Poll on Albineaux the Gator

[ULvictory]

I'm just happy that the conversation of a mascot has created some buzz. Personally, I'm netural on Albineaux but am very appreciative that Cory took all of this time out of his schedule to create this concept. This is the kind of grassroot effort that we pride ourselves on in this community. It's a sense of creativity that our Cajun fans can put forth if given a chance.

Here's the issue I have with the whole mascot debate. While Cory has gone through all of these different concepts and phases to Al, what has the university done? Nothing. When the marketing team put together a committee a few years ago to create a mascot and couldn't finalize a concept, what did they do to mend it? Nothing. When Cory tries to constantly contact the marketing team on campus to hear what they think of Al, what did they do? Nothing. As a matter of fact, they never even responded. Never sent an email. Never even acknowledged the effort. Not even a comment when this concept was brought to the local media stations. That is incompetent and LAAAAAAAZZZZZZYYYYYYY. How hard is it to give an answer? Love it. Hate it. I don't care. But at least acknowledge the effort, give some feedback, and do something moving forward instead of staying silent.

[CharlieK]

Love the effort and passion. Not a fan of the name.

[ZoomZoom]

If this movement gets a discussion started towards a mascot within the walls of the university, it’s a win. This exact mascot, would be shocking. Who knows, they might have already handed this off to a third party vendor of their liking by now.

[Turbine]

Louisiana needs a U Liaison

[KajunKrazy]

I for one think if you go with a gator suit that is not traditional, go with a Red Gator and lose the controversy of albinism. JMO. To much controversy surrounds the whole Albino thing for the political correct world academia has become. Heck half of the UL community continually fights Ragin Cajuns because it doesn’t represent them.

Full disclosure I am not PC and the Albineaux Gator offends me not at all.

[CajunVic]

Any who believe albino = white, should not be in any decision process. Things like this are why we can’t have anything nice.

[Turbine]

Louisiana needs a U Liaison

Liaison is a French word.

In this case something that connects campus reality with sports imagination.

[LaGrid]

Give me a gator any gator, preferably one with Louisiana values.

[Turbine]

Louisiana needs a U Liaison

By the way "a U Liaison" spells Louisiana.

[CharlieK]

I for one think if you go with a gator suit that is not traditional, go with a Red Gator and lose the controversy of albinism. JMO. To much controversy surrounds the whole Albino thing for the political correct world academia has become. Heck half of the UL community continually fights Ragin Cajuns because it doesn’t represent them.

Full disclosure I am not PC and the Albineaux Gator offends me not at all.

This.

[CouillonCinema]

Hey y'all! Dropping in to say a few things.

1. Whether or not you support Albineaux, I appreciate your engagement in the subject. I created Al because there was a clear fading engagement with the fanbase. I believe when aiming to create something successful, discontent from consumers is a lot better than apathy.

2. That being said, I'm not going to debate anyone who dislikes Albineaux for insert reason. Their feelings are valuable because Al is art' and art is supposed to make people feel. He continues to do his job. The only I will step in is when someone says something false, or not what the campaign is intending.

3. That also being said, I know it's hard for some people to believe, but by the Lord's grace, Albineaux is really popular. Don't let the comment section of KATC and KLFY fool you otherwise. As I've stated in the previous thread, those articles don't present Al with the full context. They just show the image with a quick write up and spin in order to get clicks. I'm not bashing that. I'm just saying, negative feelings benefit news networks. None of them post the full presentation, so none of the commenters can have a well informed opinion. Even if the news post the full presentation, not everyone cares to read it.

If you want to start building more of an objective view of the reception of Albineaux, just google him. You'll see multiple news articles talking about him. Despite the spins, those articles, from radio to TV to the school news paper, were written by YOUNG alums who love the idea. Somebody actually took one of those articles and brought it to CFB reddit. Albineaux received an overwhelmingly positive reception there. Lastly, any of you can go to any of my social pages and see how people feel about Al when they are presented the full context.

FB: Cory Stewart
Ig: corykinda
X: Saint_Ewart

I say none of this to brag. I wouldn't be doing any of this without all the fans here that have said yes on the survey, and my God who gave me the talents to create and told me to be a Ragin' Cajun. My point is, I'm not some guy yelling at the sky being a menace to the good people of Acadiana. People, especially young people, are really hungry for a mascot, and a good bit of them want Albineaux to fill that void.

[CouillonCinema]

One last thing. On FB, I'm seeing a good number of people saying Albineaux is ruining tradition or something along those lines. People want UL to pick a mascot and be done with it. I get it! We all want that. That is why I'm trying to present something sustainable.

Instead of looking at all the changes UL has done in its past (SLII, USL, ULL, UL, bulldog, Cajun man, Cajun Chicken, Cayenne) as moments of lack of identity and indecision, I look at it as: Acadiana is always progressing, and because of that, HISTORY can be made in Acadiana everyday.

A lot of these things we hold dear as Ragin' Cajuns fans, are still relatively new in the grand scheme of things. A lot of people can remember the day we became the Ragin' Cajuns (1974). Even more can remember the day we became UL Lafayette (1999). Something I found really interesting and inspiring in my research is discovering how new the Acadiana flag is. A widely accepted and strong symbol of regional and Cajun pride, it would be easy to think it has been around for at least a hundred years if not more. That is not the case. It was introduced by one UL alum in 1964. And then, TEN YEARS LATER it was adopted by the state. For the past sixty years, Lafayette has been amazing at creating change that better reflects/serves the community. That is not surprising because we are highly creative community filled with dreamers. And it seems we are at a moment to give our mascot the same treatment we gave our university and our flag.

I hold no ill will towards anyone who doesn't believe in Albineaux. But I can not thank his supporters enough for being open to creating another moment of our history.