Sweet 16 matchups have been determined by pitting each team's mascot against one another in a cage match to
the death. Weigh in with your own thoughts on each.
Jump to:
Rameses, the Big Horn Sheep (UNC)
Winner
Butch T. Cougar (Washington State)
Conclusion:
Sheep are fluffy; cougars have claws ... Washington State by a landslide.
Reasoning:
Ok, so the obvious choice here would be Butch seeing as sheep
are natural prey for cougars but UNC has some hope. Rameses came from
star fullback "battering ram", Jack Merritt. So, you could say a man of that
stature with a battering ram might have a chance against a cougar if you
were a Tar Heel (but I'm not).
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Battering Ram: nickname of UNC's Jack Merritt and source of Rameses
A Horned Dorset Sheep, Rameses' breed
Cougar, like Butch, in the wild
Cool Facts
Rameses is a Dorset Horn sheep which is known for breeding almost any time of the year (UNC ranked 59th in '07 Sexual Health Report Card).
During the late 1950's hornless Dorset sheep, developed in Australia, were introduced to the UK and rapidly grew in popularity. By 1974 there were more Poll Dorsets registered than Dorset Horns
Tar Heel comes from North Carolina's chief export of tar, pitch and turpentine created from the vast pine forest and was used to paint the bottom of wooden British ships in order to both seal the ship and to prevent shipworm from damaging the hull.
Governor Hartley suggested the name "Butch," in honor of Herbert "Butch" Meeker of Spokane, who was WSU's gridiron football star at the time.
Butch was represented by a live cougar until 1978 when Butch VI died at age 15.
Butch T. Cougar was the 2006 Capital One Mascot of the Year.
Cougars are also known as pumas, mountain lions, and panthers.
Cougars primary food sources include ungulates such as deer and bighorn sheep, as well as domestic cattle, horses, and sheep.
Hounds are cuddly and lay on the porch; birds are freaky and can peck your eyes out ... Louisville by a small margin.
Reasoning:
Where the Red Fern Grows was one of my favorite books and I'm terrified of Hitchcock's birds.
If Tennessee had some gun carrying volunteers I might throw them a bone. I'll take my meat
well-done and smoked. Package up my doggy bag waiter.
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A Cardinal in the wild
Catholic cardinal
Cool Facts
Cardinal Bird skydives into Papa John's Cardinal Stadium for home football games.
The cardinal is the state bird of Kentucky.
The cardinal gets its name from the red plumage which looks like a Catholic cardinal's vestments.
Smoky is a Bluetick Coonhound which is the state dog of Tennessee and the 136th most popular dog in the states (stats).
Smokey VIII (1995-2003) was the most successful with a record of 91-22, two SEC titles and 1 National Championship.
Tennesseans are called Volunteers due to the large unexpected number volunteers in the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Texas Revolution, Mexican-American War, and Civil War.
Sylvester and Tweety might want to weigh in on this decision as the age old struggle lives on.
No hesitation here. My money is on Will D. Cat even though I was tempted to make a case for
the mythological guerrilla fighting Jayhawk from Kansas (especially since it will hose my bracket).
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Sylvester and Tweety might take sides on this one
A wildcat, like Will D. Cat, in the wild
A bluejay, half of what makes the mythological Jayhawk
Cool Facts
A Jayhawk is a mythical cross between a blue jay and a sparrow hawk.
Jayhawkers is a term that originally applied to guerrilla fighters during the American Civil War and now represents residents from Kansas.
Wildcats which hunt small mammals and birds are native to Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Until the 1950s Villanova kept a live wildcat named Count Villanova that appeared at football games.
Villanova's athletic teams were previously known as either "The Blue and White" or "The Main Liners."
Will D. Cat's signature move which includes an elevated turn is called the "Chumpy."
Vicious, man-eating, bone crushing Bucky Badger over the large house cat in round 3, KO.
Reasoning:
I have never seen a badger but did run into a pissed off skunk one time which wasn't pleasant.
I'd hate to see poor Mr. Cat try to take on Brittan's man-eating ratel badger. I'm going to
take Wisconsin's bone crushing badger over Fluffy, ehem I mean Mr. Cat.
Even though he's wearing a skirt, Pouncer doesn't have a chance. Michigan in an easy one.
Reasoning:
Didn't you see King Leonidas kick ass in 300? Man
over beast in this one although if it were a liger (the largest cat) I might have to reconsider.
Napoleon Dynamite would be proud. Michigan
State rides Sparty to the finish line on this one.
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A tiger, like Pouncer, in the wild
A Liger, the largest cat, which is a cross between a lion and tiger
Heracles, Spartan's hero god
Cool Facts
MSU was orginally called "Normals" or the "Blue and Gray."
Blue and gray were selected as the school colors of Michigan State in commemoration of opposing armies reuniting after the Civil War.
The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger and is the largest cat in the world. The offspring of a male tiger and a female lion is called a tigon.
12,000 tigers are being kept as private pets in the USA (4000 in Texas alone) which is significantly more than the world's entire wild population.
In 1909 MSU's mascot was a live brown bear.
In 1925 sports writers changed MSU's name from "Michigan Starters" to the shorter and more heroic "Spartans."
Michigan State's successes and failures in the Final Four have led to clashes involving the police in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2005
Colors can't fight; Standford's Tree in slow death as Bevo chows down
Reasoning:
How lame! I might make the dumbest mascot list next with Stanford's cardinal red topping the list. For
the sake of argument, we'll use Stanford's unofficial "Tree" mascot. If I was a tree and there was a
stoned cow with the munchies starring at me I'd cue the wood chipper. Bevo takes Tree in a long one.
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El Palo Alto, Stanford's Tree
Stanford's Unofficial "Tree" Mascot
Cool Facts
The Tree is the unofficial mascot of Stanford created by the band. It represents the El Palo Alto Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens).
In February 1995 the Stanford Tree and the Cal's Oski got into a televised fistfight. Oski's headpiece was removed by Tree which nearly ended Cal's 60+ year tradition of keeping his identity secret.
Cardinal refers to the color, not the bird
In 1972 Cardinal replaced the perceived offensive and demeaning Stanford "Indian."
Texas' original mascot was a pit bulldog named "Pig."
Bevo, a Texas Longhorn, is currently number fourteen and was originally named Bo until Ben Dyer, editor of the UT campus magazine, nicknamed him after beeve (the plural of beef).
Bevo XIII (1988-2004) was the winningest Bevo in UT history presiding over 191 football games.
Bevo attended George W. Bush's inauguration in 2001 and in 2005.
2,500 pound bears with 6 inch claws beat red amebas in my book. Bruins stomp Western Kentucky.
Reasoning:
I don't really know what Big Red is (7-Up Spot's Cousin?). If Big Red can play dead he might
prolong the inevitable but alas Joe would rip him to shreds. We'll miss Big Red's antics but
red blobs are not too high on the food chain. UCLA wins after toying with Western Kentucky
for a while.
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Brown Bear, Like Joe, In The Wild
7-Up's Spot (Big Red's Cousin?)
E.A. Diddle leading a cheer with his red towel
Cool Facts
E.A. Diddle, a successful coach at Western Kentucky, clutched, chewed, threw, cried, and waved a red towel during his tenure. This is where Big Red originated.
WKU students are knows as Hilltoppers, because their school is on top of a hill. Duh.
Coach Red Sanders of UCLA developed the baby blue team color calling it "Powderkeg blue", powder blue with an explosive kick.
Bruin is another name for a brown bear (Ursos arctos), or for any bear, usually poetically or archaically.
An adult brown bears face no serious competition from other predators and can match wolf packs and large felines. Their claws can grow to 5.9 inches in length and the largest wild Kodiak bear on record weighed over 2,500 pounds.
Sorry D'artagnan, I like my freedom fries. West Virginia in a close one.
Reasoning:
Both of these guys have guns but if you google
"French military victories"
you'll only find defeats. On top of that, the Mountaineer has been high altitude training
(Lance would be proud)
and D'artagnan is wearing girl's clothes.
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Painting of D'Artagnan, the Famous Musketeer
Cool Facts
Google "french military victories" (here) and click the first result.
The musketeers were created in 1622 when Louis XIII furnished a company of light cavalry with muskets.
Xavier is the fourth oldest Jesuit University and sixth oldest Catholic university in the United States.
Xavier's graduation rate of 94% is the third highest graduation rate for athletes in the nation behind Duke University and Stanford University.
Xavier's patron is St. Francis Xavier, a native of Spain.
West Virginia's Mountaineer customarily grow beards during his tenure to go along with the coonskin cap and rifle.
West Virginia's annual football and basketball games with Pitt are referred to as "The Backyard Brawl"
West Virginia's colors were taken from the West Virginia state seal (Old Gold and Blue).
