STARKVILLE — JoJo Dodd has known Bully, the Mississippi State University mascot, since he was little.
Growing up in Picayune, Dodd attended MSU football or baseball games once a year with his grandparents or parents, so he can safely say he “grew up a Bulldog.”
Dodd today is an MSU student. He has spent the last two years living the life of a Bulldog as one of “five friends of Bully,” or members of the MSU spirit squad whose responsibility it is to enhance the experience kids and fans of all ages have with Bully.
At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Dodd, Bully, members of MSU’s pom squad, and cheerleaders will enter enemy territory with one mission: Help the MSU women’s basketball team knock off the biggest, baddest dog on the block — 10-time national champion Connecticut.
But if anyone is up to the task it is Bully.
You’ll have to take Dodd’s word for it, though, because Bully doesn’t talk to reporters. It is against the mascot creed. That’s why Dodd was more than happy to act as interpreter. After all, he has Bully’s walk down and can do a great job mimicking his hand gestures and body movements.
“I have seen Bully rise to the occasion,” Dodd said. “I have seen Bulldogs rise to the occasion, and I expect that is what we will see on Saturday, is the Bulldogs and Bully rise to the occasion of the platform that the girls have earned and Bully has been given. I think we’re going to come out of there victorious.”
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Dodd smiled when asked if Bully and the other members of MSU’s spirit group will have any new moves to show the fans and ESPN viewing audience when they support the No. 5 seed MSU (28-7) against No. 1 seed UConn (34-0) at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Dodd said Wednesday that Bully “is working on some stuff” that he expects him to break out for the UConn fans and “Jonathan,” the Husky that is the school’s mascot. He also said fans can expect to see “all of the classics” from Bully.
Any other moves will depend on what opportunities Bully gets to perform for the cameras or the fans.
Dodd said he never imagined being a “friend of Bully” and helping Bully add to the game experiences of fans of all ages. He said he used to come to games at MSU for the Candyman and Bully. MSU fans know the Candyman by the name of Ron Caulfield, a super fan of all of the school’s teams who can routinely be seen in the stands handing out candy to the Bulldogs’ fans.
Bully doesn’t need candy, but he has been known to wear sunglasses and a hula skirt, or break out in a funky dance move. In fact, Bully has been working on a dance move for the past year and a half that is now one of his most commonly identifiable moves.
Dodd, whose term as MSU’s student body president expired in March, isn’t sure how Bully performs so well in front of friendly and hostile crowds. He said he has been with him in front of several thousand people and as many of tens of thousands of people. He said Bully is unflappable in the face of hungry Tigers, irritable Rebels, or untrained Huskies.
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Bully won’t be the only one in Bridgeport helping the MSU women and their fans enjoy the experience of playing in the Sweet 16.
Taylor Turcotte, a senior from Waveland, is one of four members of the pom squad that will be at the game. Dominick Fears is one of four members of the co-ed cheerleading team that will be there, too.
“I think it is going to be awesome. I think it is going to be very loud, as it was here,” Turcotte said. “I think the big different is there is only a few of us, so I think we’re all going to be on the edge of our seats the entire game.”
Turcotte knows Bully and the rest of the MSU spirit squad and band will be outnumbered, but that’s OK because she said they are more concerned about helping coach Vic Schaefer and his Bulldogs pull the upset of the three-time reigning national champions.
“I think our girls have worked very hard all year to get where they are,” Turcotte said. “I think they are very prepared. Coach Schaefer does a really good job of getting them prepared and making sure they are in the right mind-set…we came to cheer on our Dogs, so I think now it is just a matter of us being as loud as we can be and giving it our all to cheer them on and make sure they stay into the game.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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