The Madness of the Madness of March

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.

What's in a nickname?

As promised, here is part one of my article about college team nicknames. The introduction that accompanied the original article is no longer valid or appropriate, so if it seems like it starts after the beginning, it's because, um, it does.






One of the first nicknames that springs to mind is from Texas Christian University. TCU is known as the "Horned Frogs." Hah. While other colleges get to be the Tigers or the Spartans or something else tough, these guys get to be…erm….toads. Horned ones at that. I'm sure there really is an animal named the horned frog, and it may be very feisty and tough, but this one just leads us down the freeway of making fun.


Next up are some of those smaller schools that got put at the back of the line when it came to handing out names.
The Dayton Flyers. Look, they don't even get a mascot. Just the words. Now, personally, I like the name "Flyers." It gives the impression of speed and action. But come on, can't one of their art design students come up with some sort of flying lightning bolt so they can at least have a symbol?


The Temple owls. Ok, it's bad enough to be an owl, but do they have to be such a dorky looking owl?



How about the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes? Their logo looks like someone spilled cornbread mix on it and forgot to clean it up. To make matters worse, look at their mascot:



You could be the Tulane Green Wave. Green Wave? Have you ever seen a green wave? (I hear the Atlantic Ocean sometimes looks green, but Tulane University is located in New Orleans, which is not on the Atlantic Coast.) Is the Gulf Coast green? I just know I wouldn't want to get hit by a green wave!

Hey, there's a pattern here: Temple, Tulsa, Tulane. Maybe if your small college starts with a "T" you're obligated to have a weird nickname.




If you went to Syracuse University you'd be an Orangemen. Like the Dayton Flyers, they don't even have a mascot or symbol. In fact, they don't have the words, they just have a color.



St. John's University, like it's fellow New York school Syracuse, has a nickname that isn't really anything. They used to be the Redmen, but the PC police pulled them over and made them change it to… the Red Storm.



At least they have a lightning bolt!


That's it for now. More tomorrow.

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.

Super!

Wow! Six months since I started not blogging again! Ouch. So, I may have to re-name this blog. Or you just may have to get used to the fact that this may be cleverly concealed as a sports blog.

Anyhoo, a lot has happened in the world of sports since my last blog entry. In six months, we've gone through an entire NFL season, the NBA is about to have it's all-star break, and baseball is gearing up for (gulp) spring training.

Yesterday I watched the Super Bowl. So did a bunch of other people, apparently. I kept hearing all day today about what a great game it was and wow! that was the best Super Bowl ever! Uhmm, no, it was a great finish to a Super Bowl. The first three quarters were only ok. The Steelers were running away with the game. It wasn't until the 4th Q that the game got good. Don't get me wrong, I loved the whole game, but come on, it wasn't really a great super bowl until the last quarter. My wife even thought it was great game. She slept through it until about 10 mins left in the game. Says a lot for strong finishes, eh?

I still hate Kobe Bryant. Don't have any current reason, just wanted to point that out again. He scored 61 points tonight. Not saying he isn't a great player, it's just that I don't like him.

Maybe I'll start a "Cheers" and "Jeers" blog.

Cheers:

To the Steelers and Cards, for making it a great finish.

To Kobe, for scoring so many points blah blah blah

To Odyssey Marine for finding the HMS Victory - We can all stop holding our breath.

To the Association - for recognizing the talents of Portland Trailblazer guard Brandon Roy by naming him to the West All-Star Reserve team.

Jeers:

To (almost) all of the Super Bowl commercials (Except this one, which was NOT done by an ad agency!)

To Kobe Bryant, again, simply because I don't like him.

To...


You get the idea. I'll just have to come up with more Jeers next time!