MORE DUKE CANNON-SANCTIONED COLLEGE MASCOTS

College football season kicks off this weekend, and we don’t know about you, but we cannot think about campus-based gridiron activity without devoting considerable attention to the wide-world of college football mascots. Some are actual live animals, others are bizarre foam and felt concoctions, and almost all of them are worthy of study. But as with most subjects, the cream always rises to the top. Here are some more of our favorite characters who get their matriculating fanbase so pumped up.

BIG AL, UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA
Big Al is an elephant. While this species is not indigenous to the southeast United States, that was apparently of little concern to the university, who have been using this pachyderm as a mascot for nearly a century now. So—is Big Al an elephant of the African or Asian persuasion? Neither, actually. Although he most closely resembles the African elephant (which have characteristically larger ears), the fact is Al is made of fleece.

THE STANFORD TREE, STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Rest assured this bizarre specimen will not be found in any textbook assigned to first-year Forestry students. Instead, one could be forgiven for thinking this googly-eyed, buck-toothed creature had wandered off the set of Sid & Marty Kroft’s H.R. Pufnstuf back in the ‘70s and eventually landed in Palo Alto. Appearance aside, this leafy fellow has nonetheless earned a certain fame for bringing the expected energy (not to mention oxygen) to the home-field proceedings.

UGA THE BULLDOG, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
It’s a live bulldog, which on its face does not sound that impressive. But you put a jersey on that bulldog, and now, as they say, you are cooking.

SPARKY THE SUN DEVIL, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
This one makes thematic sense, seeing as how anyone who visits Arizona during the months of April-October almost immediately says, “Man—it’s hot as hell here.” We suppose another backstory could be that Sparky was simply a mischievous fellow who moved to the Grand Canyon State to stretch his retirement dollar. Either way, we are buying what this hot-tempered mascot is selling.

THE LEPRECHAUN, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
We are not ones to reinforce stereotypes here, but seeing as how the school itself named its teams “The Fightin’ Irish,” we are comfortable adding this one to the list. What can we say, we are suckers for the old-timey upturned fists boxing style. Little known fact: prior to 1965, the official mascot was actually a live Irish Terrier named Clashmore Mike. Sadly, Mike had to be let go, as he reportedly had a big drinking problem.

THE DEAMON DEACON, WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
We confess to not exactly being up to snuff on our Baptist preacher lore, but if there are passages about giant-headed foam characters riding motorcycles onto football fields, perhaps we need to remedy that.