Canines and the Battle of the Bracket

NCAA Tournament time is one of my favorite times of year. First, you get two full days of back to back basketball as 32 games are crammed into two days. And the next two weekends are just chock a block full of exciting games. What a great way to avoid doing anything productive!

In honor of the blog, I decided to do a close textual analysis of this year’s bracket to see how many teams had canine mascots. The answer is 8. The breakdown is as follows:

Bulldogs: Butler, Drake, Georgia, Gonzaga, and Mississippi State
Huskies: Connecticut
Retrievers: UMBC
St. Bernards (though they go by Saints): Siena

I visited the Westminster Kennel Club website to learn what characteristics these dogs have that might cause a school to pick them as an appropriate representative of athletic prowess.

Bulldog: member of the Non-Sporting group; traits of courage and tenacity have made him a symbol of determination. Despite his tough-guy good looks, he is fun-loving and extremely affectionate.

Husky: member of the Working group; the fastest, most enduring and most versatile of all purebred sled dogs. He is extremely affectionate, even clownish, but is also independent and sometimes head-strong.

Retriever: member of the Sporting group; its physical characteristics and its willing, adaptable, trainable nature have also fitted it for usefulness in many other endeavors such as service dogs, guide dogs for the blind, therapy dogs and search and rescue. While the Golden is an ideal family dog, it requires training and exercise.

St. Bernard: member of the Working group; Within the Saint Bernard standard the words "powerful", "muscular", "strong" or "strongly developed" are often repeated. Neither the tallest nor heaviest of breeds, he is a powerful dog whose soundness of body and mind are evident at first glance.

First of all, the most popular mascot, the Bulldog, not only isn't in the Sporting Group, but it's in the Non-sporting group! What's up with that? Then, I wonder, do the myriad Bulldogs want to be known as a affectionate? The UConn Huskies as clownish? The University of Maryland, Baltimore County Retreivers as requiring training? The Siena Saint Bernards probably have the best characteristics, though they have dropped Bernard and just call themselves the Saints. What that might mean could be the topic of a whole other post.

Upon reflection, it seems to me that the represented canine mascots do not convey the fierceness, tenacity, skill, etc, that you want in a team name. While I was doing my research I noted that I was encountering a lot of feline related mascots: 11 to be exact – five of them Wildcats. But then I looked up wildcats, and they don’t seem to be much to write home about, described as extremely timid and living a solitary life.

What were people thinking when they chose these mascots? At least I come from a long line of Tigers!