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You have to be buff to handle Ralphie.
University of Colorado senior John Graves is a member of the team of 14 students who accompany the 3-year-old, 1,100-pound buffalo on her very fast run around Folsom Field before Buffs` football games.
Graves, a 22-year-old business management major from Centennial, runs what`s know as the "loop position." It`s his job to run behind Ralphie and slow her down using a sort of harness.
We caught up with Graves recently as he headed to a practice run with Ralphie V -- or, as the handlers call her, "Blackout," because of her dark coat -- before the Buffs` first game Sunday.
Q: Why did you apply to become a Ralphie handler?
A: It`s the greatest tradition in college sports. We have tons of fun as Ralphie handlers. And we have an awesome football team. Leading the football team out onto the field is something else. Q: How fast do you have to run to keep up with her?
A: I like to tell people that if you`re ever on a treadmill and you put it up as fast as you can go, we go faster than that. It`s a combination of running extremely fast and taking long strides and letting her pull you. It all comes down to, hey, she`s running it; we do what she says.
Q: Do you ever step in Ralphie poop?
A: Yes. That tends to happen every day. We go down and clean up her pasture where we keep her. We make sure the poop is all out of there, and it`s nice and clean for her. It`s typically a rookie (team member`s) job to clean out her water trough and scoop the poop.
Q: Have you ever eaten a buffalo burger?
A: I have, yes.
Q: Would Ralphie object to that?
A: No, you know. We treat her very well. She`s a pure buffalo. A lot of those buffalo used for meat, they`re not pure buffalo. Ralphie, she`s pure.
