More on mascots

PATRIOT GAMES

George Mason mascots through the years:

Mason Maniak: Nice pajamas

Puffy Patriot: Charlie Brown, Class ‘64

Patriot 2 (big jaw): Winnie the Pooh moonlighting?

Patriot 3 (shades and sax): This sure is a complicated bong.

Gunston: Ludicrous fuzzball or Final Four magic?

The Patriot: Braveheart meets Guy Smiley

BEST IN CLASS

These mascots are instantly recognizable brands:

1. Leprechaun (Notre Dame) - Artist Theodore Drake designed the now-famous logo for $40 and the feisty green-suited character replaced a series of Irish terriers in 1965. The angry pugilistic logo easily trumps the live student version, but few brands in sports are as easily recognizable.

2. Blue Devil (Duke) - Legend ties it to a flashy French unit in World War I known as the Chasseurs Alpins and nicknamed “les Diables Bleus.” In reality, the staff of the student paper, the Trinity Chronicle, unilaterally chose the name in 1922, likely selecting a devil to rile up the Baptists at nearby Wake Forest.

3. Otto (Syracuse) - The Orange was one of a crop of mascot candidates to emerge after the school dropped the Saltine Warrior in 1978 at the urging of, among others, Onondagan Chief and Syracuse lacrosse star Oren Lyons. Initially ridiculed as an embarrassment, Otto’s eventual acceptance and rise to iconic status is proof that ludicrous sometimes can be lovable.

4. Sparty (Michigan State) - Though the school’s nickname has been the Spartans since 1925, the brawny, foam rubber incarnation didn’t appear until 1989. Sparty has been a dominant force since, winning best mascot at the Universal Cheer and Dance Association College Nationals three times. EA Sports recently conducted a poll to see which mascot would become the first nonathlete to grace the cover of its NCAA Football 09 edition, and Sparty won by more than 75,000 votes.

5. Chief Osceola (Florida State) - The brainchild of 1965 graduate Bill Durham, Chief Osceola and his pregame football ritual didn’t materialize until the opening game of the 1978 season, when Durham received the blessings of both the Seminole Tribe of Florida and coach Bobby Bowden. In 2005, Florida State successfully won its appeal to the NCAA to keep Chief Osceola intact.

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