What's in a Name?

So I'm laying here on my couch and I flip on ESPN and see some I-AA college football. It's a semi-final matchup between Delaware and Southern Illinois. Sitting there, I starting think about how not intimidating Delaware's college nickname is, the Fightin' Blue Hens. To me, that sounds like a bunch of female chickens were spray painted blue and are looking for a fight. Little did I know, the name comes from the official state bird of Delaware, the Blue Hen Chicken. I guess Fightin' Blue Chickens would be an oxymoron so they stuck with just Hens. Either way, (long story short) that bird used during the Revolutionary War to keep soldiers stationed in Delaware occupied as they fought each other. Ok, so maybe Fightin' Blue Hens does have some meaning. Still, it does sound kinda stupid. But they're not the only ones.

What the hell is a Bearcat? Well, I went to the reliable source that is Wikipedia to learn that a Bearcat is actually a Binturong (aka Asian Bearcat). Odd...so Cincy, why are you the Bearcats?

"The University of Cincinnati Bearcats were born on Oct. 31, 1914. The occasion was a football game with the University of Kentucky Wildcats, a star UC player named Baehr, a creative cheerleader and a talented cartoonist.

During the second half of that hard-fought football game, UC cheerleader Norman "Pat" Lyon, building on the efforts of fullback Leonard K. "Teddy" Baehr, created the chant: "They may be Wildcats, but we have a Baehr-cat on our side."

The crowd took up the cry: "Come on, Baehr-cat!"" (http://gobearcats.cstv.com/genrel/081706aae.html)

Yeah, pretty lame if you ask me too. It doesn't help that a real 'bearcat' looks like this:

Bearcat? Looks more like a mangled piece of fur.

I've noticed that a lot of Universities across the country like gold. So much so that they are inclined to add the word "golden" in front of anything, even if it doesn't make sense. You have the Golden Bears, Bobcats, Bulls, Eagles, Falcons, Flashes, Flyers, Gophers, Griffins, Grizzlies, Gusties, Hurricane, Knights, Lions, Panthers, Rams, Seals, Suns, Tigers, and Tornadoes. Exactly.

There's also plenty of Devils out there too. There's Red Devils, Blue Devils, Delta Devils, Jersey Devils, Sun Devils, Dustdevils, and just...Devils.

You also have nicknames with verbs. Running (or Runnin') seems to be a popular. Rebels, Bulldogs, Utes, and Eagles all run in a nickname...even though Eagles can't run last time I checked. If you think Running Eagles is weird, try the Screaming Eagles of University of Southern Indiana. You'll also find some flying nicknames. Who knew that Dutchmen, Fleet(s) and Queens could all fly? Then you have that one nickname with a verb that some people might need a dictionary to understand. The Marycrest International University Marauding Eagles take that honor. If you thought that one was odd, try the Praying Colonels of Centre College.

Keeping with the Delaware theme, so many schools have unintimidating nicknames. In my book, here are the top 10:

10-Prophets (Oklahoma Baptist College): Ok, maybe you could freak me out by telling me the future but I'd like to see you hit that 3.
9-Poets (Whittier College): Explanation unnecessary.
8-Banana Slugs (UC-Santa Cruz): Not gonna lie, it's a pretty sweet nickname. Outside of that...you're a slug. They must have a crappy track team.
7-Bronchos (University of Central Oklahoma): Teams that can't spell their own nickname don't intimidate me.
6-Koalas (Columbia College): Way too cute and cuddly (I hope that's the only time those two words are ever used on this site) to be a nickname for a sports team.
5-Spiders (University of Richmond): If they specified that it was a tarantula or something, they're definitely not on this list. However, they didn't.
4-Terrapins (University of Maryland): I don't fear the turtle.
3-Cardinal (Stanford University): Yet their mascot is a tree.
2-Blue Hose (Presbyterian College): I didn't bother to look up the meaning of this name. I really don't think it matters though.
1-Buckeyes (Ohio State University): It's a nut...

Well there you have it, the wide world of college nicknames is a crazy one. It's interesting how some colleges just don't care how weird they sound. All I can say is I'm glad that I'm not Penn State Nittany Poet.