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October 14, 2009, 02:00 PM ET
When Picking Mascots, Go Inanimate
If your college is considering a mascot change anytime soon and you hope to post a winning record, The Wall Street Journal has some advice for you: Pick an inanimate object (say, a buckeye or maybe an anvil), but definitely not a bear or, heaven forfend, a religious figure.
Below, a list of mascot types as selected by the Journal's David Biderman, along with their corresponding percentage of victories over the past decade:
1. Inanimate Objects -- .550
2. Indians -- .515
3. Dogs -- .507
4. Birds -- .499 (tie)
4. Cats -- .499
6. Weather -- .495
7. Religious Figures -- .480
8. Bears -- .465
Curiously absent from the list: mollusks and insects. --Don Troop
Comments
1. vongillern - October 15, 2009 at 08:47 am
Where do the Huskers fall, Don?
2. pjanus - October 15, 2009 at 01:40 pm
If one considers only college athletics (Does Mr. Biderman realize the professional ranks appear to take marketability and eye appeal into macot decisions?), one must confront the NCAA's self styled, socially cognizant ban on all things Indian with the salient exception of those few college and university teams who were founded by an Indigenous Peoples (Native American) Tribe or, as is the case with the FSU Seminoles, be a NCAA-sanctioned school with very deep pockets to have the ability to be known as the 'Noles. Apparently the NCAA feels a lucrative financial arrangement trumps social correctness. There are those fortunates among our ranks who see The USC's Tommy Trojan as an almost religious figure, but this would dramatically skew Mr. Biderman's percentages. Perhaps the category of Historical Figures would resolve this matter and, perchance, give the Huskers a home, as well. Fight On, Mr. Biderman!
3. dtroop - October 15, 2009 at 02:57 pm
Kevin: Evidently the human mascots fared even worse than the Bears and Angels/Devils did. Maybe if Biderman had surveyed the last 25 years instead of the last 10, the Cornshuckers might have raised the humans' average.
4. thejuiceness - November 12, 2009 at 05:22 pm
Frankly, I don't think people really care too much what the mascot is, as long as the
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