Ah, Boomer and Sooner… our beloved mascots here at the University of Oklahoma. We know their faces, we know their attitudes, and we know that they know how to hype up any crowd- no matter how small or how large. Though we appreciate our favorite ponies for making us laugh and fired up, we will never get to thank the people who play the characters of Boomer and Sooner, for their identities are quite different from the ponies they play.

Boomer and Sooner: A Double Life

As I expand this text regarding Boomer and Sooner, the more I realize that the people who play our beloved mascots are just actors. Surely the people who play Boomer and Sooner do not act the same way outside of the fur-suit, they surely do not! Except… we will never know that (until graduation, I believe). The people who play Boomer and Sooner are students just like us, students who go to class, eat at the dining hall(s), do their homework, go to office hours… they’re just like us… except they live a double life of playing OU’s mascots, a pretty big role here on campus.

When we think of “doubles” in media, we usually think of the “double” themselves to be “evil” or a “made-up” version of themselves. Though Boomer and Sooner aren’t necessarily considered “media” since they are very much live characters, they still pose the idea of a fictional reality, a reality where yes, ponies can take selfies and tell you to “GET LOUD!!!” without directly uttering such phrase. They must scream, but they have no mouth, for they do not want to reveal their identities through speech! Also… ponies cannot speak english…

Having this double identity must be a pain to keep a secret, also. Imagine not being able to tell the majority of your class that you are Boomer and/or Sooner… what a pain! I guess you could say the actors of Boomer and Sooner are double agents in some way, having to do something that nobody can know about.