Why is it that I only come around to add new entries to this blog during March Madness?!? Weird coincidence? Some kind of strange karma? I dunno. Can't explain it.
Did someone mention March Madness? (Should that phrase have a little trademark symbol next to it?) How about some of those games, huh? There's been some great ones so far! Some nail-biters. Some supposedly controversial calls by the refs. For the most part though, I think the referees have done a spectacular job with some pretty weird plays. They are under as much pressure as the players and coaches, and I think they do an amazing job. For the most part.
Not as many weird nicknames this year. Lots of bears. Several Wildcats. A couple of Aggies. The Zips - they're always great. There are some strange ones, though. Bison. Terriers. Monarchs. Blackbirds - you gotta love that one. I'll make fun of them a little later.
Showing posts with label ncaa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ncaa. Show all posts
Monday, March 21, 2011
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The Madness of March
They don't call it March Madness for nothin'!
The NCAA Tourney started today and already there have been some mild upsets. That's what makes it so entertaining. Also entertaining is the next installment of the nickname article. If you'd like to see the original article in it's entirety (minus the pics!), you can visit my old blog called Moniker, man.
One of the weirdest (and believe me, the competition is tough!) is the Southern Illinois Salukis. What the hell is a Saluki? Apparently, I am not the first one to ask this question. When Walt Frazier was leading the So. Illinois team to an NIT championship in 1967, sportswriter Jerry Isenberg wrote the following:
Princeton has its Tiger. B.C. has its Eagle,
Rutgers is the Queensmen, a title truly regal.
But from frigid New York City to Kentucky's old Paduchee,
There's just one burning question – what the hell is a Saluki?
Ok, for the record, please note that Rutgers used to be the Queensmen?!? Ugh.
Well, the short answer is, a Saluki is nothing more than a fancy name for a dog. For the long answer, you can visit SIUC's website. Basically, it's an Egyptian dog, and Salukis were accepted as the finest animals a family could possibly possess. Known for their speed and hunting skills, Salukis are the oldest pure-breed dogs in the world with records dating back to 3600 B.C. That's great. And very historical. Not to mention very biblical. And much better than their former name – the Maroons! But, don't you think they could have come up with a better looking representative of that fine animal?
This reminds me of the dog on the Simpsons. Hellooo Santa's Little Helper!
As a resident of Oregon, I cannot, in all good conscience, have a blog such as this without mentioning the University of Oregon Ducks. Ducks. How is that supposed to intimidate another team? Has anyone lately been mauled by a duck. I know it's a Northwest animal, but for pete's sake, there are bears and mountain lions here. It's n
ot like all of the good names were taken by other schools in the state (Oregon State Beavers). It's bad enough to have a wimpy nickname like Ducks, but then they used a symbol ripped off from Walt Disney of Donald Duck.
Yeah, they tried to make him look tough, but what do you expect from a mascot that doesn't wear pants?
Fortunately, they've made amends by:
b) finding a meaner duck:
and c) getting cool looking helmets:
Go Ducks!
Next weird one: The Manhattan Jaspers. While it has a nice ring to it, I caught myself wondering again, what the hell is a jasper? Oddly enough, the fine folks at Manhattan College, just as at SIUC, have found it necessary to explain the whole thing. (Yeah, that's where I want to go to college – someplace where you have explain the nickname!?)
It's not even as exciting as the Saluki, because, ah-hem, it was named after, uh-hmm , a, errr, a person. Named Jasper. They don't even have a symbol, just the words:
There's the Liberty Flames:
(Hey, that's not a flame, that's an eagle. They need to take the same zoology class as the students at Southern Utah!)
And
there's the University of Illinois – Chicago:
Yeah! That's more like it – now that's a flame!
The NCAA Tourney started today and already there have been some mild upsets. That's what makes it so entertaining. Also entertaining is the next installment of the nickname article. If you'd like to see the original article in it's entirety (minus the pics!), you can visit my old blog called Moniker, man.
One of the weirdest (and believe me, the competition is tough!) is the Southern Illinois Salukis. What the hell is a Saluki? Apparently, I am not the first one to ask this question. When Walt Frazier was leading the So. Illinois team to an NIT championship in 1967, sportswriter Jerry Isenberg wrote the following:
Princeton has its Tiger. B.C. has its Eagle,
Rutgers is the Queensmen, a title truly regal.
But from frigid New York City to Kentucky's old Paduchee,
There's just one burning question – what the hell is a Saluki?
Ok, for the record, please note that Rutgers used to be the Queensmen?!? Ugh.
Well, the short answer is, a Saluki is nothing more than a fancy name for a dog. For the long answer, you can visit SIUC's website. Basically, it's an Egyptian dog, and Salukis were accepted as the finest animals a family could possibly possess. Known for their speed and hunting skills, Salukis are the oldest pure-breed dogs in the world with records dating back to 3600 B.C. That's great. And very historical. Not to mention very biblical. And much better than their former name – the Maroons! But, don't you think they could have come up with a better looking representative of that fine animal?
As a resident of Oregon, I cannot, in all good conscience, have a blog such as this without mentioning the University of Oregon Ducks. Ducks. How is that supposed to intimidate another team? Has anyone lately been mauled by a duck. I know it's a Northwest animal, but for pete's sake, there are bears and mountain lions here. It's n
ot like all of the good names were taken by other schools in the state (Oregon State Beavers). It's bad enough to have a wimpy nickname like Ducks, but then they used a symbol ripped off from Walt Disney of Donald Duck.Yeah, they tried to make him look tough, but what do you expect from a mascot that doesn't wear pants?
Fortunately, they've made amends by:
a) coming up with a much better symbol:
b) finding a meaner duck:
and c) getting cool looking helmets:
Go Ducks!
Next weird one: The Manhattan Jaspers. While it has a nice ring to it, I caught myself wondering again, what the hell is a jasper? Oddly enough, the fine folks at Manhattan College, just as at SIUC, have found it necessary to explain the whole thing. (Yeah, that's where I want to go to college – someplace where you have explain the nickname!?)
It's not even as exciting as the Saluki, because, ah-hem, it was named after, uh-hmm , a, errr, a person. Named Jasper. They don't even have a symbol, just the words:
There's the Liberty Flames:
(Hey, that's not a flame, that's an eagle. They need to take the same zoology class as the students at Southern Utah!)And
there's the University of Illinois – Chicago:Yeah! That's more like it – now that's a flame!
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Big Dance
On Sunday, March 14, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee will announce the 65 teams participating in the 2010 NCAA men's basketball tournament. March Madness begins!
I get a kick out of the teams' nicknames and mascots in college sports. In fact, I wrote an article a few years ago about the wacky world of nicknames. I found a link to it, but none of the images were still there.
In the next few days I shall re-print the article in its entirety, complete with full-color illustrations and up to date links. With permission of the author, of course.
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