Over in the Bad College Names thread someone mentioned a so-bad-it’s-good high-school mascot, the Purgolders (presumably named for their purple and gold school colors), and I figured that was worth a thread all on its own, so: Worst college mascots? Bonus points for semi-obscurity.
And I’m in Alaska, so I’ll lead off with our three public universities:
[ul][]University of Alaska Southeast: the Humpback Whales (the costumed mascot is named Spike, for reasons I don’t understand)
[]University of Alaska Fairbanks: the Nanooks (the costumed mascot is a polar bear)
[*]University of Alaska Anchorage: the Seawolves (which I suspect is an attempt to import Seattle’s Seahawks up here, grafted onto a made-up Alaska Native legend)[/ul]
In the top ten bad college mascots has to be University of Delaware’s Blue Hens…You can add the word ‘fighting’ before hen and it still doesn’t strike fear in anyone…
I find these weird/interesting/funny:
UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs
NYU Fighting Violets
Hamilton Continentals
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Haverford Fords
Yale Elis (or Bulldogs… but Elis is unique)
Amherst Lord Jeffs
Williams Ephs
Obscure Wisconsin mascots:
Beloit Buccaneers
Lawrence Vikings
St. Norbert Green Knights
UW-Green Bay Phoenix
UW-Milwaukee Panthers
UW-Oshkosh Titans
UW-Eau Claire Blugolds
UW-Whitewater Warhawks
UW-Stevens Point Pointers
UW-Platteville Pioneers
UW-River Falls Falcons
UW-Stout Blue Devils
UW-LaCrosse Eagles
UW-Superior Yellowjackets
Dartmouth and Keggy the Keg.
My daughter says try as they may the school cannot get the student body behind the unofficial mascot of the Dartmoose. It’s Keggy all the way.
The University of Wisconsin’s teams are known as the Badgers, and the mascot is Bucky Badger. Both are well known and not too terrible I hope.
But…
One state legislator, back in the '70s, I believe, tried to get the name changed to the Holsteins and the mascot to Henrietta Holstein. I guess farms were having s hard time and he wanted to do this to show support. Uhhhh, no. We’re still the Badgers, and the mascot is still Buckingham U. Badger, more commonly known as Bucky.
Among big-time sports programs, I have a soft spot for the University of Maryland College Park—Testudo the Terrapin. Yeah! A slow-moving land reptile that, when threatened, retreats within itself! That’ll strike fear into our opponents!
And the sister campus down the road, the University of Maryland Baltimore County? The Chesapeake Bay Retrievers (named True Grit!), which I suppose strike fear into you by threatening to lick you to death.
This one is not due to the name so much as the actual masot costume: UT - Dallas Comets. It’s hard to be a mascot for a school that is lacking in sports. Creepy.
DS has put SUNY Albany below the other D1 SUNY schools because their mascot is the Great Danes. Plus their athletic page is a stylistic nightmare. His opinion might change after we actually visit, LOL.
The MIT Engineers kind of cracks me up, but it also really fits so I think it’s quirkily endearing.
How about for high school mascots? My alma mater Cornell is the Big Red which I like, but Ithaca High School is the Little Red!
another pc change. They are still called the Ole Miss Rebels, but they retired Colonel Reb and now they have a Black Bear as a mascot…which has nothing to do with Rebels or Mississippi, near as I can tell. The students voted for Admiral Ackbar as the new mascot (instead of the bear) but they were overruled.
