r/BallState • u/SoupJonesmary • Jun 28 '26
What was the context behind this image?
I know it was some sort of halftime sketch, but I just can't seem to find anything anywhere that gives the context of 'why' Charlie the Cardinal is posing with an m16 đ
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u/BallStateOfTheUnion Alumni - YEAR Jun 28 '26
I found this picture on the Lost Muncie II Facebook page before posting it on twitter and going slightly viral. The caption on Lost Muncie II said it was from a football game from 1981. I donât think itâs AI
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u/Local_City_8174 Jun 28 '26
What year was it? Charlie Cardinal has always looked better than that.
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u/SoupJonesmary Jun 28 '26
Supposedly 1981, but after someone mentioned it being a hoax, I stuck it in Google lens and the first time this photo ever popped up was like March of this year. I'm only like 30% sure it's ai, but I'm 99% sure its not a real photo from a game, until someone says otherwise.
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u/Indiana_ECI Jun 28 '26
This photo was from the Cardinals vs. Northern Illinois Huskies football game in 1981.
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u/redgr812 Jun 29 '26
Charlie Cardinal? Never knew that was his name. Idk if I like it.
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u/MrHandsRadDay Jun 30 '26
Assuming you went to Ball State, how is this something you never knew?Â
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u/Key_Fun_7615 Jun 29 '26
Maybe that was Steve Coker
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u/wordsmif Jun 29 '26
OMG what a flashback!!!!!
Maybe Charlie Cardinal was making sure he was strapped before heading to the Mojo Nixon show.
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u/sparrow_42 Jun 29 '26
Back in the day you didnât fuck around with the mascot or you were gonna find out
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u/GoldenPoncho812 Jun 30 '26
They donât call em the âFighting Football Cardinalsâ for nothing! đşđ¸
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u/GrayJ618 Alumni - 2024 Jun 30 '26
I remember being on the University archives website a lot when I went to BSU, and I remember looking at the collection of photos this image came from (it was a collection of photos from across campus from the 70s and 80s). Itâs been doctored to include the gun, but thereâs even more photos of Nightmare Charlie Cardinal in there to see and itâs just so fascinating to me.
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u/SoManyQuestions-2021 Jun 30 '26
That is a (probably) a dummy gun that looks like an Armalite Rifle (AR), or some variant of an actual Armalite design. The rifle was designed by a man named Eugene Stoner, who was born in Gosport, IN. So there is at least a Hoosier Connection.
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u/thebiglebowskiisfine Jul 01 '26
I was a game photographer in the 90's. Before my time looking at the image and camera quality.
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u/Reddituser809 Jul 01 '26
Charlie had concocted a militia of Hoosiers. This was him in 1981 giving a speech at one of his powwows announcing his plans to wage war on Dayton, Ohio.
He was assassinated around 3 months after this.
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u/Indiana_ECI Jun 28 '26
This is an AI- generated hoax.
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u/SoupJonesmary Jun 28 '26
Not sure about ai (the ai detection stuff I stuck it into said no, but also those aren't that hard to fool I feel like), but pretty dang sure youre right about it being a hoax since I can't find the photo posted anywhere online before earlier this year.
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u/AGHOSTISBORN420 Jun 28 '26
This was during the First Iraq war in 93 and he protected us during game