Temoc is the name of the official mascot

Mascot

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

 of the sports teams of the University of Texas at Dallas

University of Texas at Dallas

The University of Texas at Dallas, also referred to as UT Dallas or UTD, is a public research university in the University of Texas System. The main campus is in the heart of the Richardson, Texas, Telecom Corridor, north of downtown Dallas...

, known as the Comets. The name was chosen by the UTD Student Government Association in 2002. "Temoc" was crafted by spelling the word "comet" backwards. The mascot was originally named "Blaze" but the university was forced to change its name due to possible trademark infringement against another organization.

Temoc attends many of the UTD home sporting events, supporting the soccer, basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, and other teams. Temoc often appears with the UTD cheerleaders

Cheerleading

Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

 and the Power Dancers dance team. Student auditions to wear the Temoc costume are held annually, and the identity of the mascot is kept secret.

After a poll among students, faculty, staff and alumni in 2007, there was discussion of eliminating the Temoc character, while keeping the Comets as the school's mascot. Temoc has since remained the UTD mascot, through Spring 2010.

Appearance

The character of Temoc (then known as Blaze) was created in 1998 and first drawn by student Aaron Aryanpur. Temoc is depicted as a blue-skinned, fiery red-headed smiling anthropomorphic comet

Comet

A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...

.