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Buzz off, Yellow Jackets. Heel, Bulldogs.
by Michelle Hisky
Tonight the nation's most, um, memorable mascots meet in Atlanta.
The Stormy Petrels of Oglethorpe University host the Fighting Banana
Slugs of the University of California, Santa Cruz, in women's
basketball.
Oglethorpe athletics director Bob Unger set up the clash after
ESPN and Sports Illustrated rated the two as the most unusual
mascots.
ESPN gave the Slugs a slight advantage in absurdity, so tonight's
game "will give one of the teams bragging rights --- which mascot is
better, even if they are ugly," Unger said.
The stormy petrel, a small seabird, is considered a sign of
danger. At least one variety is extinct, but the BBC reported a
sighting last month. That hopeful news, Unger said, may help explain
Oglethorpe's unexpected 2-1 conference record. The Atlanta team is
5-6 overall.
The banana slug is a bright yellow, slimy mollusk that lives in
the redwood forests. Santa Cruz students chose it over the sea lion
in 1986 to protest what some saw as the excesses of college
athletics.
Both teams compete in NCAA Division III, where no athletic
scholarships are given and students play for the love of their
sport.
"We have a lot of pride being the Banana Slugs, believe it or
not," said coach Steve Spencer of his squad. "Everywhere we go,
banana slugs get a little banana slug love from people."
The game starts at 7 p.m. at Oglethorpe's Dorough Fieldhouse in
Brookhaven. Admission and popcorn are free.
Prizes will be given to elementary and middle school students who
dress up as banana slugs.
"We're assuming it's sort of a caterpillar-type of creature,"
Unger said. "It sounds kind of yucky --- something a petrel would
peck at and eat."
If the bird still exists, of course. |
