November 10th, 2006
Losing My Region
And to continue my grousing from last week…is anyone else out there really bothered when a sports team’s mascot doesn’t reflect anything about the place where the team is from?
The fact that some franchises’ nicknames are so generic that they can be picked up and moved halfway across the nation without even needing to alter them is just sad.
Let’s do an audit of the North Carolina teams as an example:
In pro football we have the “Panthers.” I spent several years of my life memorizing facts about wild animals, particularly the big, scary, sharp-toothed kind, and I know that there are no panthers in North Carolina. (Ok, ok that obsession subsided was a long time ago, let me check online. Yes, apparently I remembered right: no panthers in North Carolina.) This is symbol is inaccurate. We have to change it.
Meanwhile, we have the recently formed Charlotte “Bobcats” in the NBA. Hmm…another vicious meat-eater…. Well I can tell you that, way out in the mountains of North Carolina, we do have bobcats. (Ok, let me verify this on Wikipedia too…. Ha-ha! Yes, there are bobcats in North Carolina!) It’s a legitimate North Carolina species and therefore a good symbol for a North Carolina team.
The NHL’s “Hurricanes” probably have the most distinctly North Carolinian of all North Carolina professional sports icons. Each year, from the months of June through September, we get what the media dubs a “Storm of the Century” about once a week.
And what about our colleges?
Carolina is “The Tarheels.” Great. North Carolina is the “Tarheel State.” Of course what is Carolina currently using as their mascot? A ram wearing a sweatshirt and a Popeye cap. Hard to imagine how UNC arrived at this, when a “tarheel” is actually (get ready for this…) a rebel soldier that narrowly escaped invading Union troops (seriously). The ram makes no sense. Someone draw a cartoony version of a fleeing Confederate soldier. They need to make the switch.
Moving on, NC State is “The Wolfpack.” I must say this is exactly the kind of fierce, menacing image I’d want on my team’s side, but does it pass the location-relevance test? Clearly I am still a definitive expert on wildlife so I can tell you that certain wolf species reside (sound of me clicking over to Wikipedia)…all over North Carolina. Ok, State, you pass.
This brings us to Duke. Duke, what does a “Blue Devil” have to do with the closest North Carolina has to an Ivy League school? Just awful. Really.
App is “The Mountaineers.” Not bad. However, as many other states have mountains that are widely-settled, and therefore, must have had mountaineers, this is not terribly specific. Still, not bad.
Wake Forest is “The Demon Deacons.” North Carolina is located firmly in the bible belt, so there are a lot of deacons in the area. And, given all the moral corruption in organized religion, a lot of them are probably evil men. More creepy than fearsome, but you’re thinking, Wake Forest. I like that.
ECU is the “Pirates.” Not to toot my alma mater’s horn here, but this is a good mascot. Pirates, by their very nature, are dangerous and threatening. And the ECU athletic department actually cracked their history books (as opposed to attending yet another giant kegger) and found something that is, throughout the scope of history, unique to the region where ECU is located. It’s perfect.
So, were does that leave us? Obviously we have a few mascot changes to make….
I purpose our NFL team get the “Bobcats” name. They’ve been around longer.
Our basketball team will be demoted to “Housecats.” I know it’s kind of lame, but there are housecats all over this state. Everyone I know has at least one. And I don’t want to hear any complaining about this, Charlotte, you’re the ones who wanted to be “cats” in the first place.
As for Duke, let’s give them a mascot that has to do with something the university is known for. Of course, they will be the Duke “Lacrosse Players.” This will be pretty weird for the all the teams that don’t play lacrosse, and, for the lacrosse program, it really just comes across as unimaginative, but, hey, rules are rules.
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