Sit, boy. Good dog.

Mark Ostow

View full image

After spending $30 million to renovate the Yale Bowl, it seems only reasonable that the university would want something to protect its investment. Like, say, a guard dog. So just in time for this year's Harvard game, the final piece of the renovation was installed: a bronze statue of Handsome Dan I (1889–98), Yale's original bulldog mascot, rendered at one and a half times life-size. Under the oversight of Centerbrook Architects and Planners, the statue was created by digitally recording the stuffed remains of Dan I (on display at Payne Whitney Gymnasium). As befits an athletic icon, the bronze Dan I had a little bulk added to compensate for the presumed slimming down of the original canine's final years.