The 10 Worst School Mascot

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1. The Anteaters (UCI): Such an honorable and brave animal. Everyone should want to be an anteater.

 

2. The Bananaslugs (UCSC): Does anyone even know what a Bananaslug IS?

 

3. Crimson (Harvard): … that’s like, a color, right?

 

4. The Fighting Artichokes (Scottsdale Arizona Community College): As if they weren’t already feeling down that they are at a community college; they had to make their mascot a fighting VEGETABLE?

 

5. Hawaii Rainbow Warrior (Hawaii): This one goes without explanation. We know Hawaii has lots of rainbows, but rainbows aren’t for beating and winning! They are for leprechauns and Care Bears.

 

6. Beavers (Oregon State): Come on, bite that wood!

 

7. Violets (NYU): What’s with all the smarty pants and their colors? Harvard Crimson and NYU Violets? Are these people too busy studying to pick out a tangible mascot?

 

 

8. Volunteers (University of Tennessee): While it’s honorable, it’s also lame.

 

9. Lord Jeffs (Amherst): Yes, we thought it was a joke too. Amherst has the oldest athletic program in the nation. Doesn’t that mean they could have picked the COOLEST mascot because no one else had one yet? And they picked the Lord Jeffs. Tragic.

 

10. Mule Riders (Southern Arkansas): We weren’t even aware that people still rode mules. Do they? In Southern Arkansas, maybe.

 

[OldMaineBear]

From the UCSC website

 

 

How the Banana Slug became UCSC's official mascot

The Banana Slug, a bright yellow, slimy, shell-less mollusk found in the campus's redwood forest, was the unofficial mascot for UC Santa Cruz's coed teams since the university's early years. The students' adoption of such a lowly creature for a team mascot was their reaction to the fierce athletic competition fostered at most American universities. UCSC has always offered a wide-ranging physical education and recreation program designed to appeal to the greatest number of students, but it has based its approach on some unusual ideas: that athletics are for all students, not just team members of major sports; that the most important goal of a collegiate physical education department should be to introduce as many students as possible to lifelong physical activities; and that the joy of participating is more important than winning.

 

In 1980, when some campus teams wanted more organized yet still low-keyed participation in extramural competition, UCSC joined Division III of the NCAA in five sports. Since the application required an official team name, UCSC's then chancellor polled the student players, and out of this small group emerged a consensus for a new moniker--the sea lions. It was a choice that the chancellor considered more dignified and suitable to serious play than the Banana Slugs. But the new name did not find favor with the majority of students, who continued to root for the Slugs even after a sea lion was painted in the middle of the basketball floor.

 

After five years of dealing with the two-mascot problem, an overwhelming proslug straw vote by students in 1986 convinced the chancellor to make the lowly but beloved Banana Slug UCSC's official mascot. By the time the chancellor had left office, he was won over to the proslug camp, even to the point of featuring the Slug on his personal Christmas card.

 

In May 2004, Reader's Digest named the Banana Slug the best college mascot. The Banana Slug even figured in a court case involving campus mascots. Judge Terence Evans, writing the opinion for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, stated the following: "We give the best college nickname nod to the University of California-Santa Cruz. Imagine the fear in the hearts of opponents who travel there to face the imaginatively named 'Banana Slugs'?" (Crue et al. v. Aiken, June 1, 2004)

 

Recently, our Sammy the Slug mascot has been appearing around campus at sports events and other functions. And, when the men's tennis team played in the NCAA championships, their T-shirts read: "Banana Slugs-No Known Predators."

 

UC Santa Cruz Foundation trustee Anne Neufeld Levin wrote a children's book, Sally Slug, illustrated by UCSC alumna and former Foundation trustee Patricia Rebele. The book, published in 2002, is available at slugstore.ucsc.edu. Proceeds from sales of the book benefit the UCSC Foundation and provide for art history purchases and exhibits in the library.

 

See Attached Photo

 

Sammy, UCSC's new mascot, strikes a contemplative pose during a ceremony on Tuesday, September 29, in which the mascot was introduced to the campus, community, and world. Sammy's debut came on the East Field during the annual Fall Festival, sponsored by the Office of Physical Education, Recreation and Sports. Chancellor Greenwood and new Executive Vice Chancellor John Simpson were on hand, as was athletic director Mark Majeski, who concluded Sammy's introduction this way: "We want everyone to know that we are the Slugs, we are here, and we are proud."

 

688-SammytheSlug.jpg

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Sammy the Slug and the catch phrase "Banana Slugs-no known predators".

 

 

I can't help myself...

 

 

I'm won over.

Go SLUGS!!!!!

[Amishway Homesteaders]

"the Couch Potatoes"

 

GO GET THEM....................

 

well maybe later?

 

[lunamother]

OK, I've gotta add my all time favorite,

 

the Waterford (WI) High School Goslings.

 

yes.

 

goslings.

 

as in BABY GEESE.

 

maybe they poop on the other team?

[cookiejar]

Originally Posted By: lunamother

OK, I've gotta add my all time favorite,

the Waterford (WI) High School Goslings.

yes.

goslings.

as in BABY GEESE.

maybe they poop on the other team?

Well, there's always the Fighting Blue Hens of Deleware

Watch them hens!!!

[OldMaineBear]

OK I spent time looking up team names. You knew I'd have to do it. Here's another bunch with some pointed commentary by MOI !!

 

 

The Black Flies - College of the Atlantic - Irritating at most.

 

The Chanticleers - Coastal Carolina University - We’ll crow you

into submission every morning

 

The Battling Bishops - North Carolina Wesleyan University

Ohio Wesleyan University

 

Ephs - Williams Collage - Huh?

 

Eutectic - St. Louis College of Pharmacy - Look this up, you’ll

love it.

 

Evangels - Johnson Bible College

 

Gentlemen - Centenary College of Louisiana - Male Teams

Ladies - Centenary College of Louisiana - Female Teams

 

Gorloks - Webster University - Weren’t they in Lord of the Rings?

 

Hustlin’ Quakers - Earlham College - “OK #31 I shall toss thee

the ball, #87 you must smite the

outside linebacker with a mighty

blow."

 

Jumbos - Tufts University

 

Lemmings - Bryant & Stratton College Cleveland Campus - Nuff

said here

 

Lutes - Pacific Lutheran University

 

Missionaries - Whitman College - Their football teams have only

one position.

 

Monks - St. Joseph College - Uniforms are a bit harsh in hot

weather.

 

Nads - Rhode Island School of Design - Oh now this student body

has fun. “GO - Nads!!”

 

Penmen - Southern New Hampshire University - Hoping they are

mightier than the Swordsmen of Life

Bible College-East.

 

Poets - Whittier College

 

Pomeroys - St Mary-of-the-Woods College

 

Professors - Rowan College - Well if the student teams can’t win.

 

Prophets - Oklahoma Baptist College and Institute - They don’t

play, they know the outcome.

 

Salukis - Southern Illinois University - Carbondale - Real dog

of a team.

 

Student Princes - Heidelberg College - K

 

White Mules - Colby College

 

Wonder Boys - Arkansas Tech University - They better win with that name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cookiejar]

 

I got this off of ESPN and thought it appropriate:

 

While stumbling through a Georgia-Mississippi State highlight one winter night (" ... the Bulldogs ... er, the Georgia Bulldogs outrebounded the Bulldogs ... hah, hah ... the, um, Mississippi State variety ..."), it struck me just how many infernal Bulldogs and Wildcats there are in college sports. I decided to do some research.

 

So this is what a Pepperdine Wave looks like.

Well, actually, a fellow named Adam Joshua Smargon did the research, and I read it. Adam, if you're within the sound of this keyboard, my heartfelt thanks for the painstaking attention to detail and comprehensive nature of your work ... and, by God, man, bake some cookies, aerate the lawn, do anything, but let the college nicknames thing go. Again, many thanks.

 

With Adam's list of NCAA and NAIA schools in hand, I set off in search of nickname nuggets, snuffling for a scent like the Bloodhounds from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

 

From Aggies to Zips, there are 518 different nicknames.

 

At first, I just wanted to find out the most popular college nickname in the country. I started counting, a sport that combines all the flair and excitement of rolling pennies. Wildcats was a disappointment, garnering just 29 schools. Bulldogs did better (38), but there was still bigger game out there. Some 43 different schools went with Tigers, the second most-popular nickname.

 

... And the No. 1 answer is ... (imagine with me as Richard Dawson whirling and pointing dramatically at the board, his lips pursed, as always) ... Eagles. No less than 56 different universities, presumably swept up in a wave of patriotic fervor, enlisted Eagles as their nickname -- and that's just plain ordinary Eagles, which doesn't include the Bald, Crimson, Golden, Marauding, Mean Green, Purple, Running, Screaming and Soaring varieties of Eagles.

 

Then my search took me a little deeper.

 

There's a subversive quality to some nicknames. The Rhode Island School of Design gave us the Nads, and, just guessing here, the chant, "Go, Nads, Go." RISD also gave us the Talking Heads, who urged us to stop making sense, but I can't help it. Why would a nice school like the University of Mary go with Marauders? The Mary Marauders sounds a bit callous, no?

 

I plunged into an anthropomorphic Lucy-in-the-Sky-with-Diamonds world of Runnin' Rifles and Hustlin' Owls, a bad fairy tale filled with Trolls and Ichabods, Rosemonsters and Gorloks.

 

Natural enemies abounded. CSU-Northridge Matadors locked up with South Florida Bulls, the Oakland City Mighty Oaks tried to pass protect against the Loggers of Puget Sound, the South Dakota Coyotes chased the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners all over the court, and the "Generation Gap" game pitted the Utah Utes against the St. Olaf Oles. What would the line be if the NYU Violets took on the Bethel College Threshers? In Nickname-Land, the Idaho Vandals would never schedule the Brandeis Judges, for fear of reform school.

 

One could dress from head to toe in college nicknames. Your headwear would be supplied by the Stetson Hatters, and you could don a UAB Blazer, a stylish pair of UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos over some Pacific University Boxers, with Presbyterian Blue Hose slipped into a pair of Florida Southern Moccasins, which, as I recall, was the outfit Boy George wore to the 1983 Grammys.

 

Some profound metaphysical questions reared their ugly heads ... like, If the Runnin' Rebels compete in a speedwalking event, are they automatically disqualified?

 

Then I happened upon an old favorite -- the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs. The banana slug is a slimy bright yellow (or banana) mollusk indigenous to the redwood forest surrounding the Santa Cruz campus. The students adopted the slug as a mascot back in the '60s as an ironic comment on the hyper-competitive world of college sports. The university actually tried to foist a new, less ridiculous nickname -- Sea Lions -- on the school in 1980, but the administration was shouted down by a student body whipped into a full lather over the debate.

 

There's a subversive quality to some nicknames. The Rhode Island School of Design gave us the Nads, and, just guessing here, the chant, "Go, Nads, Go." RISD also gave us the Talking Heads, who urged us to stop making sense, but I can't help it. Why would a nice school like the University of Mary go with Marauders? The Mary Marauders sounds a bit callous, no? The Centre College Prayin' Colonels have an image problem right off the bat: If your Colonels are Prayin', that doesn't bode well for the guys in the trenches.

 

Boston College's Ryan Sidney is an Eagle, but then again, who isn't?

Some schools' nicknames have a noble pedigree. Oglethorpe University went with the Stormy Petrels. As legend has it, James Oglethorpe, while crossing the Atlantic in 1732, was struck by a small, gutsy seabird that accompanied his ship on the crossing. So, inspired by the stormy petrel's hang time, Oglethorpe disembarked and, without stopping in baggage claim, marched right off to found the state of Georgia. (Coincidentally, on a ferry ride to Nantucket in my youth, I too was spellbound by the seagulls that followed our craft. So, inspired, I marched right off to get my peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich, which I fed in chunks to the gulls. Then a big kid told me if you threw Alka-Seltzer at the birds they'd eat them and explode.)

 

The most esoteric nickname comes from the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, which takes the playing field as the Eutectic, defined by Webster's as "having the lowest melting point possible." I can hear the call from press row: "Johnny, we're only 14 seconds in, and Dow Chemical's pressure has been negligible, but jiminy, the Eutectic are already melting under the heat!"

 

I encourage you to study your college nicknames. Not being able to attach a nickname to a school is like not being on a first-name basis (literally, in the case of the Central Missouri State Jennies).

 

Not since the Second Continental Congress has this nation put together such an assemblage. There are Poets and Prophets, Statesmen and Diplomats, Professors and Presidents, Royals and Lords.

 

And yes, Rhode Island College gave us that most noble calling of all -- the Anchormen. Their mascot could be a really healthy head of hair.

 

David Lloyd is an anchorman for ESPNEWS.

 

 

[cookiejar]

 

The Dr. Carlos Finlay fighting skeeters

 

I almost wrecked the car driving past this school when I saw their mascot, yet it seemed so appropriate for Miami!!!

 

Another winner is a conservatory which is located downtown:

The New World School of the Arts Fightin' Pigeons!

 

 

 

[skybluepink02]

I went to school at Delta State University. While their official mascot is the statesmen, a very respectable mascot; the mascot everyone used at games and on t-shirts and such was the fighting okra. Yes, the vegetable, okra.

 

Ok, I'll go back to hiding under my rock.

[Jeepers]

My cousins went to a school that had owls as their mascot. The Manilla Owls. A year after the youngest one graduated the school closed down. Guess they didn't give a hoot. Well, it's true!

[CrabGrassAcres]

Maybe the "Goslings" are the offspring of fighting geese?

 

[cookiejar]

Originally Posted By: skybluepink02

I went to school at Delta State University. While their official mascot is the statesmen, a very respectable mascot; the mascot everyone used at games and on t-shirts and such was the fighting okra. Yes, the vegetable, okra.

Ok, I'll go back to hiding under my rock.

Chica! I thought you were pulling my leg till I googled it!

snip*
The official colors are green and white. Since its inception, Delta State's mascot had been officially known as the "Statesman" because of the role State Sen Walter Sillers played in the location of the school in Cleveland. However, in recent years, the student body has embraced a mascot that depicts a piece of okra (a Southern vegetable). The "Fighting Okra" was featured in the "Okraphobia" episode of the Food Network show Good Eats.

snip

Hilarious!

and Manilla owls? Loving it!!!