a great hire that kept the standard of the program and, uh, allison habits is you know, she's also just a great hire. So we've been. I consider us lucky that this void in in-game entertainment and connection to a younger fan base hasn't hit our diamond sports. But uh, for me it's like I see the bottom of the bucket, like I see when this thing is going to, you know, run out, and I'm seeing an administration just choosing not to look at it and continue to hope to be lucky and that makes me scared.
Dom:So here we are. That makes sense, I mean. So I guess. First of all, tj, you got a question you want to jump in with right away.
TJ:No, well, yes and no, I wanted to know kind of where your inspiration came. I know you're part of, obviously part of the institution, having done undergrad there, and then you know, obviously living there, following the love there and all those kinds of things. But specifically, as it relates to giving back to the university, especially in the form of logo, where did that inspiration come from? What? What made you want to kind of give me back to the university, especially in the form of a logo?
Cory:Where did that inspiration come from? What made you want to kind of give that back? The biggest message I've been trying to get out is, like you know, it's hard because I feel like, or I question, if this was a marketing firm doing this, would there be so much pushback? Sure, because I've done as much work, if not more, than a marketing firm doing this. Would there be so much pushback? Sure, because I've done as much work, if not more, than a marketing firm would have. And a marketing firm was definitely paid significant sum to create Guyann, our previous spirit leader. But you know that failed.
Cory:So when it came to the creation of Albino and this campaign, like I have done my due diligence. I'm a professional artist. I graduated from ul and uh with a degree in visual arts in a bfa and my current mfa is in storytelling. Basically it's it's screenwriting, but that's that's storytelling. It's building a character, it's creating a product that is sellable to audiences, that they can connect with, and it can have longevity. That's what you want for a good film. So the same, the same amount of work that I do with all of my films and all of my previous artwork I've done with albino too. You know, I've researched different characters. I've researched different colors of research. Why did the previous characters fail and what would work best for our university, for our community?
Cory:And what I've just found is like an alligator is already here, like images of alligators are everywhere. They truly are everywhere because it makes sense, because Louisiana actually has the most alligators out of any state. People would think it's Florida because of the Florida gators. Full statistic Florida has 1.2 million alligators. Louisiana has 2.3 million alligators. That's how many are here. Add on, in the middle of UL's campus, is Cypress Lake. That has literal alligators in it. One of the things. They built a fence around it now, but one of the things that you have to sign like a.
TJ:What is it called A God? What is a waiver to even go to go to the school, so you don't?
Cory:know. No, no, that was that was the. That was the funny thing. It's like when it would rain too much, the water levels would get high and it wouldn't be uncommon for an alligator to get out of the swamp. It would be like, oh hey, like some student would take a picture. It was like there's a little alligator walking on the sidewalk right now, um, and then I don't know who the university would get to go put it back into Cypress Lake.
Cory:But that's how prevalent they are within our, within our campus life, within our culture, within our iconography, you know. So it just seemed like the obvious choice that we've just been circling around or avoiding for so long for unique, uniqueness sake. For uniqueness sake. But you can have a spirit leader that is a literal turd and that would be unique, but that wouldn't be good. As a trained artist, I know the line between unique and good, and how far unique can push you before it gets in the way of being good. The unique and good, and how far unique can push you before it gets in the way of being good that is a fun yeah, and the cajun man attempts before was that something you said?
Dom:you know obviously didn't last very long. Um, the cayenne, I feel like, was maybe the closest that I've seen since being aware and and following Cajun team and school, but it seemed like some people loved it, some people hated it. It wasn't really a full send, I guess is kind of the way I'd say it.
Cory:Yeah, I mean, honestly, if Cayenne was here today, I wouldn't be doing this, like if the university had anything, I wouldn't be doing this, this wouldn't be a thing. People would just hate cayenne. But obviously things were bad enough that kind of needed, needed to go and um, now that he's not here, what are we doing thereafter? I mean, yeah, the cayenne had three different costumes. Most people don't even know about the first costume because it was just that bad, um, and that was after the schools. But you know, you know over 20 grand on a marketing firm to build kyan and and basically change his whole image, um, and then had to spend more money to get a second costume that looked demonic, and then I just spent more money to, to, to adjust that costume. So that's, you know, one of the reasons why they ended up moving away from it, because it was just he was a money pit. I mean, it's hard. It's.
Cory:Lafayette, literally, is the most catholic city in america per capita, like versus population. So you have this, basically walking red demon of flames trying to, trying to play with kids. You know, we're teaching them about the devil. What color is the devil? Red, what does he live? The fireplace we have this. This, this, you know, anamorphic pepper that looks more like a devil than anything going around in our predominantly Catholic Christian community. I can see where you know, so it makes sense.
TJ:It makes sense. I can see where it would be so okay, so going through. I assume name is albino. Is that the inspiration for the red eyes and and with albino? Um, is that the inspiration for the red eyes and and with albino? Is he going to remain sort of the white skin on the sideline, like what are we doing as far as building the persona and character of who albino is?
Cory:so there's what I imagine albino and what I give to the fans to do when he's here, you know just from his. You know I've thought about his name too. Well, one going off the failures of Cayenne is that, in order to really send home that he's a hot pepper, they added orange and yellow into our school school's colors, and our school's colors are vermilion and white. They're red and white. But we needed this orange and yellow just for this spirit leader, just for the heat thing it. And it just got. It was just bad. It was just bad.
Cory:So I was like, okay, what can fit into our already established brand a character that is presenting white and can just put on red, red and white, boom. So, going off of my research of like an alligator is fits into our iconography white alligator, all right. So more research and development. You're going to have people for whatever reason. You're going to have people be like, oh, another white character for a multinational, multiethnic university, even though it's a white gator.
Cory:I was like, ok, how about an albino alligator who is presented in white but technically doesn't have any pigment, and that can be representative of really, even though we're called the Ragin' Cajuns? This is a multi-ethnic. No pigment is before each other. It represents all of us. Add on, there's this cool opportunity A lot of people enjoy. You know the uniqueness of being Ragin' Cajun. I really, really like the idea of some form of just advocacy for just being different. You know, albinism is in a is a genetic condition. Um, some call it disorder, some call it a sickness, but to me it's just something that makes someone different. Yeah, um, are just any animal different, and albino alligators are pretty much.
Cory:All of them have been found exclusively in louisiana and that I did not know yeah, uh, and yeah, it just fit into this lore of just like this fully fleshed out character that embraces its difference and what people would perceive as something that holds it back. But it powers through that because that's also parallel to, you know, the Cajuns who were kicked out of Canada for what they were and then had to settle in Louisiana and start a new life and being, you know, in in the face of being different, of speaking French and being Catholic and being from another country. So I saw just a lot of parallels and opportunity for storytelling with an albino alligator and turning like, making sure that you can't run away from this thing that's part of him by calling him, naming him albino. You can call him Al Some people say Al but no, that works too. Um, uh, but yeah, I just, I just really love this character, that it's just like yeah, I'm different, so are Cajuns like you know. So what, let's go. And then I just go there.
Dom:Yeah, I don't want to interrupt, but'd love the the name and how you just explained how it literally flows with what you've just described. With the name, it's not like, okay, we've got this dog, uh, and we're gonna call it something random just to have a cutesy name. Like no, this, this fits perfectly. It's spelled the way you would assume the Cajun spelling of the name would also look, but it literally includes albino in the description of the name. The thought process that you went through to incorporate that and make it seamless. It's not like oh, this looks jumbled and not like something I would want to attach to.
Dom:I immediately love the name when I see it written down and the fact that you can also shorten it to make it easy for other people outside of the community who are not going to know the full name. They're just going to call him Al. Why is he called Al? Now, you've got an amazing backstory to tell people about this mascot. That has a simple name to most people on a quick glance, but there's so much more to it than that and that's why I immediately was like this is blowing me away. I mean, can I ask you, did you involve anyone else or was this really truly like your own concept from start to finish?
Cory:here I would say like 97% Every now and then someone would say a skit. I'd be like, okay, that's a good skit. But as far as like the design his name that was, that was all me, that was all me and just research and making sure I cross my T's and dot my I's.
TJ:Nice, how's the? So how, how's the school taking a liking to it? Like what's been, that's and I know that that's a hot button question, right, which is why I'm asking it like what's been the, the feedback, what's been? And also shout out adam kasuf I uh, he just chimed in said football is the devil. Any possibility of g Gator-themed jerseys like Florida did? Those are wild.
Cory:Hopefully, never, hopefully never.
Dom:You are specific mascot design, not the jersey design, right.
TJ:We do mascots only over here. But yeah no, going back to the question. So what's been the reception? What's been the feedback and or pushback? How has this been taken?
Cory:I don't know if the Raging Cajun fan base has ever had something so divisive. It's, honestly, truly amazing because change is hard, right, and we're fairly fresh identity, like for most of our school's history. There were the University of Southwestern Louisiana, usl, and there were the USL Bulldogs and it became the USL Raging Cajuns and then they became the UL Lafayette Raging Cajuns and now there's us who are like, we're the University of Louisiana Raging Cajuns and we have to define that identity. But those of us who never went to USL, you know we're still young working professionals. We don't hold the power when it comes to the university. It's the generation above that who are still fighting and cleaning on to the previous identity.
Cory:So that's what's been making it so divisive, right, the university is actively trying to stop me, my campaign. That's not me saying that. That is on record. They're the ones that have put my GoFundMe campaign on pause. That's on record from GoFundMe campaign on pause. That's on record from GoFundMe.
Cory:So I see, and this is all because they deem my campaign as a threat to the brand, which I find funny because I think if someone wanted to change the LSU Tigers, no one could right. The brand is that strong. Same thing for Georgia Bulldogs, texas Longhorns right, if the brand is that strong. Same thing for georgia bulldogs, texas longhorns right, if your brand is strong. A little old fan asking for a few bucks to make a costume for an 18 to 22 year old to be in wouldn't be that much of a threat. But that's not our brand. The brand is growing, but it is weak and they're afraid it's albino is something that they are deathly afraid of because they know once the suit gets here, they can't stop it, right, yeah, because they don't want to do anything. They said that they are actively not doing any pursuit of a spirit leader. Again, it would be one thing if they're like, oh, we're gonna do it in this time and we have our own thing.
TJ:It's set up, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cory:But they don't. And they said that they don't. And they've said multiple times now that they don't. The only reason they said that is because I was doing the thing.
TJ:You know, what do you attribute that? Fear? I mean, you use the word fear and I don't like to throw that word around loosely because I don't mean fear in its traditional sense. But what do you think the pushback is from? Like, why do you think this, this is so widely you know, fought against? I mean, why would anybody want to not have a mascot or not have a spirit leader? I truly don't know, I just don't know I can imagine that state not having yourself on the sidelines.
Cory:It's like them holding on to something that's not there anymore. It would be different if the Bulldog was still here. It would be different if Kyan was still here, but there's nothing. Yeah, what are they fighting for? They're fighting for nothing and I just truly don't understand the people who run, who make the decisions. The UL Office of Communications and Marketing the head of the office doesn't have a degree from UL. That's wild. You know they have a doctor from UL. You know that's that's wild. You know they, they. They have a doctorate, but none of their degrees are from UL. You know they. They're undergraduates from Auburn. I'm an alum I would say decently accomplished alum who has put in.
Cory:I'd say more than decently you know has put in work that marketing company. You know they would pay marketing companies tens of thousands of dollars for the amount of research that I've done.
Dom:And I want to drive home the fact too, because I don't know if we've specifically said it With this campaign, all you're doing is providing the spirit leader. You are not trying to change the name of Rage and Cajuns. That's not a part of what you're trying to accomplish. Not at all. I love the name of the Ragin' Cajuns. That's not a part of what you're trying to accomplish. Not at all. I love the name Ragin' Cajuns. No, yeah, exactly.
Dom:I think some people may see a gator and think, oh, he's trying to change the name or the nickname of the school. That's not at all a part. You're leaving that, you're just adding to it, and I think you know from the outside, from people that haven't been following as closely or just learning about this now, there's no aspect of this about a name change. It's solely providing the spirit leader. As you can see, 13 of the other 14 schools within this conference currently have a mascot in costume on sidelines for sporting events, except for the cages, and actually technically shout out to uh, the georgia southern eagles. Uh, as gus's birthday is today. Uh, so a little.
Dom:Yeah, I didn't plan this, but yeah one happy birthday we're doing a mascot show, but but they also have two. I mean technically, they have gus there pictured in the costume and they actually have an actual eagle. Uh, at some point do you think they'd ever capture an albino gator and have him on the sidelines too?
Cory:I don, I don't know, I'm just trying to get to one thing at a time, I know.
Cory:I know One thing at a time you know part of the stuff that you know, always imagining. I've thought so much about why? A white alligator specifically? A lot of things. A lot of universities you see a statue of their spirit leader right At Coastal Carolina there's a giant chicken right, and at UO we have nothing right. A lot of these spirit leader statues. They've become part of the school's iconography, school's iconography. So imagine like a giant marble white statue near cajun field. Slash our lady of lord stadium that people can post up with for graduation and and tailgates and game days, like it's a fully thought out, like hey, people just buy in. You can do a lot of cool stuff with it. Bring us up to branding speed with the rest of our conference peers and just the rest of college.
Dom:I got one suggestion. I would love to see if it comes to fruition. Remember the scene in the movie Hook? And it's the big gator that stands up, a big albino gator that stands up. Oh man, yeah, a big albino gator with red beady eyes, seven feet tall, that people can stand beside and take group pictures with it would be a reason to go to visit the game for visitors.
Dom:It's one of a kind it would stand out. I mean, all of this just makes so much, it's like Adam just out. I mean, all of this just makes so much, it's like Adam just said. I mean, who, how do you push back against this? I want to know, I really want to know what the what, the hang up is, other than we didn't come up with the idea.
TJ:We don't want to let somebody else do it. Yeah, that's the hang up. The hang up is we didn't do it ourselves and it's coming from what they perceive as the outside. We didn't do it ourselves and it's coming from what they perceive as the outside, and it doesn't make any sense because cory is quite, you know, for all intents and purposes, inside. He's literally in house, you know.
Cory:Yeah yeah, yeah, I, I mean, I truly don't know. Um, we can all, we can speculate this and that it's, you know. It's also surprising, like I'm the one taking all the arrows right, like the university, probably. Truly, if they, if they weren't forced by donors who were getting pissed at my, my, my efforts, they'd probably just be like let him do all the work, do all this, you know, like somebody else is doing the work.
TJ:We don't have to do it like no we don't have to, we don't have to do anything.
Cory:But I think there's too many. There's too many pissed off boomers that they have to do something.
Dom:Well, tell a little bit of the backstory again. I think there's a lot of people that aren't as familiar with some of the past mascots that you guys have had. Where did the chicken come from? Right, I mean, this was a grassroots movement that came from nowhere, had really no direct connection to the school, other than it was called the Cajun chicken. Um, but tell people a little bit about that story and maybe how that helped you get into this thought process that, hey, I can do something like this as well because somebody else has already kind of done it in the past and obviously not greatly thought out and well done plan is yours. But you know, to some extent they just went and did it. It wasn't like the university asked them to.
Cory:Right. So brief history of like. So after USL converted to the raging Cajuns, they had a live bulldog mascot and they're like well, we're not the bulldogs anymore, so I guess let's try to fit our new identity. And then they brought the Cajun man which looked like a giant. Michael Jackson turned Colonel Reb knockoff, um, and people are like that's terrifying. Um, so maybe not Um, cause it looks terrifying.
Cory:So after Mr Cajun man, a fan and alum named Russell Heim, showed up to the games in a chicken outfit, it was called the Fabulous Cajun Chicken and Fabulous Cajun Chicken enacted skits at games, entertained kids, entertained fans. Did that for quite some time and, you know, people fell in love with the chicken because he was funny. Russell was funny, it had a personality and that's what you want from a good spirit leader. So Russell was the fabulous Cajun chicken until the university was ready to build a spirit leader that fit the new kind of, you know, university of Louisiana brand, and that's where they started investing in Cayenne. So the fabulous Cajun chicken actually showed up, made a game appearance like the university, brought him back for one basketball game I think it was two years ago, something like that, either last year or two years ago because he was such a fan favorite, and he was a fan favorite because, one, it had a personality and two, it was organic, it was grassroots, and that's the biggest thing when it comes to so many of these college mascots thing.
Cory:When it comes to so many of these college mascots, um, in my phase three campaign presentation, I cited different mascots like so, um, syracuse, syracuse orange. Their spirit leader is otto the orange, which is an anamorphic orange. That's funny but fitting. Um, and, of course, like they're the syracuse orange, of course they're going to have an anamorphic orange as their orange. Right, otto was unofficial for 17 years.
Dom:I did not realize that?
Cory:years, um, and he had to beat out other spirit leaders that the university was trying to force because the university at first had a native american mascot.
Cory:So you know, they're like that's not the vibe and that happens around, like that happened around like the 60s or something like that.
Cory:So they're actually ahead of the curve. And then after that, you know, a student in a fraternity, like his dad gave him auto the orange and like I think it was sigma chi that just kept, they were out of the auto, they just kept wearing out of the orange while the university at one point they're like they brought in an orange gladiator, they brought in like an orange wolf, like they were doing all these things like trying to force a spirit leader when the students already chose it right, right, it was organic, but that took 17 years. And then eventually they adopted Otto the Orange and now Otto the Orange is in the Mascot Hall of Fame. So it just has to happen organically. The Stanford tree isn't even the official mascot of Stanford, it's the mascot of the band, because the administration was just like we're just not going to have one mascot of the band because the the administration was just like we're just not going to have one, so the band does it, and then it became that's a you know a good roundabout way of having a spirit leader.
Dom:that's part of the iconography everybody wins and that's not even a good looking one, like, honestly, it's kind of like a joke of a mascot, but, like you said, it exists. People rally around it. There's merchandise made with the thing around, you know t-shirts and hats and all kinds of stuff. It's just uh. Speak to that, though, because there have been some people uh, I guess, I guess, technically, is this trademarked or anything like can can anybody just print this? People have done that, though. Right, there's students on campus that have been seen wearing Al t-shirts and otherwise you know merchandise, essentially, right.
Cory:Yes, yes, and that's that.
Cory:That was great. That's the point. I don't want to trademark, because I mean I want the fans to have this trademark out, because I mean I want the fans to have this like. I think one of the big drawbacks with with kyan is, like, who can own an anamorphic pepper? Right, like, if I want to show my ul pride outside of just buying a shirt and use the spirit leader like I'm not gonna have an anamorphic pepper plushie, right?
Cory:I posted that on my, on my, on my twitter feed today of like someone made their own albino plushie, a little white alligator, put him in a, in a red graduate cap and gown next to ul degree. He's not. He doesn't even exist yet, guys, it doesn't even exist yet. This is all imagery. That's how good the idea is. You know, yes, and that's what the, the spirit leader, represents, that's what albino represents. It's like you know, if you know you guys is, you know as app, you know, app, guys, it's easy to draw yusuf you need a beard and a hat, and like you can show your show, your pride, and that's that's cool. Like it's cool that you can show your pride, that's cool. It's cool that you can take that iconometry, that character, and create so many different ways to show your pride. That's just something that's been missing for UL fans for well over 20 years now, because that was really hard. Flaming Pepper isn't that interesting.
Dom:I think, like you said, if someone doesn't know what that is and they're presented to it, I think exactly what you said earlier Like they're going to look at it as a demonic demon, they're not going to identify it as a pepper. There's nothing immediately. I mean, if you saw the bottom where it curves a little bit, maybe you assume it's a pepper, but the top half of its head doesn't necessarily tell you immediately it's a pepper. It looks more like flames off the top of the head of the thing and you know, again, like you said, imagery could be an issue there. This I don't think. I mean, the most scary aspect of this is the red eyes, which I also think is probably the coolest aspect of this is the red eyes, which I also think is probably the coolest aspect of this, and you have the um. You've also incorporated louisiana lore in within that as well.
Dom:What was the thought process of, of putting the flor de leaf? Is that flor de lee? Flor de lee, okay, does not pronounce the, the last little bit. That's what they're teaching me with that. They just have some letters they don't quite pronounce, don't really do it, don't really like some of those in letters. But yeah, just explain the thought process of kind of including that, because I think that's a really cool touch. Uh, for those of you, I can make this full screen. Those of you watching, you can see on these top two I believe it's on at least the top two there. Uh, he's got it within the eye of the gator itself, which is just a really cool touch, I think.
Cory:Yeah, it's also in the bottom left one as well too. It's just really small. Yeah, I mean, I just found opportunity for more individuality. A lot of people are like, oh, this is too much like Florida, the Florida gators and all that it's like. Well, here's something. You can look at a white alligator here and you can see the Florida Lee in its eyes. And if I'm somebody of like, clearly that's not Florida, right, Like it has to be Louisiana, what else would it be? What else would it be? What else can you make? What other character can you make? And like, see it it from a distance. You can take away all the words, just see it from the distance. Be like louisiana, yes, louisiana, and that's so powerful.
TJ:That's so it. Yeah, it's like adam just said. Oh yeah, good question, adam. How's it spelled? Albino, or yeah, albino?
Cory:it, it's the E-A-U-X.
TJ:That's what I figured, yeah.
Dom:It only makes sense. That's what I'm saying. It's perfect, right.
TJ:Literally every single detail has been mapped out purposefully, thoughtfully, and it fits eloquently. It is exactly what it should be, and I'm not saying this but I could care less about Louisiana. I don't. I'm obviously an abseg. We have your people, exactly.
Cory:You're saying that you are one of us. But it makes sense, man.
TJ:I mean it is, it is. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why there would be any pushback at all to this. I mean I get Well, let me let me rephrase I understand from the perspective of the person who's creating it. I, aka Corey, I get why they would be pushing back against you for most of the reasons. The but from a doesn't make sense standpoint. I can't imagine there being any other rationale for why you wouldn't have this.
Cory:You know it's yeah, I mean it's just stays. It just stays a mystery. My big thing is like I'm a nerd out a little bit, if you allow me to nerd out. Yeah, I heard a lot about you guys play video games. Oh yeah, ok, so I'm a big Civilization fan. Have you ever heard of Civilization? Yes, tj, have you ever heard of Civilization?
TJ:No, I don't play a lot of video games unless it's Madden, call of Duty or he's got a ball or a gun, I don't know what it is.
Dom:Yeah, yeah, yeah, Show him this TJ. He's doing a little bit more of this than the video game in.
Cory:Aspen Well there's this video game called Civilization. It's on its seventh iteration that's about to come out in about a week, actually Very excited about it, but it's been. The game is the name of the premise. You start off with just one village and you take it all the way into this massive civilization that has multiple cities and an army and you know, building rockets and all that stuff. I'm a big history buff so I eat it up. I bring up Civilization because for the past two iterations, the developers have made pretty significant changes to the layout of the game, this iteration Civ 7, being the biggest.
Cory:I'm not going to bore you on the details, but basically when they announced that this change was happening, of course the internet is like oh, this is when I stopped playing Civ. Oh, my gosh, they're ruining it. Oh, this is going to be bad, I'll just keep playing Civ 7 or 6 or 5 or 4. And the big thing being like or you can just wait and play the game or see other people play the game and you'll, you'll see how good it is and that's really what happens. This happens. There's all this big rush of like oh, this is going to be bad. And then you see it in practice, you know, like okay, this is actually way better than what was yeah established before. This is great.
Dom:I never want to go back well, anything with anything, right, sorry it literally is I was watching something on uh and this is obviously.
TJ:This is great. I never want to go back. Well, it's the same thing with anything right? It literally is. I was watching something on and this is obviously not related but you talk about change and how change affects people and those kinds of things. I was watching something that was on. I think it was on Instagram or Facebook, whatever social media platform. It was.
TJ:Back in I think it was the 70s, early 70s, maybe late 60s. They were trying to get people to stop drinking and driving, so they were passing this campaign about not drinking and driving. They were starting to make it a law that you can't have a drink, and it was like they had these people on camera and it was like it's a shame a guy can't get off work and have a couple of beers on his way home. And it's like, now you think about it, it's like that sounds insane, like no, you shouldn't, or you could just wait until you get home to have the beer. How far away do you live from work? Like, what are we doing? And so like. But to them at the time, it's like you're changing the whole way we think, like, and to me that's in part, what is going on here. It's like we've never had this. This doesn't make any sense when, 10 years from now, the people who weren't a part of this will say well, it didn't make any sense to not have this.
Cory:That's always the case. That's always the case. All this pushback, all this fear from the university, this community divide, Albino hasn't taken one step on the campus. It would be a different thing if the suit was here and it was actually offending people or doing stuff or like soiling the brand.
TJ:It's all images yeah, and the way you think about that is that shows you how powerful it can and will be, shows how powerful and that's just what I mean by the fear and the insecurity is.
Cory:Because they know that. They know that that as soon as that, why, as as an 18 year old, 22 year old ul student, the moment they put on that white alligator costume, put on a just a blanket red jersey because I can't use a UL jersey, as per their request, but just put on a red sweater or something the moment that happens and we're at a half field, brand new Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium, they know it's over.
TJ:They know it's over. They know it's over.
Cory:The moment that I put on a custom-built washboard and Albino gives a little triangle to a kid at a tailgate and they're having a little Cajun jam right there, it is over.
TJ:Yeah, and it's going to be that way forever, like I said, and in 10 years, us having had this conversation would be foreign to another kid. It'd be like why would that? Why was that even? Why was this? Even a thought exactly?
Dom:exactly. Well, and warren warren makes a good point need all other sunbelt schools to push it to the, I think. Think he put UL administration because that is what we need. I mean as a competitor well, I wasn't a direct competitor, but in a competition sense I want to have something on the other sideline, right, like that's what you expect to see, that's what you want to see.
Dom:What's funny is you guys both use kind of examples where the change is somewhat of a cultural change or a drastic change. What's funny is I don't feel like that's happening here. I actually think this is just elevating what does exist to a better level, change that you should be afraid of or concerned with, because this is rooted by Corey's background, by the Cajun background, with Cajun themes, cajun colors, I mean it's. You know we have four schools who are going to be bringing in new head coaches this year. It's not even the same realm as that. Right, like those are cultural changes and sweeping changes, uh, that are coming to football programs. This would be a huge addition. That obviously exceeds football because, like you said, there's people who have no interest in athletics, who could still attach themselves to this. Do you know how many people every year do a march madness bracket and they pick the teams they want to win based on the mascot. Who do they like more? What's cooler? This one's going to be at the top of the list for a ton of people, right? If you say Raging Cajuns, that's already pretty cool.
Dom:If you add this logo, this look, to that name, I mean, I don't know which school I'd pick above it. I'm not kidding. This is that interesting of a logo and a mascot and an idea that I think exists out there, and I've, I've, I've seen some of the stuff about the Florida. Oh well, you already have a team, that's the Gators. Well, again, this isn't a name change. This is in addition to the name that already exists, which is already undefeated, right? I mean, raging Cajuns is, like instantly recognizable. So I just I don't get it.
TJ:Let me come at you from this perspective and this is going to be a hot-button topic and it's probably going to be people that chime in and say why did you have to bring this up and all of that kind of thing? But I think you know where I'm headed with this. How much of this do you? So two parts First, where I'm headed with this, how much of this do you think? So two parts. First part is how much of this do you think it is what we've discussed already, which is the pushback and you know sort of change and people being kind of stuck in their own ways. And how much of it do you think is the pushback? Is who it's coming from, ie a young black man. Do we want that type of influence on our university?
Cory:I wish my blackness came more into effect, honestly, because I would say the second most pushback is that he's just an albino alligator and that his name is albino. Some people even parents of young young. One of the biggest wildest stories is that there's a I'm in a Raging Cajuns football fan group on Facebook and there's a guy who took a picture that shows that he gives $50,000 to the university annually and he has like a small son of with with albinism and he said that he would pool his donation if the university were to ever adopt this spirit leader, because albino is offensive to albino people or people with albinism offensive to albino people or people with albinism. And none of it makes sense, right? Because if I'm being real with you in the he he was like he was one of two to three parents who have, who have children with albinism that that hold this.
Cory:Take that albinism, um, that the albino is offensive to people with albinism. And again, as an artist, I did my research and you know some people have this perception that just the term albino is offensive and that comes from people who don't really have any perspective on how pejorative words and derogatory words are formed because in their everyday life they don't really experience it. So, tj, you know, if someone were to call me black, I wouldn't be offended, sure, if someone were to say I'm a black, I'd be like, okay, that's, that's weird.
TJ:Yeah, that's why you say that Right.
Cory:So that doesn't make the term black offensive. A black makes it contextually offensive, you know, because it sounds dehumanizing. But people hear that the same way. It's not offensive. I've conferred with this with our blindism community. It's not offensive. I've conferred with this with the albinism community. It's not offensive to say albino.
Cory:It'd be like me saying you're albino instead of saying you're an albino, exactly that is the major difference, that is the major difference between that is, you know, between an and and just saying what, what a word? Yeah, description, description is, I'm with you. Um, but for somebody who just never had that experience, who doesn't think about that, that that's still hard for them to understand, um, even still of like, if they've never had the experience of not seeing themselves represented in anything. It's just hard. I can't find it in me of why someone, a full-grown adult who's reasonable and has albinism and here's a character that is proudly albino and has possibility for positive representation with albinism having a problem with that.
TJ:Yeah, it's funny. Funny, I guess, isn't the operative word, but I liken it kind of back to when people when there a pushback, you know, against the Redskins, because it was offensive and it's not that, for me, at least my understanding from Native Americans, it wasn't that representation was offensive, right, like the Florida State Seminoles is an awesome name because the Seminole tribe wants to be represented. But don't call me a redskin, right, because that's that is not my nationality, that's not who I am, right. So don't you know, don't call me an albino. I'm, I'm out, I have a binism, right, or why, right, like that's to me.
TJ:I would think representation would be appropriate in this sense because, first of all, on a lot of levels, when have you know people with albino? When have they ever been represented? When is that? When has it ever even been a conversation? How many times have you had a conversation with someone and that's even come up? I don't. I can't recall the last time I've even had this extensive of a conversation, like I've seen albino and you know an albino person a million times. Right, never thought once they they probably should be represented in some way, never thought of it. This is giving you that opportunity now.
Dom:Yeah, I think back to like uh, I guess my in-laws and my wife lived in the neighborhood where they had an albino deer and everybody wanted to see the albino deer. It's not, it's not plentiful, it's hard to see, it's elusive, it's. It's a really cool thing, like they said, they would get up in the window and watch it walk through and it's just like elegant, right, because it's like this thing in nature that doesn't exist often and some people will never see that type of thing. I mean that it's exactly the opposite of what cory is experiencing with that story. It to me it's crazy, like I want to have something like this because it's rare and it's cool because it's rare. It's not bad because it's rare. Don't be afraid of this, embrace it. It's just crazy.
Dom:It blows my mind and just don't really get the fact that there's really any pushback. And that's why you've already done a number of other podcasts that I've listened to and heard you talk and had interest in having you on here, because I like the I'm, you know, the visual learner. So I like to put together a little bit more of a visual show, but it is just it made too much sense to have you on here and explain so much more than what just appears in front of you. Because when you put history and context behind it, it why it is the way it is, how it was done, why it was thought up in the first place like it just it just sells it even more. It'd be different if you came on here and was like, well, just like gators and uh, you know, it's red and white because they're familiar and white because that's the school colors like okay, that would still be cool, right, but like, this is a whole different history lesson.
TJ:That just yeah, and honestly, the first time I saw it, the first time I saw this which I think we talked about it last season yes, well, the first time you brought it up I was like oh that's cool, literally had no other thought behind. Somebody just made a gator albino and because lafayette's colors are red and white, and that was to me, that was enough. Now, having knowing the backstory and having known what you've gone through intellectually to make to come up with this and sort of putting the grassroots effort behind, now I've seen it for what it actually is, and not only did I like it then, now I love it because it makes even more sense.
Cory:And now I love it because it makes even more sense. Yeah, yeah, I want. I appreciate that, and both of you, I appreciate that. Like, this is also the longest conversation I've had on any podcast about about this character. So the the irony of that, you know, is is is pretty funny. But yeah, no, I mean we all just keep circling back to the same thing of like, oh, this is a slam dunk, yeah, why isn't this already a thing? And, um, not only is it, why isn't this already a thing, why is the school actively fighting it? You know, this whole week has been trying to fix the things that the school blew up, right and try to blow up. But they can't stop me. They can't stop the fans Appreciate, like all the stuff you know Albino has been painted at the Acadiana Center of the Arts in downtown Lafayette.
Cory:I didn't tell them to do that. A fan did that. A picture of Alvino was put in the McDonald's across the street from campus. I didn't tell them to do that. I don't even know who did that. Someone else did that. Someone made up their own plushie. They did that. A fan had his son make a custom shirt with Alvino's face on it. I didn't tell him to do that. He did that. You can go on UL's fan base. You see people with either the Albino banner or they have Albino on their picture profile. I didn't do that.
Dom:I didn't tell them to do that. We still have Albino on one of our loops. I saw that. I saw that and I do that. I didn't tell them to do that. We still have albino on one of our loops. I saw that and I appreciate that.
TJ:I'm literally on Google right now and there's pictures all on Google of albino Right now, like in front of me Right now.
Cory:Right now, pandora's box is open. Yeah, so that's why I'm not sweating the university blowing up my things right now, because they already played their main card sending out fake season to say some copyright infringement. Okay, I'll adjust things, but people want this, people want this and there's an intrinsic problem that they're not going to fix yeah, I agree in my in my history I've been an activist before.
Cory:I'm still an activist, but I was thinking about this on the way of setting up here to tell you guys about this, that in downtown Lafayette there was this statue of this old Confederate general from the area that became more and more divisive every year, every year. Right, and I was a part of this coalition that really wanted the statue just moved from downtown lafayette where where's the most foot traffic and everything, and we waited from the moment that we first, you know, set up a protest or anything. We didn't tear it down, we're completely civil, you know, just a protest of just like letting it known we don't like this. The moment we did that. It took two years and then the mayor finally made arrangements to move it to a museum and everyone's happy. But that's the method of being an activist and that problem's not going to go away, but it's only a matter of time before I'm right.
TJ:If there's a problem.
Cory:It's only a matter of time before the people that want to fix that problem are right.
TJ:Yeah, and what side of history do you want to be on?
Dom:Yeah exactly Exactly. Warren brings up a great point, says as a 72 year old in Southeast Alabama that's what we all need to get away from is the we? You are blank, you know we are all people. I think that's a pretty good comment there from someone, again not in the cajun fan base, so he's. He's just explaining that as as an overall statement. Uh, neil, kind of pointing to what I talked about with the, the albino deer, albino buffalo or great white buffalo, is revered in Native American culture, so he's prized and he's saying if he's correct there. And a quick shout out to Dominic Ambrose. He's doing some work for college football dogs down there in Mobile, alabama at the Senior Bowl. So great to check in with him. He saw that Mike Green demolishing up close and personal. So shout out to Dominic for chiming in from down there, up close and personal. So shout out to Dominic for for chiming in from down there. So, corey, before we leave here, you did technically get a cease and desist letter, but I didn't you didn't.
Cory:Okay, that was a fake, that was a fake story. Okay, what they? What they did was they sent a I'm not authorized to use any of their copyright to the mascot company, which is who I was working with to design the costume for Albino. So, one, that's not a cease and desist. And two, it wasn't even too mean. I didn't get anything, as per the head of marketing, I was known about that letter as a courtesy, that is, directly as a courtesy. So I didn't get anything and they contacted gofundme to suspend my campaign. But I'm working with gofundme to fix that and even if gofundme doesn't want to fix it, I'll just do a new season, I'll just move to a different crowdfunding. Or am I doing like? People want this right? They're? You know the universe. It's just funny. It's just funny. Someone's job at martin hall on uos campus one day was like hey, go, go f his stuff up. Like that was on, that was on their their board day. That was funny, that's funny Admission ticket sales.
TJ:oh yeah, and go, mess Corey's stuff up.
Cory:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Someone's job is like go look at Corey's social media, see what his next move is and let's go F his stuff up. That's going to be on the day board and it's going to be on the board for a while. Let him keep coming. It's going to be on the board for a while. Let them keep coming. It's going to be on the board for a while because people want this. I'm going to keep pushing. Albino is going to get here.
Dom:To be clear, you have reached out trying to essentially do a presentation or send them this information to explain all of this, and they just haven't been open, correct?
Cory:It's one thing to not be open, it's another to just completely ignore. Um, I reached out three years ago. I reached out every step and phase of the way and again, I do not know if I was talking to you. I would be here talking to you, guys, if they had treated an alumni with respect from the first get-go, even through email of just like hey, we appreciate your enthusiasm. We're not currently pursuing a mascot at this time, but we will in whatever future, at some capacity, and we'll take public input. If that would have been the response from the first email three years ago, don't know I'd be here today. Wow, every step of the way, I've just been treated as a nuisance and we have half empty stadiums, yeah, so it's like okay, guys, all right, well, I'm not going to let someone who doesn't have a degree from UL dictate what I do with my degree from UL in regards to helping you.
TJ:Well, so here we are Listen man, we appreciate it and we are in full support. Obviously and that's not a whole lot we can do is, you know college football and then some of us know so much. You know, we got our little audience and we'll put our teams together and hopefully show as much support as we can for Albino, because I like it you guys have already done so much.
Cory:You've been supporters for quite some time now and you know, like I said, it's so ironic that the longest conversation I've had about the character has come on a podcast by by some app guys. So our destinies are continue to be intertwined.
TJ:You know, over a year ago, we were with you for a long time.
Cory:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I absolutely love it. So again, I just really appreciate it. I appreciate anyone who's listening to this podcast and who pods with the character and the campaign. And you know I want to see just the Sunbelt elevated because that's what Albina will do for our conference and, you know, really round it out and have some really fun interactions with all the other great characters. Gus is great, yusuf is great, you know. The rest I don't really care to give credit to because we're beefing, but you know it's, it's, it is important and, like I said, I just appreciate everyone who's who's tuned in and listen and spread the word. You know, because the university can't keep down the crowdfunding for ever. The university can't keep down the crowdfunding forever, they won't. So when it's back up, anyone, if I can just get five dollars, goes a long way. Five dollars from, you know, 40 people, 100 people, 200 people goes a long way. You know it may not be the best thing, but it will be something you.
Dom:You be sure to tell us when that goes live, because we will do our best just to share it everywhere. Um, because I know that there's people again, like my son saw this logo and he was like, I mean, like that was his first thing, so we don't have to keep selling that fact. We all know, you know thing that would be thought about when you see this thing. Uh, up close, I mean the, the amount of iterations you have to offer too, that people could choose from, is insane, because they're all good. Is there any last words other than what you've just left us with you want to give the people before?
Cory:we say goodnight here, other than happy to be here and go Cajuns.
TJ:Where can we find you? What platforms can we find you? What, what, uh? What platforms can we find you on social?
Cory:media uh, on on twitter, slash x. Uh, it's saint underscore ewert you know the best way for in england, so saint underscore ewerts on instagram uh, it's cory. It's actually one of my best jokes, I like to say, because when you get a notification that I started following you, what does it say?
Dom:CoreyKinda follows you.
Cory:I like to take my minimal interest in everyone's life. That's awesome.
Dom:Are you running the OWL account as well, or is that someone else? Yeah, yeah, so that there is an account specifically for him.
Cory:So yes, specifically for him. That is albino how it's, how it's spelled, with an e-a-u-x out at the end albino for albino. Underscore war, the number four underscore UL.
Dom:Nice, yeah, be sure to follow those along. We hope to see a whole lot more from you, corey, and we're all going to have a big party when this finally gets to the point where there is a mascot on the field Mascot party, mascot party, mascot party. Well, thank you so much for joining us tonight, corey. We really appreciate it, and we will definitely be following along and hopefully see something in physical form very soon.
TJ:Thank, you guys, we appreciate you man.
Dom:See you guys, see you guys.
Cory:Sunbelt Syndicate.
