Championship Week

It's championship week in college basketball. It's the week when most teams play their conference tournaments. It all leads up to Selection Sunday, when the teams are picked for the NCAA Tournament. Here's the next installment in the crazy college nicknames article.




Loyola University in Chicago has the unfortunate distinction of being the "Ramblers." Yeah, my grandparents drove one of those, a red 1963 Rambler Classic.



But someone thinks a Rambler is the same thing as a husky:




Hah, what do they know!


Here's one that makes no sense when you hear it, but then it does make sense when you think about it. The Murray State Racers. "What," you say? Racers? Well, Murray State is located in Kentucky. And then when you see their logo, you get it. Three cheers for being different, AND making sense at the same time!






Hey, is this a cool mascot, or what? The Richmond Spiders. I like it. It's different, it's dangerous, it's edgy. Go Spiders!



Utah's college teams have plenty of identity problems. The University of Utah is (are?) the Utes. What the *#$% is a Ute? I guess it's some sort of Native American. Gee, let's see….how many Native Americans are left in Utah now? Compared to Mormons? It doesn't even look right when you see it print: Utah Utes. It looks like a typo that the spell checker didn’t catch. And Utah State isn't much better: The Aggies. Oooooh, now I'm frightened. I can just imagine their opponents before the big game:
"Yeah, we're going up against the Aggies tonight."
"Aggies. Yeah, that reminds me – I need to call my grandma after the game."

Have you ever looked at Southern Utah University's mascot, the T-Bird?:

Did you look at it. Ok. Now, is it me, or does SUU need to add a zoology class to its curriculum? Isn't that an eagle? Looks like an eagle to me.

Jeez, I guess if you just add a bolt of lightning to any old bird you can have a "Thunderbird."
Plus, SUU plays in the Mid-Continent Conference. Eh? Mid-continent?. That's kind of generic. You just have to be located somewhere in between the edges of the continent to be included? (Another team in the Mid-Continent Conference is IUPUI, but that's a whole 'nother story!)


The University of Idaho has the Vandals, New York University has the Violets, Sweet Briar College has the Vixens, and the University of Akron has the Zips. Those are at least worth an honorable mention. Pacific University has the Boxers, which makes me think of boxer shorts, until you realize it's just a cuter name for a bulldog.