Saint Louis University: Billiken

Photo courtesy of SLU

I know, I asked myself the same question: What in the hell is a billiken? I think only the designer of the Billiken, art teacher Florence Pretz, really knows.  The campus newspaper describes it as a jovial creature with a broad smile, a rotund belly and a tuft of hair on top of his head. Translation: some weird member of the elf family. Famous St. Louis football coach John R. Bender is said to have resembled billiken a bit.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Lil Red

Photo courtesy of Huskers.com

First of all, using the modifier “lil,” in your mascot goes against the entire point of a mascot.  It’s not the word you want your football team associated with. “The description on wikipedia literally says, “inflatable boy.” Mistake number 2 people.  I hate to burst your inflatable bubble but that is lame. I’m not even going to get into his creepy pedophile smile and sideways baseball cap.

Wichita State University: WuShock

Photo courtesy of Collegerule.com

The University’s student body and football teams are known as “Shockers.” This descriptor comes from the early days of the university when students earned money by shocking or harvesting wheat fields. Mr.Wushock happens to be quite the bad boy though, in 1987 he was thrown out of a game by the referee for pretending to be a blind referee.

University of California–Santa Cruz: Banana Slug

Photo courtesy of the Daily Pennsylvanian

This yellow, slimy, without-a-backbone (literally) slug has been amping up northern California crowdsfor decades. Interestingly enough, the school was considering a sea lion for and had even painted a giant sea lion on the basketball court when the student body voted to have the banana slug for their mascot. The students got their way and we’ve been scratching our heads ever since.

Providence College: Friar

Photo courtesy of daylife.com

Rhode Island’s private catholic college, Providence, keeps their mascot in line with their values and has elected a “friar,” as their mascot.  Students are often referred to as “friar fanatics.” Last time I checked being called a fanatic wasn’t a good thing.