George Mason’s blinged-out Doc Nix is a good bandleader and an even better garden gnome

(YouTube)

We all too quickly assumed that Georgetown had already clinched the title of “best local college basketball promotional giveaway item of the season” when it released images of its skateboarding bulldog bobblehead earlier this week.

Well, not so fast. The skateboarding bulldog bobblehead is now lustily challenged by the Doc Nix garden gnome, a George Mason production honoring its blinged-out bandleader who blares his brassy bold blouses every time he brings his band onto the basketball court.

The Doc Nix Garden Gnome will be given to all season- and mini-plan holders when the Patriots host George Washington on Jan. 31. And, presumably, to all bloggers who mention it.

And with the school set to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its Final Four season, Nix’s troops did a special “Livin’ on a Prayer”-themed number at this month’s Midnight Madness event, paying tribute to the theme song of that magical 2006 season, when I listened to Mike Wise sing “Livin’ on a Prayer” several hundred times.