Battle Royale! Brutus VS. Rufus — A Look Back on an Outrageous Mascot Fight
It’s time to take a trip to the past—a faraway time when Harambe the Gorilla was still alive, Donald Trump was a reality TV star and Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Yes, we’re going all the way back to 2010, a nightmarish time before instagram ever existed.
Why then, and for what possible reason would I ask you to put yourself in the mindset of six years ago? Because something incredible happened. Something truly spectacular and for a brief moment in time, we as human beings were connected to each other in something bigger, something more meaningful —we had purpose.
What happened? Brutus Buckeye was viciously attacked by a bobcat. Not any ol’ bobcat either, his name was Rufus Bobcat and he came from OU.
The brawl-for-all happened as Brutus and another Cheerleader ran flag, leading the team out onto the field. This is a relatively normal event that takes place during all home games. To witness Brutus lead the Buckeyes out onto the field is a legit joy, and is part of the ritual of going to a game. Brutus represents us and like a shining light he guides our team to their battlefield.
Only now for this strange moment in time their battlefield was his as well. In an instant, a challenger appeared from the team, as if he emerged from the shadows. He begins sprinting at Brutus. Brutus, with a warrior’s spirit understands what’s about to happen, that this madman is going to go for a tackle. Instinctively, he lowers his shoulders and sends Rufus Bobcat hurtling towards the ground. Rufus loses his head in the aftermath, a shameful affair for any mascot.
Rufus recovers though, not letting the fact that he just made a giant ass out of himself deter his rage. Brutus, thinking this ordeal has finished, that the better man has come out ahead, moves towards the in-zone in an attempt to rally the crowd and the team.
BOOM! Rufus lands right on Brutus’s back. In a 2010 reddit account of the situation, the masked individual playing Brutus at the time had this to say, “all of a sudden I feel someone jump on my back…it was the bobcat.”
The goddamn bobcat was at it again, and this time he was hungry for blood. Buckeye Blood. In a last ditch effort to throw off this would-be assaulter, Brutus falls square on his back, forcing Rufus Bobcat to take the impact. Ouch! The shots keep coming until Rufus goes for a last minute, Hail Mary nutshot. That’s a foul!
The security intervenes at this point, separating the two blood lusted warriors, leading Rufus Bobcat off the field and nearly out of the game.
“A lot of people asked why I didn’t wail on him and my response is that not only did I not want that to be my last game (Big 10 has very strict rules in regards to mascot fights) but I didn’t want the bobcat and OU to make headlines off of Brutus’s name and fame.”
Finally, Brutus got his revenge as the game played on, “After the first two OSU touchdowns, I decided to exact my revenge with a little more class by waving the flag directly in his face and repeatedly pointing to the scoreboard. And that’s all I have to say about that.”
While we may never know what transpired on the field that day, Brutus vs. Rufus has gone down in the annals of history as one of the truly great mascot fights of our time. You can watch various angles of it on Youtube, but sometimes the written word is the only thing that can immortalize such monumental events.
Written by Matthew Erman, Originally in 1870 Magazine
Illustration by Lisa Sterle
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