Talk:Touchdown (mascot)

The Introduction

Hey guys. I am going to change the introduction slightly because Touchdown is not just the name of the 4 bears from the earlier half of the 20th century, but it is also the name for every costumed mascot that appeared on campus later. Stephanie3460 (talk) 06:35, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

Still needed

The following should be added (I don't think the rest we discussed is important): Alxtronic (talk) 04:40, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

History (1915-1938)

VI. The first appearance of the costume

Recent Controversies

I. Petitions to make the big red bear the official mascot

Relocation

I've moved all our discussion from the user-talk page to the talk page of the article. Alxtronic (talk) 23:17, 3 October 2012 (UTC)
I've edited the following pages to link to ours:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Red
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_Big_Red
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_college_mascots_in_the_United_States — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alxtronic (talk • contribs) 23:46, 3 October 2012 (UTC)

If anyone has other suitable pages to link from, please do so, and list it here.

I've also created the page, Big Red Bear to redirect to Touchdown (mascot).

In addition, please remember to link your text in-article when there's a relevant Wikipedia page to link to. Not every time it's mentioned, just the first time in the page. For example, the first mention of The Daily Sun should link to Cornell Daily Sun. Alxtronic (talk) 23:32, 3 October 2012 (UTC)

Touchdown I Updated (and a question about sources)

Hey everyone! I started the article and added my test for Touchdown I. I didn't include the in-text citations yet or proofread it, but I plan on doing that later tonight. Since the only source we really have for the history is John Foote's book, do you think it's ok that I only cite one source in the article? I feel like this is a special exception since we don't have access to Daily Sun Articles (as far as I know), and his book is really the only documented history of the mascots. I have tried to search online for others, but all other accounts that I cam across were based on his book.

I also have a question about some of the wording in what I posted. I am unsure of the the wording "which quickly became a suspertition for many dedicated fans" from the second paragraph. Can someone look at that and tell me what you think? Thanks!

One last thing! I have been adding all new posts on the talk page to the top of the talk page. I figured this is good because then we can see any new changes easily. Is this ok? Stephanie3460 (talk) 20:01, 3 October 2012 (UTC)

I added a lot of links to this part, but it still needs citations. Alxtronic (talk) 03:12, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

Pages for Other Mascots

I found an article on Wikipedia that provides links to every page about college mascots. Navigating to different mascots' pages might help us if we are concerned with the style of our article or need some examples. Here is the article! We should also remember to put a link in that article when we are finished so that our article gets more exposure (and simply to update that article). Stephanie3460 (talk) 04:35, 3 October 2012 (UTC)

Cornell WikiProject

Hey group! I added this subpage to the Cornell WikiProject under the "article request and ideas" subsection of the "articles" portion of the WikiProject. I also posted on the talk page about our assignment and wrote that any help towards our article would be appreciated. Hopefully someone will see my post contribute to this page!
I also structured this talk page a little differently by making the article proposal only one section so that we could use this more as a talk page while we are writing the article. Let me know what you think. Stephanie3460 (talk) 16:22, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

Name

Hey guys. What do we think the name of the article should be? I don't think "Touchdown the Big Red Bear" is appropriate, since it's not the actual name of any of the bears, just a descriptor. I think it should be "Touchdown (Mascot)" or "Touchdown (Bear)" and show up in the disambiguation page for "Touchdown". Additionally, "Big Red Bear" should probably redirect to the article. What do you guys think? Alxtronic (talk) 01:15, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

What about "Touchdown (Big Red Bear)". I agree that page for Big Red Bear and the disambiguation page for touchdown should link to it. Jws325 (talk) 17:49, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

I am not opposed to "Touchdown (Big Red Bear)" but I think "Touchdown (mascot)" would be better suited for people who do not know what a "Big Red Bear" is. Instead, I suggest we mention the fact that the mascot is a "Big Red Bear" in the intro section of the article. Stephanie3460 (talk) 04:29, 3 October 2012 (UTC)

Article Proposal

Topic

Why should this be a Wikipedia article?
We are going to create a Wikipedia article for the Cornell Mascot (the big red bear). Currently there is a small blurb written about the bear under the "History" section of the article "Cornell Big Red," but there is no article dedicated solely to the mascot. The (unofficial) mascot of Cornell was introduced in 1915 as a live bear. Three more living bears were brought to the campus in 1916, 1919, and 1939, and only some decades later did the bear return in the form of a costumed volunteer.

The history of "Touchdown" the big red bear is interesting, humorous, and unfamiliar to most students and faculty. It was first documented in John Foote's ('74) book "Touchdown: The Story of the Cornell Bear." Because it is very difficult to find much information about Touchdown the big red bear on the web, there should be a Wikipedia article to allow anyone to learn his basic history without needing to purchase the book.

Other Article Elements

What other elements are you going to put in the article - side box, images, etc.? Where are you going to obtain the images or information for the side box?
A picture of the mascot should be in the side box, hopefully a copyright free image is available from the Cornell Sun, Cornell Athletics, or another organization; if not, maybe we can take one (or find a non-free image, which satisfies wikipedia's fair use policy. The Cornell athletics logo should also be included. That is already hosted on wikipedia and we can link to it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alxtronic (talk • contribs) 03:09, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Try to find out who you could ask about getting free images from Cornell of the bear. Whatever is on Wikipedia has to be free and under the Creative Commons license. Gabriel Mugar could help you with figuring it out. There are images in the Cornell Big Red article that you could use - if they are there that means they are already under the Creative Commons license. LeshedInstructor (talk) 01:28, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

References

Initial list of 5 different sources for your article (e.g., not all from the same website)
http://www.cornell.edu/about/facts/faq_profile.cfm?id=916
http://www.cornellbigred.com/sports/2007/7/11/History.aspx
http://cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2009/11/02/big-red-bear-mascot-origins-date-back-early-1900s
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/sports/a-secret-no-more-local-men-share-cornell-mascot-memories/article_c187d04d-fa3b-5387-ab90-cb9ba7b263c4.html
Foote, John H. Touchdown: The Story of the Cornell Bear. Ithaca: Cornell University, 2008. Print.

This is a good initial set of references. Make sure that your references in the list are not Bare URLs, and that you get the Foote book so you can get useful information out of it. There is also a YouTube video with John Foote. It is licensed for Stanford so you need to see if you could use it, or it could be an external link or reference. LeshedInstructor (talk) 01:46, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Observer 1 Feedback

How interesting - this is incredibly relatable and pertinent to any Cornell student who has the slightest shred of school spirit. You seem to have done a lot of solid basic research, and have acknowledged where necessary that you plan to investigate further. Perhaps the anecdotal elements of the article should be under the umbrella categorization of "History and Notable Events," for example? This would avoid the pitfall of a less-than-factual article. Anyway, good job overall and cool topic choice. mollygk (talk) 22:45, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Instructor's Feedback

You have done a good job in defining this new article, what will go into it, and where you will obtain information about it. It could be very interesting for Cornellians as well as other people who are interested in university mascots to have this article up. Please see specific comments from me in the sections above. Good luck! LeshedInstructor (talk) 01:58, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Observer 2 Feedback

I think this is really great topic. I took a class called AMST 2001 The First American University last year. One of his lectures involved the history of Touchdown. The book we had to read for that lecture would be really useful for your article: Robert J. Kane. Good Sports: A History of Cornell Athletics (1992). Maybe look in pages 2-7, 24-26, 40-42, 296-307. Also, I think a section telling readers where they could go next for more Touchdown could be cool. You can actually request Touchdown to come to a function. Here is a link that I think could help you: http://www.bigredbears.com/ Vci28 (talk) 01:54, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

Observer 3 Feedback

First off, I love your idea, and I believe that your proposal, outline, and discussion are developed in such a way that it looks like you will have more than enough information to make this article a significant contribution to the Wikipedia community. I think your history section will prove to be the most important section in your page, so I suggest you focus mainly on this section to make sure it is really accurate and outstanding. I believe Touchdown's rich history will prove to be attractive and interesting even to those who are not necessarily invested in the Cornell community, such as historians or mascot enthusiasts, which helps to satisfy the question of "Who cares?", and establish the article's notability. As recommended by our Wikipedia Ambassador on my group's page (we are also doing a Cornell themed topic), I think your article could be strengthened by trying to reference sources situated outside of the Cornell community (such as the book Observer 2 mentioned), in order to solidify this article's presence on Wikipedia, and avoid having it deleted. Overall, I think you guys have done a great job so far and I'm excited to see the finished product. Good luck! --Lms353 (talk) 13:45, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

Observer Feedback 3

The outline so far looks great and you have a good list of resources. If you still need a copy of John Foote's book, I have a copy that I could let you borrow. He also has a website, touchdownthebear.com, that you could check out. I would even suggest contacting John Foote himself if you have any questions or would like to add him as an additional resource. He is still very active in Cornell (provided the Lab of Ornithology with a grant that allowed me to work for them and personally gave me a copy of his book), so I'm sure he'd be thrilled to help out! Again you guys have a lot of information and the article seems to be coming along really well! KellyD78 (talk) 02:13, 2 October 2012 (UTC)