Tim Patnode (BFA 1996) served as a UT-costumed mascot from 1993 to 1997. In 1996, during the UT vs. UGA Women’s Basketball Final Four in Charlotte, North Carolina, he (as Smokette) was ripping apart a giant stuffed bulldog that had been won the previous day at a theme park. In the roughhousing, and unbeknownst to Patnode, who swung it above his head, a seam of the stuffed animal split and released millions of tiny foam stuffing beads all over the court. The beads were too light to sweep up. Getting them off the court required 15 minutes of dragging wet towels over the floor, and the game was delayed while the cleanup took place. Smokette was ejected and ordered to leave or sit in a front row seat in a corner of the arena (one of ESPN’s “trouble seats,” a section reserved for ESPN employees). An appeal by UT Women’s Athletics Director Joan Cronan to allow Patnode to perform failed. UT won 83-65.