Post #8 My top 5 FBS college mascots

Welcome back to Elliott's Quarantine Quintet! You’ve got your share of Lions, Tigers and Bears, but there are a bunch of unique mascots among Football Bowl Subdivision schools.

 
    1. Demon Deacons (Wake Forest University)

I am a big fan of this oxymoronic name of the mascot for the university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.     2. Ragin’ Cajuns (University of Louisiana at Lafayette)


Not only is the rhyming name of this mascot a lot of fun to say, but I like the mental image of a bunch of Louisianians running around and going crazy (kind of like how I picture Mardi Gras in New Orleans).     3, Thundering Herd (University of Marshall)


Although there is a bison on the football helmets of the team from the university in Huntington, West Virginia, a thundering herd of just about anything sounds intimidating. Apparently, the term can also refer to a computer science problem that I don’t really understand.     4. Mean Green (University of North Texas)


Long-time readers of this two-week old blog will know that I am a fan of rhyming names (see #2 in this list), but I had to look up what a Mean Green is (are?). The name of the mascot for the Dallas (technically Denton) school appears to originate from four-time Super Bowl champion and member of both the Professional Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Greene who played there in the mid-1960s. Greene grew up and went to high school in Temple, Texas. Don’t mess with Texas!     5. Chanticleers (Coastal Carolina University)


I like the name of this mascot of the Conway, South Carolina school mostly because nobody (i.e. me) has a clue what a Chanticleer is. Apparently it is an old way of referring to a rooster, derived from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.


Safety always comes first, but I don't want to even think about the prospect of no college football this fall!


What is your favorite sports mascot?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Post #4 My top 5 United States mottos

Welcome back to Elliott's Quarantine Quintet! Is it true that when you say something in Latin or Greek you automatically sound much cooler?     1. Esse quam videri, to be rather than to seem (North Carolina) This quote, which is attributed to the great Latin orator Cicero is all about keeping things real. I try not to be a poser, and I like when other people don’t try to be posers. Also, Latin mottos remind me of my six years of Latin in middle and high school, good times!     2, Dum spiro, spero, while I breathe, I hope (South Carolina) It is just a coincidence that my top two state mottos happen to come from the Carolinas. Yet I really like the optimism of this Latin motto. Remind yourself of this when you feel like giving up. Also, the alliteration makes it fun to say.     3. Live Free or Die (New Hampshire) Despite the fact that New Hampshire’s state motto has been co-opted by a certain movie franchise, I think it perfectly captures the American bravado and ideals of indiv
Read more

Post #7 My top 5 collective nouns for groups of animals

Welcome back to Elliott's Quarantine Quintet! I don’t know who gets to come up with these terms and who gets to decide what they are, but there are some pretty awesome collective nouns for a groups of animals.        1. A murder of crows This group sounds both cool and tough.     2. A conspiracy of lemurs Lemurs always look like they’re up to something.     3. A consortium of crabs I like the idea of crabs sidling along but saying in a snobby, British accent, “We’re a consortium.”     4. A pride of lions It is only fitting that the kings of the jungle get a majestic name.     5. A flamboyance of flamingos They’re pink, have skinny legs and are often preening themselves, so this name seems fitting. I’m looking for suggestions. What should the collective noun be for a group of journalists?
Read more

Post #28 My top 5 portmanteaus

Welcome back to Elliott's Quarantine Quintet! We are beginning Week 10 of EQQ. A portmanteau is "a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others." Such words come in handy when trying to convey an idea that no one word totally captures. 1. Brunch (breakfast and lunch) When you eat a meal at 11 in the morning, it's not really breakfast, and it's not really lunch. That's where this term comes in handy. Brunch is probably the portmanteau that I (and most people) use most often. 2. Spork (spoon and fork) I'm a bit surprised that this utensil - which combines the uses of two utensils into one - is not more widely used. I am ready to join the movement to mainstream the spork.  3. Bionic (biology and electronic) The use of technology to enhance human bodies is an age-old idea, and, with recent technological improvements, as well as those to come in the near future, I think we will soon see a greatly increased use of bionics. 4. Tween (between
Read more