Windless

Spent all day waiting for wind.  It never came to Tufts.  It came, a tiny bit, to MIT at around 3 PM.  Before it arrived I sat with my assistant coach talking about other ways to determine the outcome of the regatta.  We discussed various games of chance, and then my assistant coach expounded on the idea of a mascot fight.  Our mascot is particularly fierce; we probably wouldn't lose to anyone but a team out in the Pacific whose mascot is the killer whale (although I thought the Jumbos might have a shot at us).  My assistant coach had given the matter of a mascot fight a good deal of thought, but it was new to me.  Who would win, a Seahawk or a Mariner?  Would Big Green beat Crimson?  The Beavers would beat the Big Green, we thought (since beavers chop down trees, which are big and green, all the time).  My assistant was very dismissive of Stanford's Cardinals, until I suggested that the Cardinals might be able to get the bishops and the pope, and perhaps even the Lord Himself, to help in the standoff.  Oooh.  I didn't think of that, he said.  Catamounts, Bobcats, or Wildcats?  Trick question: the Terriers would beat all of them.  But could the Terriers beat the Bulldogs?  Thankfully, the wind filled in.   

Comments

[Stephanie]

From Wikipedia:

"The Stanford sports teams are now officially referred to as the Stanford Cardinal (the deep red color, not the bird), in reference to the university's official color since the 19th century (later cardinal and white); the band's mascot, "The Tree", has become associated with the school in general. Part of Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band (LSJUMB), the tree symbol derives from the El Palo Alto redwood tree on the Stanford and City of Palo Alto seals."

Could anyone really beat a redwood tree? :)

[Scheherazade]

Wouldn't the Beavers have a pretty good chance, if you gave them long enough?

[turboglacier]

My college's mascot was the Black Squirrels. And they will whup any of you other mascots. Bring it on.

[pjm]

My college town would have an interesting face-off between colonial-era military men from oddly-appropriate differing socio-economic backgrounds. (There, that's clear as mud.)

I got a good laugh out of this. Yes, your mascot would have a good showing, particularly in the conference most of your sports contend (which includes camels, Cardinals (the birds), bantams, and several indeterminate names (what's a Continental? an Eph?), just to name a few.)

I'm particularly disturbed by Tufts' new athletic logo. I mean, Jumbo could be pretty intimidating by his own self, but did nobody notice that the tusks on the new logo could not possibly be currently attached to a living elephant? Why did they pick a logo featuring severed tusks?

(Yeah, you want school spirit, talk to the undergrads. Grad students don't play.)

[Pat]

My kid brother-in-law was a Fighting Banana Slug (UC Santa Cruz). And if you don't think they're dangerous, ask me what they did to someone's wine cellar.

Good thing you don't face off against any redneck farmers (the Cornhuskers).

Go Big Red.

[a]

Wolverines are pretty nasty creatures, and they certainly showed their ability to whoop it up on the Fighting Irish this weekend.

[girltuesday]

grrr. go panthers (they eat ephmen for breakies)!

[Isaac Laquedem]

The Beavers are one of the two big state teams in my home state, and play in Corvallis. Eugene is home to the other, nicknamed the Ducks. The difference (and I shouldn't say it, because my sister and her husband both attended U of O, the Duck school) is that beavers are known for their hard work and skills at construction, while ducks are known mainly for being edible.

[a]

Good call Isaac, ducks are delicious.

[Meg]

NYU changed its mascot between my freshman and sophomore year, from "Violets" to "Bobcats".

The "Lady Violets" (basketball team, not to be confused with the men's basketball regular "Violets") were quite formidable.

[Bryce]

Didnt the Stanford Tree get in a actual mascot fight at a Basketball game?