Archive for November, 2009
R.I.P. UGA VII
UGA VII from Georgiadogs.com
Junkyard Blawg reports that UGA has lost its mascot and Sonny Seiler of Savannah has lost his family pet. The Seilers have provided UGA’s mascots since 1956 and the question Bill King poses in his blawg is…”is there a all white sire to take over as UGA VIII?” Hopefully yes and the next UGA will have a longer run than a little over a year.
Redskins can continue to use its name
CNN reports that the Washington Redskins on Monday got a glimmer of a win contrary to the team’s performance on the field. (3-6) The U.S. Supreme Court, refused to intervene in an appeal first initiated in 1992, where a group of Native Americans state the team’s mascot “has been historically a disparaging racial epithet”. The NFL franchise argues that they have spent millions in promotion and advertising as well as “protecting its (trade)mark”.
The team has had a formal trademark since 1967 and the organization has been the Redskins since 1933. Prior to that they were known as the Braves.
This debate and argument has been ongoing in college sports where the NCAA in 1995 advised some schools to remove “hostile or abusive” nicknames or mascots. Hence the search for a new mascot for the College of William and Mary and the saga of Chief Illiniwek. Currently Florida State’s Seminoles have little problem in its mascot use, since there is an agreement with the Seminole Native American Tribe. CNN continues in its article, that a state judge last week temporarily blocked efforts for a mascot change for University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux, and like FSU, Central Michigan University Chippewas will be allowed to continue to use their name.
Dartmouth’s search for a mascot has lost steam
Although Dartmouth has the nickname “the big Green”, the college has never had an official mascot. Ivan Zlatar writes in yesterday’s sports section of Dartmouth.com, that the unofficial alternatives could use some tweaking. Just as Stanford has the Tree that is loved, little did we know that Dartmouth has Keggy, created by the campus humor site, Jack O Lantern. Although Keggy is a college marketing nightmare, we see Ivan Zlatar’s point that Dartmoose goes to the other extreme in not delivering as a mascot when there’s little time on the clock and the score is tied! Zlatar writes “I can stick by being the Big Green, proud in our color and devoid of dancing, flipping costumed idiots parading around on our fields.
Or, we could have Green Man be our mascot. I think that’s an idea that everyone can get behind.”….Cost effectivness in mascot creation could win out!
Why haven’t I heard of this before?
As this blog LOVES anything and everything mascot, movies are a must. Just as my brother plunked down his hard earned money for the Gina Davis pirate movie, just to tell Hollywood it needs to make more pirate movies, I think mascots make great comedy and great stories!
Hatching Pete aired on the Disney Channel in April and it was on just this weekend. Great idea to tell a story of a shy guy that ”becomes a big hit when he dons a chicken suit to become a high-school mascot”. Check out the Disney site
Pop Culture Top Dogs
UGA VII from UGA.edu
Charlie’s Basketball blog this week has found a true poll out there on PawNation. In honor of the American Kennel Club’s 125 anniversary, the site is looking to find the top 125 pop culture dogs (Spuds MacKenzie and Taco Bell chiuaua come to mind!)
This week the PawNation wants you to vote for your favorite college mascot, the nominees for top college mascot being Georgia’s UGA, Yale’s Handsome Dan, Texas A&M’s “Reveille”, Georgetown’s “Jack the Bulldog” and Boston University’s “Rhett the Boston Terrier.”Charlie points out that this poll just scratches the surface of dog mascots in college, especially bulldogs where at least 38 universities and colleges use a bulldog as mascot.
A&M’s Reveille has a strong lead and although I have written of Handsome Dan in the past AND spoken to write-in nominee Smoky, after having lived in Savannah, GA, home of UGA–I have to say UGA deserves his fair shake in pop culture lists. I mean the dog has his own car to get to the games!
Capital One Mascot Challenge This Week..
This week it’s Navy’s Bill, battling it out with South Dakota State’s Jack Rabbit. Currently, standings on the scoreboard reads that Sebastian the Ibis leads in the votes, followed by Bearcat and Jack Rabbit. Personally, we’re partial to the mascots that have talked to Stories Behind the Fur soooo GO Super Frog and Big Red, in no particular order!
As they say in Chicago, vote early, vote often.
Hit the website now! Capital One Bowl site
