DALLAS -- Creating sculptures from tires sounds challenging enough, but putting together two large pieces in just 18 days was the real challenge.
Artist Blake McFarland, who is also a baseball pitcher in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league system, spent 300 total hours constructing Western Michigan and Wisconsin team mascots out of Goodyear tires as part of a promotion by the Cotton Bowl host.
"The hardest thing was 18 days, because for me to even start the project I had to figure out who was going to be in the game," McFarland said. "It's the hardest thing I've done and the most work.