Along the way, Goldy has become a Minnesota champion in his own right. He placed third in the national mascot championships this January, and last summer his furry comrades at mascot camp voted him the coolest in the NCAA. "I'm a mascot with an attitude," Goldy says, explaining his popularity. He recently took a time-out with Playboy.com to talk game ejections, sexy dance moves and his insatiable appeal among Minnesota coeds.

Playboy.com: You don't look like a gopher. You look more like a mutant cross between a beaver and a squirrel. Have you ever had an identity crisis about your species?
Goldy: That's just a horrible thing for you to say.

PB: We're sorry.
Goldy: It's all right. I'm just a little touchy about it. But people do get confused. When we go to another school, the fans will often say, "Hey, it's the beaver," or "Hey, it's the squirrel." But I've seen the old Goldys, and they were hideous looking, so I'm very happy with the way I look.

PB: Are you good at sports?
Goldy: I'm a pretty well-rounded athlete. We had a mascot basketball game in December, and I was the leading scorer. But a little bit of fighting broke out, as it often does when too many mascots get together. Crunch from the Minnesota Timberwolves was there. He found out the hard way how I play basketball. There were some local corporate mascots there, too. Like my ultimate rival, the Sub from Subway, who's one of our team sponsors. He's a giant inflatable Subway sandwich. At a lot of home hockey games I pretty much knock the crap out of the Sub.

PB: Speaking of subs, do you have a special pre-game meal?
Goldy: I usually feast on Wisconsin Badgers. The Northwestern Wildcats are pretty tasty, too.

PB: How do you get pumped for a game?
Goldy: I drink about two cans of Red Bull. That seems to fire me up. I listen to AC/DC, some techno and work on my dance moves a little bit. I have, by far, the best dance moves in the mascotting world. My dancing is very seductive. I do anything from the worm to breakdancing. I've got a hell of a moonwalk. And that's not just on the field. You can catch me in the clubs on the weekends, after the games. I like to party, but I usually leave my Gopher gear back in the locker room.

PB: The Minnesota coeds must love you.
Goldy: I'm a bona fide ladies' man, if I do say so myself. Whenever I see a cute girl, I always turn on the Goldy charm. Especially if she's with her boyfriend. I like a challenge. I'll put my arm around her and flirt with her. Sometimes I'll ask for her phone number the mascot way.

PB: Which is?
Goldy: Well, I can't talk on the field, so I motion: you, me, and do the phone thing with my hands. If someone else has a cell phone I'll pick it up and pretend like I'm dialing her. At one basketball game I actually got a girl's number, and it went pretty well.

PB: What is Goldy's ideal woman like?

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