Even though spring sports' seasons ended, the Titans competitive spirit did not! From April 23rd to May 19th, the 2020 Tokyodachi Mascot Mania presented a tournament that allowed a light to be shed on what it truly means to be a Titan. Mascot Mania by Tokyodachi was a Win or Go-Home tournament hosted on Instagram. The tournament consisted of 256 mascots from Universities and Colleges across the country. Beginning on April 20th, Mascots were set to go head-to-head against each other in a voting competition. Fans would only have a 24-hour window to cast their votes for their favorite Mascot on Instagram Stories. At the end of the voting period, the Mascot who had the higher percentage of votes in their favor, would move on to the next round. The process would continue until there was only one Champion.
Tuffy the Titan, of Cal State Fullerton, began his quest for the crown on Thursday April 23rd 2020 against Phil the Phoenix of Chicago University. In Round One, Tuffy wasted no time in securing his victory against Phil the Phoenix with 73% of the votes (2,602 Votes for Tuffy). In Round Two, which took place on May 3rd, Tuffy was up against Stella the Owl of Temple University; nearly doubling his votes from Round One with 5,049 votes, Tuffy was able to secure another win-- 66% to 34%. With only 64 schools left in the tournament heading into Round Three, time to prepare had become increasingly shorter and would only continue to decrease. On May 9th, Tuffy faced off against Monte the Grizzly of Montana University. Even though Tuffy had a slow start out the blocks, he managed to beat out Monte 59% to 41% securing 5,456 votes.
Three days later, Tuffy was slotted against what some would label his toughest match up in the tournament thus far. In Round Four Tuffy was considered an underdog against Big Blue of Utah State.
After rallying for support, Tuffy received more than double the votes from Round Three, raking in 11,283 votes. He was able to beat out Big Blue 52% to 48% and advance into the Final 16! In Round Five against Ralphie the Buffalo of the University of Colorado, fans would experience déjà vu, as Tuffy managed to pull out another upset with 11,402 votes to defeat Ralphie of Colorado 56% to 44% and move on the Final Eight.
With no time to rest and the competition only getting harder from here, Tuffy was determined to win.
On May 17th, Round Six had Tuffy up against Mascot Mania's fan favorite: Hokie Bird of Virginia Tech. With the help of all departments on campus and the entire community behind him, Tuffy was able to embrace the pressure and come out on top with a massive increase in VPR (votes per round) to beat Hokie Bird. Tuffy had accumulated 20,116 votes in order to beat Virginia Tech's mascot 56% to 44% and advanced to the Semi-Finals which would take place the very next day!
"The Big West Showdown" as many fans would call it. For Round Seven, Tuffy was up against a familiar face and Big West Conference counterpart, Peter the Anteater of UC Irvine. As soon as voting began, Tuffy and Peter were going back and forth with only a 1% swing in votes. Half way through the match-up it was clear that this bout would come down to the wire.
"Mohammed Ali vs Joe Frazier has nothing on the battle right now between Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine in Mascot Mania. 50,000 votes and counting…"
-@Tokyodachi
Like true Titans, they showed their resiliency. They were all in. Support poured in from all over the country. Former Titans like Justin Turner (Dodgers Baseball Player), Cedric Ceballos (former pro basketball player), Morgan Bertsch (pro soccer goalkeeper) and many others used their social media platforms to give UC Irvine a tough competition. The back and forth battle lasted for 24 hours as each team was neck and neck. However, with a difference of only 829 votes, Tuffy fell to Peter the Anteater in the Semifinals 49.9% to 50.1%. Tuffy was able set a VPR tournament best for himself with 38,505 votes. A true showing of Titans reaching higher!
Even though Tuffy fell to Peter of UC Irvine who would eventually go on and win the tournament after defeating Fresno State, he was set to face the Mountaineer of West Virginia for Third Place. The Titans rallied up one last time for the final day of the Tokyodachi Mascot Mania. In true pride and fashion, Tuffy was able to finish strong and obtain an unprecedented victory over the Mountaineer, winning 74% to 26% and brought in 33,897 votes to secure a third-place finish.
Despite the tough loss against Peter of UC Irvine, the Titans and Tuffy walked away with more than just the 3rd Place title;
• Tuffy's post on the Tokyodachi account received the most engagement out of all of their other posts on their account
• The Titans beat out 253 schools with zero marketing dollars spent and the support of Alumni, campus departments and the community
• The Titans were able to obtain an overall 128,310 total votes for Tuffy.
More importantly, this competition shed a bright light on how much of a family the Titan community truly is. During a time without sports, Mascot Mania was a pleasant distraction that
brought excitement over the course of a month. As Tuffy takes some time to recover from the tournament, he plans on coming back stronger next year to take the championship title.
