Nightmares, Vikings and Fireballs

So, this is a post on what I consider an interesting topic. School mascots.

(The second picture is the actual logos)

In elementary school we were the Bears. Blue and Gold, go Bears. Woohoo. While, the real grizzly bear is very scary, frightening, and the source of 90% of my nightmares (I am simply terrified of bears beyond belief) the actual mascot is.....a little strange. Take a look. See the odd eyes and clumpy fur? It's certainly not the best replication of the bear, that's for sure.

In as you can see, the second picture is of a viking. But could we be the vikings? Noooo. We were the Raiders. And even though the picture is really small, I can tell you this from experience. Our raider is a cute pudgy little viking with a shield and a huge smile. Really people. That's not a raider from my experiences.

But the oddest is this little fireball that we call the Red Riot, which is the mascot of our high school. Look at him...the eyes....the arms....the mouth.....the NOSE. Seriously. What is up with the face of this poor creature? It's rather sad.

But whatever I think of the mascots of the various schools I've been to, I sure am glad I don't have the mascots of these colleges!

Sammy The Banana Slug: University of California-Santa Cruz. A banana slug is a slimy yellow mollusk found near the northern California coastal community of Santa Cruz. This free-spirited campus adopted the less-than-majestic slug as a mascot as a commentary on the overemphasis of athletics at many universities. In the 1980s, a chancellor tried to change the mascot to a the more reputable sea lion. But the students fought to keep the slug, so Sammy lives on.
Super Frog the Horned Frog: Texas Christian University. TCU has been using the horned toad as a mascot since 1897. The horned toad might sound like a strange choice of a mascot, but it's the state reptile of Texas, and Native Americans in the Southwest believed this five inch long frog had ancient powers. The mascot's name used to be Addy the All-American Frog, but became Super Frog in 1979.

Artie the Fighting Artichoke: Scottsdale Community College. Why in the world would you make your mascot a vegetable? Well, it's like this: during the 1970s, students at SCC were furious because they felt too much money was being spent to make the school a junior college sports powerhouse. Thus, when student government was asked to hold an election to name the mascot, they ran three choices: the artichoke, the rutabaga, and the scoundrel. Artie won. The college called the election null and void, but the artichoke stuck around long after the political fight ended.
Delta State University: The Fighting Okra. Ah, another vegetable mascot, and one that's appropriate for a Mississippi school! There's no political impetus behind this name. People just got bored with the previous name, the Statesmen, and since the team uniforms are mostly green, they found the name of something both green and Southern.
The Fighting Pickle: North Carolina School of the Arts. The origin of the pickle is a bit unclear. The NCSA student handbook offers two possible explanations. First, the pickle may be a tribute to a pickle company that used to donate money to the school. Second, it may be a form of protest to the school's 1972 search for a "militaristic" school mascot name. That didn't go over so well in the Vietnam era, so the end result was a protest pickle.

So, do any of you have stories about YOUR mascots?