Did anyone notice in week one, the famous, or not so famous, Prowler the Panther?

Chances are the patrons who witnessed Eastern’s thrashing of California (Pa.) did not have too much of their attention diverted from the football field to the sideline where Prowler does his prowling.

This could quite possibly be just because Prowler needs to inject some life into his own performance, before he focuses on injecting life into the crowd.

Just jumping around and hanging around the Pink Panthers is not enough for the crowd to notice a mascot, especially in this age of mascot madness.

People noticed in the NHL when the Calgary Flames’ mascot Harvey the Hound got into some hot water for his constant barking at Edmonton Oilers coach Craig MacTavish. The constant trash-talk from Harvey got MacTavish angry enough to turn around and pull the tongue out of the puppet dog.

After throwing the tongue into the crowd out of frustration, MacTavish quickly forgot about the confrontation and had a sense of humor about the situation.

The Oilers coach forgot the anger he had toward the mascot, and admitted after the game the tape of the incident even caused the disappointment of his team’s loss in the game to be lightened.

I’m not saying our beloved Prowler should go after any of the coaches he encounters on the sideline. That just might be taking the idea too far. But he does need to figure out something to get the crowd in the game.

Some schools and professional teams have cannons shooting out t-shirts; this action is always led by the team mascot.

Other schools have their own unique traditions with their mascots the crowd looks forward to each and every Saturday.

For example, the recent set-back of the football team at Missouri at least uncovered what its school mascot does for Tiger faithful. On a hot and balmy Saturday afternoon in Columbia, Mo., Truman the Tiger relieves the overheated crowd when he uses his fire truck to hose down the crowd with cold water.

Florida State is another good example of a mascot revving up the crowd. His antics start at the beginning of the game, when he rides out on his horse and with his spear. Every Saturday he plants the spear emphatically in the center of the field, with the crowd going crazy the entire time.

After that, Florida State’s football games becomes a little annoying. This is due to the fans there never giving up on the Native American chant, which has been used too often and for too many years.

This is especially annoying for college football fans who are not Florida State fans, and have to listen to the crowd on TV.

But at least the entire crowd is into the game, and if I went to Florida State I would probably join the crowd in the chant and have a good time doing so.

At O’Brien Field there is entirely too much time when there is no noise or excitement from the crowd.

Even if it was something as simple as what Penn State does and have a Nittany Lion growl after every major play.

Instead Eastern is stuck with the lifeless Prowler the Panther, who dances at times and perhaps he growls sometimes but that isn’t easily recognizable because nobody can hear him anyway.