Just saw a pic of Mike and wanted to know if he goes to the stadium on game day. Has anyone ever tried to steal him as a prank or anything??
Would you steal a bengal tiger as a prank? So, not that I know of, to answer your question. Yes, he goes to the stadium inside of a trailer with cheerleaders on top. He makes one lap, and stops in front of the student section. The human mascot Mike taunts him. Old legend dictated that the number of times real Mike roars (he HATES the mascot) is the number of touchdowns we score. Since he's only roared once in each of the last two games, that's evidently not true.
Your right duh who in their right mind would want to steal a Bengal Tiger. Just found Mike's web page thanks to one of your posters on Arizona's board. Very informative. The tiger beats a long horn steer, a goat, a mule, or anything else out there.
Actually way way back a long time ago, I think maybe in the late sixites, some Tulane students stole Mike somehow, I am not sure, but they did steal him as a prank. I remember my dad telling me this as he also went to LSU around or before that time. Look it up at the library or the Tiger Sports museum if you do not believe me.
I don't know if he's ever been stolen. But, he's definitely been released from his cage as a prank. I was at a student meeting in the PMAC in November '81, and as part of the team-building portion of the meeting, we were participating in a campus-wide scavenger hunt. After roaming around campus for about 5 or 10 minutes on our hunt, the campus police saw us and suggested that we go back indoors because Mike was on the loose. Someone had cut through the locks on his cage, and he was having his own scavenger hunt around campus. They found him about 30 minutes later near the north gates of campus and were able to tranquilize him and get him back home without anyone getting hurt - but it was an interesting evening, to say the least. LSU!
My grandfather tells me the same thing. He was a cadet at LSU in 1939 and 40 and he swears Tulane drove off with mike one year. He also tells me that mike used to travel to away games but one time his cage tipped over in route so they stopped bringing him.
Mike I was stolen by Tulane students over 50 years ago and dyed green before being returned. Mike I and Mike III traveled to road games until the 1960's when it was deemed to be too dangerous for Mike and for insurance reasons if an injured and angry tiger got loose after an accident in a crowded area.
Mike was released by someone on Nov. 28th 1981 and when they found him on North Stadium Drive he proceded to knock over 2 small pine trees. They luckily hearded him into Bernie Moore, where he was tranquilized when he started moving in the direction of Doc Bivin, if he had missed he may have been mauled and we'd probably have lost a real Bengal tiger mascot forever. That was Mike IV. And he was kidnapped by Tulane students in 1950, I believe from a restaurant on Airline Hwy, where his handlers had stopped to eat. His cage was painted green and he was wheeled onto the field right before the LSU/Tulane game that year, a horrifying site for Tiger fans. He was being kept in a basement garage for a few days before being returned. One of my best friends growing up Dad was involved with the catnapping and he said the mother of the guy who's house they were keeping Mike at made them get rid of the Tiger when she realized he was down there. So he was returned after the game.
Try mikethetiger.com. It gives the History of Mike the Tiger.ldskule: :tigerhead It tells all about all five Tigers.
