This thread in General Questions got me to thinking…Live animal mascots
Ever since I saw “Jurassic Park”, I’ve thought that a T- Rex would make a great school mascot. Are there any schools that use it? How about other mascots based on extinct creatures? Imaginary creatures?
On a tangent, the ongoing battle over teams named after real ethnic groups could be solved by replacing them with imaginary ones.
The Atlanta Klingons, anyone?
Toronto Raptors?
:smack: Any others?
How about:
Washington Wizards
Tennessee Titans
New York Giants
Arizona State Sun Devils
and some would say Annaheim Angels (but YMMV)
New Jersey Devils
Duke Blue Devils
And, of course, there are those nicknames that describe nothing at all and are unique to the team:
Philadelphia Phillies
Buffalo Bills
New York Mets
Or, in some cases, things that mean nothing at all.
I can think of two college teams that did this: the St. John’s Red Storm (formerly Redmen) and the Stanford Cardinal (named for their team color, and formerly the Indians. They also have a non-animal mascot-a tree, although Stanford U. says it is the mascot of the school band and not the Cardinal).
Don’t forget the Capital City Goofball.
The Montreal Expos have Youppi! as their mascot, though not for much longer as the team faces contraction.
This site has a pretty good list.
Purple cows.
Banana slugs.
Thunder chicken.
Nimrods.
My high school? Matadors.
Another thought: I bet that Marvel and DC Comics would love to license their characters to sports teams. Spider-Man, Superman, Captain America; I mean, really, wouldn’t you like to see a volleyball team with Wonder Woman as mascot?
I’d prefer seeing her as a player. kaBOING!
Do the “Fightin’ Whites” qualify?