Mustangs unseat Cowboys, beavers devour trees, they give a dam!
By Bob Ford Special to
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The saying is true that “sports is the most important unimportant thing in life.” When you make it fun it’s even better. That’s where team names, mascots and branding come into play. Sure, your team loses a big game, it hurts, it’s supposed to because you’re a fan. Risk versus reward, to feel pain or joy makes it personal and emotional.
Creating passion and building allegiance from one generation to the next starts at a young age in a team’s marketing department.
Minor league baseball has some of the great wacky names and mascots: The Hartford Yard Goats, Lansing Lug Nuts, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimps, Burlington Sock Puppets, Carolina Disco Turkeys. Other teams names included Balled and Beautiful, Pigs Might Fly and the Balking Dead. Come on, those are clever. The antics that go on between innings, it’s all to make going to a game an experience that will bring you and your family back for more.
Sports are a major factor in keeping the generations connected. You may not know what anime is, or can name a BTS song, but if you chat around the dinner table about Tom Brady, LeBron James or Shohei Ohtani, connections are made through sports.
Teams and mascots have a historical link to our country’s past. Many of our universities, both north and south, lean on their state’s history in naming teams. Analyzing these monikers makes you realize the United States has come through some difficult times, acknowledging and commemorating this is a good thing, definitely a subject for continued discussions.
The Civil War played an eminent role in the development of our country, with many universities and schools’ names saluting their state’s stance in that defining time.
The North Carolina Tar Heels: In a victory at the Battle of Reams Station, Virginia, toward the end of the war in 1864, Gen. Robert E. Lee blurted out, “Thank God for the Tar Heeled Boys,” meaning that those troops from North Carolina never gave up ground, standing firm.
The University of Mississippi: Their mascot for decades was Colonel Reb, which looked like a cartoonish southern gentleman of the 19th century. The Colonel was replaced by the Rebel Black Bear, which in turn was replaced by Tony the Landshark. Trying to be politically correct may not always make sense … a Mississippi Landshark?
The University of Tennessee: The state was the last to secede from the Union in June of 1861. Mid- and western Tennessee were sympathetic to the South, where the east held for the Union. Clearly divided, 110,000 fought for the Confederacy, whereas 31,000 thought they looked better in blue. Either way, the state believed in volunteering in other conflicts too. In both the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, Tennessee men signed up.
Illinois College: Blueboy was the mascot of this northern college in Springfield. When the war broke out the college almost closed its doors due to most of the students leaving to fight for the North and South!
The University of Missouri: The militia protecting Columbia and Jefferson City from attack by armies or marauding gangs was named the Columbia Tigers, a defensive minded guard whose name has given away in time to Truman the Tiger … kind of losing its teeth.
The Calgary Flames: Even the name of an NHL franchise in Canada has roots in the Civil War. The Flames came from Atlanta, where the name memorializes the burning of Atlanta by Union Gen. William T. Sherman. Think “Gone with the Wind.” As the general started his army’s trek to the sea, making Georgia howl, marching and burning their way to Savannah, giving the captured city as a Christmas present to President Lincoln on Dec. 21,1864.
The Kansas Jayhawks: This is the most egregious name that has stuck. Jayhawks were thugs on the attack in the 1860s, pillaging communities without warning. Even today, ask the people in the Missouri towns of Butler, Clinton, Columbus and Osceola what they think of KU still using the label, Jayhawks or Red Legs … not much! I, on the other hand like it, it’s history as bad as it was. It makes you never forget and its fostered a glorious rivalry between the schools for over a century.
I’m curious as to what that first basketball meeting was like in the early 1900s between MU and KU when they, pregame, kept fans separated with barbed wire.
Missouri and their Bushwackers were no innocent victims either, they viciously retaliated but chose to use a less inflammatory nickname for their University rather than say raiders or gunman.
Sports, particularly baseball, thrived after the Civil War. A form of “ball” was played in the North and South without uniform rules. Regiments went home after the war with a standard set of regulations and started playing one another.
History and its effect on sports and vice-a-versa has helped define who we are nationally, by states and individually. Where we can vehemently root for another team yet at the end of the day have mutual respect for one another, showing decency and sportsmanship. Wish we could take those sports virtues and apply them to other facets of our society.
So the next time the Jumbo Shrimp gets peeled by the Yard Goats or the Lug Nuts get loosened by the Sock Puppets, check out the history of your favorite team, it might just surprise you!
Bob Ford’s History will appear in each edition of the Weekender and Midweek. You can find more of Bob’s work including his Bob Ford’s History, Mystery and Lore podcast on his website, bobfordshistory.com and on YouTube. Podcasts are also available on most streaming services.
