Spreading the Spirit

More than a cheerleader, mascot Timeout is a staple at most Fresno State events

By Chhun Sun
The Collegian

Bulldog Stadium is in full force. The home crowd, including 4,000 boisterous fans in the student section, is revved up, cheering for its home team and booing the visiting one. Cheerleaders are shouting with clenched fists pumping in the air. Players on the football field look as if they could run through a brick wall.

Marching band members play their music, and then some pull their mouths away from their instruments and yell “We’re going to win!”

Then there’s a husky, light gray-looking fellow who sports a red pair of shorts with Bulldogs logos on each leg, getting the crowd pumped.

“There’s Timeout,” says Nick Grim, a marketing assistant at the athletic department who is now manning the south entrance of the stadium.

“He doesn’t talk. I don’t know what he’s gonna be doing, but there he is,” Grim continues.

Because he doesn’t talk, here’s the whole “what we know about Timeout” part.

In 2001, the university celebrated Timeout’s 80th birthday — or 560 in dog years — on Dec. 15 at a men’s basketball game at Selland Arena.

Two weeks earlier at a football game, the Red Wavers sang “Happy Birthday” to the mascot during, of course, a timeout.

The name Timeout was given to the mascot in 1981, when it was taken from the Timeout Boosters Club, which sponsored the mascot that year, according to Gary Johns in a press release in 2001. Johns is the person credited for designing the costume.

Before then, Timeout was a (live) white bulldog.

Now two months away from turning 588 in dog years, Timeout is still a figure on campus who fans don’t know much about.

They probably don’t know their mascot is non-gendered.

“It’s assumed that Timeout is male,” says an athletic assistant who asked to remain anonymous to keep from being perceived as a Timeout expert.

But you can’t blame fans for their assumption. Just look at the way he behaves.

He’s very flirtatious with girls, sometimes kissing their hands as if he’s participating in the most classical act of courtship known to man.

When he’s with the guys, he’s different, giving them chest-bumps and offering high-fives as he leaps high from the ground.

This behavior is part of his ubiquitous nature.

Timeout is everywhere, jumping and pointing and motioning excitement with his paws — all the typical things fans associate the mascot with. Timeout matches the crowd volume with hand gestures, such as pushing his paws up above his head, as if to say: “Let’s raise the roof!”

Timeout shakes the hands of every person he comes across, from players to cameramen to Fresno police officers to field security to reporters to photographers to cheerleaders.

Sometimes Timeout hugs little kids, stopping to take pictures with them.

Or he pretends he’s a football player, positioning himself in a three-point stance to tackle a player.

Or he’ll give thumbs up to the crowd, who will respond with “We love you, Timeout!”

Timeout somersaults, lifts up female cheerleaders with one paw, does push-ups with two paws with the Fresno State Air Force ROTC when the team scores — but he cheats, using his knees to keep his body balanced.

It’s all part of his silly demeanor. “He’s more than just the game,” says the AD representative, a member of a team that coordinates appearances for Timeout. “He represents more than just athletics. He doesn’t just represent sports. He’s seen on TV and he does a lot of things people don’t see.”

That means attending birthday parties, university speech welcomes, charitable events — although most people recognize the mascot at Fresno State volleyball, basketball and football games.

“Next to Hill,” the AD representative starts to say and then pauses.

“Actually, a kid can tell you who Timeout is before they can tell you who Pat Hill is, because the kids love Timeout.”

Head football coach Pat Hill can’t deny the affection kids have toward the mascot, saying, “You know the kids love him. The whole point of being a mascot is being entertaining and Timeout does a good job at that.

“I don’t think any players pay attention to him during games.”

Until days later, “we’d watch the game film and sometimes we’d see Timeout,” senior wide receiver Adam Jennings says. “We’d say, ‘Look at you cheering with Timeout,’ and we’d all have a good laugh about it.”

The next time Jennings and his teammates might see Timeout in game footage is days after their next home game on Nov. 5, when the Bulldogs play San Jose in a Western Athletic Conference game.
And yes, expect Timeout to be everywhere.

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