Official 2020 NCAA Football Thread

*warm beagle

 

is any team the beagles? that's a pretty damn good hunting dog...so not a bad mascot..

I know Tennessee has Smokie (non beagle), but can't think of another?

 

According to the school, the relationship between elephants and University of Alabama football dates back to 1930, when Atlanta Journal sportswriter Everett Strupper relayed a story from an Alabama-Ole Miss game. "At the end of the quarter, the earth started to tremble,” he wrote, “there was a distant rumble that continued to grow. Some excited fan in the stands bellowed, 'Hold your horses, the elephants are coming,' and out stamped this Alabama varsity.” Unmatched in size that Alabama team “knocked me [out] cold, men that I had seen play last year looking like they had nearly doubled in size." From that point, Strupper started calling Alabama the “Red Elephants,” and the association stuck.

Even though the elephant served as a symbol for the team, it took decades for the Big Al mascot to come to fruition. In the 1960s, student Melford Espey would wear an elephant costume to games, much to the delight of legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. With Bryant’s support, the university made an elephant the team’s official mascot in 1980, and Big Al made his debut at the Sugar Bowl. (He was portrayed by a different student, of course, as Espey had long since graduated.)

Today, Big Al can be seen at all types of University of Alabama athletic events, not just football. He'll also drop in on your nuptials, if you’re willing to pony up his $400 wedding appearance fee. The maximum amount of time Big Al can spend at your special day: one hour. Roll tide.

What Exactly Is a Crimson Tide?
Hugh Roberts, sports editor for the Birmingham Age-Herald, is widely credited as being the first to use "Crimson Tide" to refer to Alabama's football team.

Roberts used the term to describe crimson-and-white-clad Alabama's surprising performance during a rain-soaked 6-6 tie with heavily favored Auburn in 1907. Henry "Zipp" Newman, who became the sports editor of the Birmingham News at the age of 25, helped popularize the nickname.



Im sure this is going to be TL;DR for "a few"

 

there are lots of teams out there with bulldogs for mascots lol

 

and this story is SOOO much better than Auburn's Eagle story.

I can see how you differentiate the two and claim one to be so much worse than the other.

You both have 2 "names/mascots" that don't go together, and both have your own individual meaningful story.

 

He can move when he needs to

 

Dumb origin story. Here is a much better one:

On Sept. 29, 1956, Georgia hosted Florida State for the Bulldogs’ first home game of the year. Prior to the game, students Sonny and Cecelia Seiler took their white English bulldog, recently named “Uga,” to a party near Sanford Stadium.

Apparently, Uga caused such an uproar during the party, the Seilers were urged by friends to escort their dog to the game. “We never intended to take Uga to Sanford Stadium that day,” said Sonny.

Dressed in a red t-shirt with a “G” on the chest and accompanied by the party-goers, Uga was walked to the stadium and then was surprisingly allowed into the game by the ticket-takers.

From the stands that day, Uga caused much excitement and, soon afterwards, Seiler was asked by head football coach Wally Butts if his bulldog could be the school’s mascot.

The rest, as they say, is history...

 

And here is one for @stronghammer :

In 1978, Georgia played at LSU in raucous Tiger Stadium for the first time in 26 years. While Coach Dooley was out on the field before the game, he witnessed the unimaginable.

Apparently, Uga III was invading the space of LSU’s mascot, Mike IV, near the tiger’s cage. Mike ran up to the cage’s edge and roared loudly but Uga didn’t budge. Infuriated, Mike got on his hind legs, rattled the cage, and roared even louder.

Not phased a bit, Uga charged the cage, barking ferociously at the opposing mascot. Mike sheepishly retreated to the back of his cage.

Upon seeing this, Dooley was instantly inspired and returned to his team in the dressing room. “Let’s go, men… we’ve got ‘em tonight!” he shouted to the Bulldogs prior to entering the field.

Georgia, a seven-point underdog, would go on to defeat LSU by a touchdown. But it was another bulldog, who was the first to pull an upset in Baton Rouge that night, prevailing over a 450-pound Bengal tiger.

 

Auburn picked two.

 

I mean...hey...Mike is always a rescue...a poor abandoned or hurt Tiger brought on by LSU to live a better life....can't blame him for being scared...

stupid ass bengal tiger it's a m'fing bulldog....

I mean, poor tiger.

 

Not a Bama fan but I’ve never heard a Bama fan scream “...... elephant”. It’s roll tide go tide etc..... auburn scream go tigers and war eagle, then steal other teams fight songs on top of that.
Side not the Oakland athletics used to(I’m not sure if they still do) had an elephant associated with the team too.

 

who cares what a fanbase screams? doesn't make having an elephant/tide better than a tiger/eagle. it's still two differing designations for your team, hard to claim one is stupider than the other....especially when one of yours is slow moving water....

 

in the fans defense, he might've been sober.

so his stupidity may be natural, not blamed on alcohol, which would make more sense for that fanbase.

 

Definitely better than “goats” which I believe was the original mascot.

 

had to get away from goats...

 

and then there’s the time a stupid ass Steak almost gored Uga, which was a sign of things to come that night

But still play like that when it counts


Can’t get roasted if you roast yourself.

 

PS, @JimBeam , as much as I hate ScJr, and as stupid as the tree from Stanford is, let’s not forget about....the always terrifying Orange. Striking fear into the hearts of sandarakinophobes (fear of oranges) everywhere.

 

@stronghammer

Pay attention especially at 13:00-13:10 ish


Just saw this as a recommended vid. Pretty interesting watch.

Very valid saying that you have to compare teams to other teams of the generation. Cross generational is hard to compare. Well not hard to compare but newer generation would beat older more often than not.