LetsGoDU Blows Up: All Hail DG

The UAA Hockey Fan Blog is not the best blog in the college hockey blogosphere. Not even close actually. This season the blog published by Damien Goddard called LetsGoDU has absolutely and completely gone through the roof in what could only be called an explosion.

The joint is averaging somewhere around 750 visits per days with 1200 page views. That easily doubles the much improved numbers here on this blog. Last season I averaged about 200 visits a day ... this season has seen a 50% rise to about 300 visits a day. Last month LetsGoDU had 19,256/32,894. Compare that to 8,988/12,480 (my all-time highest month) here. But numbers don't really tell the story. Damien has found an issue that resonates deeply with his readership.

Unsatisfied with an obtuse jelly donut for a mascot, Damien has tirelessly taken up the cause of restoring "Boone" as the University's logo. About a decade ago the school properly realized that their Disney cartoon image of a smiling boy in a coonskin cap was well and truly stupid. They believed that the image wasn't inclusive and frankly they were right. If you were a female basketball player would you want to run around the court with a cartoon boy on your shirt? So they dumped Boone.

Of course, that stuck the school in the position of being called the Pioneers with a logo of what they say is a stylized Red-tailed Hawk. I think the incongruity is precious. But that's just me. Now the University is promoting the "Denver Arch" and the jelly donut seems to be a thing of the past. They didn't think the incongruity was precious.

So in an era when decrying political correctness is the height of fashion, Damien grabbed hold and took off. And he has done an amazing job. By leveraging his alumni connections and combining that with a well organized dormitory posse he has become Grand Imparator of the college hockey blog world. Damien Goodard is to the Boone issue like P.T. Barnum was to the Circus. He's the ringmaster, the emprasario. If he didn't get a marketing degree when he went to DU, the marketing school ought to give him an honorary one based on his performance selling this issue. DG knows pretty girls in T-shirts can be a powerful positive image for an issue. Take a look at his blog today. I'm just sayin. All Hail DG.

DG's efforts have been recognized, linked to and praised by local sportwriters. A local nutcase radio loudmouth even joined the Boone bandwagon. He has encouraged, promoted and supported any number of efforts to keep the Boone issue in front of the schools administration at whom he freely throws insults. He has stirred genuine emotion amongst the Boone faithful. And his efforts to engage them have been spectacularly successful.

During the season the school came out and publicly acknowledged that they couldn't control what students wore to hockey games. Boone T-shirts flew off the online racks. Now they're raising money for a mascot costume. He's raised $4,700 of $7,100 needed for the costume. Wow. This will be an unofficial mascot worn by a volunteer. There's really no guarantee that at some point the school wouldn't exercise an option to deny them wearing it. But it would take some big balls for the school to do that though, so the folks buying/wearing it are probably ok. There seems to be a distinct lag of testosterone in the DU administration these days. They fear DG.

"We're here, we're queer and we're not going back". Ok. I doubt most of DU's fanbase would like that phrase to describe their efforts but it's really no different than the beginning of the gay-pride movement. It's meant as a positive comparison. Anyway these folks are sick and tired of "Political Correctness Run Amok" and they're speaking out in no uncertain terms.

And Damien Goddard is the man behind the curtain.

As for me? Boone is a dorky looking Disney cartoon. Would I want that for my logo and/or mascot? Hells no.