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Chip the Champion: CU's mascot brings home 3rd national title

Chip has a busy schedule averaging about 350 events each year.

BOULDER, Colo — He's the big buffalo on campus at the University of Colorado Boulder. 

Chip the Buffalo, the university's mascot, seems to be everywhere all year long: from the football field, to the basketball court and now taking center stage at the UCA National Championships at Disney World.

Over the weekend, Chip won his third national title. The other victories happened back-to-back in 2009 and 2010.

But the win is for Chip and Chip alone -- not the seven people who "work very closely with him," as his coach, Michael Kussin, puts it.

A big part of the loveable mascot is that nobody really knows who wears the suit. That's because anyone involved in the mascot program takes an unofficial oath of anonymity -- which also means we won't be mentioning their names in this article. So, we'll just call them "Chip's friends."

"Oh, I hate lying to people about it," one of the guys said. "It’s like the worst part of the whole thing. It's like doing all these cool things and not being able to tell anybody, and also just being like, ‘Yeah, I work for sports marketing. That’s why I’m gone some weekends and I have to be on the field all the time.'"

One person said only about 10 people knew they sometimes donned the fuzzy costume which "makes it cooler" because it "kind of feels like you're a super hero," they said. One person even compared it to being in the FBI.

Keep in mind, these are all students putting in extra time as Chip, which is no easy feat. Chip has a busy schedule averaging about 350 events each year.

"We bounce straight from football into basketball," one person said. "And as soon as basketball is done, it just keeps on rolling and we keep getting ready for the next season."

The team also comes up with goals for Chips at the beginning of each school year. This time, the bar was set high.

"One of our goals was to go to Florida and win the [UCA] National Championship," said one of Chip's friends. "That was right at the beginning of the year. Our coach told  us to set a smaller goal. We were like, 'Nope, that's our goal.'"

As part of the competition, the Chip team had to submit a highlight reel of the mascot getting crowds pumped up at events throughout the year and come up with a 90 second skit to perform live in front of an audience at ESPN's Wide World of Sports at Disney World.

"I would actually say the best part of Nationals was right before Chip went on stage because everything went quiet and it was like, 'All right, this is what we've been working for all year. This is what it comes down to,'" one student said. "He walks out onto the stage. Everybody is so hype. It's like, 'All right, the time is now.'"

The ambitious goal set at the beginning of the year combined with long hours of practice paid off for Chip when his name was announced as this year's champion.

"Just hearing them go from 10th to 1st and you just keep on not hearing your own name until that first-place spot might be the most excited I've been in my life," one guy said. "The room was exploding for Chip."

Unfortunately for Chip, there is no rest for the weary. After a hard fought battle, he prepares for his next event in the midst of CU's basketball season. But his team will do so while continuing to hold on to the winning feeling, showing off their new hardware to prove Chip really is the best mascot in the country.

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