The Tree is the worst, most ill-considered and uninteresting mascot in all of college football, and the Duck is one of the best.Oregon's has sass and personality. Theirs is, well, a tree. A foam rubber tree with a ridiculous headdress and tennis shoes. How many pushups does the tree do a game? In fact, can the tree do anything, except maybe dance in the wrong place and serve as a target for the annual Cal Bear prank?
Stanford goes to great lengths to play up some kind of mythical and supposed connection to the Ivy league, with their offbeat nickname (a color, not a bird), their irreverent band and irrelevant mascot. They try too hard with this deliberate anti-tradition that does nothing to advance, inspire or represent Stanford athletics. Disheveled iconoclasts, out of step with each other and the disciplined, cut-from-stone excellence of Harbaugh and Marecic, the band and their tree create a hopeless brand confusion on The Farm. The school of Frankie Albert, John Elway and Toby Gerhart deserves better. A mascot that is neither funny or creative or entertaining is like the band's self-indulgent halftime shows, addicted to scattergun irony and the untuneful blare of their own horn.
The Duck adds mightily to the identity and uniqueness of the Oregon program, and is a large and positive part of the Autzen game day experience. It's been featured in ESPN profiles, and commercials that create a water cooler buzz. It means something to be a Duck. No ill-considered referendum can make a living tradition or sacred symbol out of a foam rubber tree.
You'd think all those great, creative Stanford minds could do better.
You'd think all those great, creative Stanford minds could do better.
The Tree is creative and has nothing to do with the Ivy league. Thought you should know Stanford is ranked higher than most of the Ivy league in most rankings.
ReplyDeleteFrom 1930 until 1972, Stanford's sports teams had been known as "the Indians," and, during the period from 1951 to 1972, Prince Lightfoot was the official mascot. But in 1972, Native American students and staff members successfully lobbied University President Richard Lyman to abolish the "Indian" name along with what they had come to perceive as an offensive and demeaning mascot. Stanford's teams reverted unofficially to the name "Cardinal," the color that had represented the school before 1930.
From 1972 until 1981, Stanford’s official nickname was the Cardinal, but, during this time, there was debate among students and administrators concerning what the mascot and team name should be. A 1972 student referendum on the issue was in favor of restoring the Indian, while a second 1975 referendum was against. The 1975 vote included new suggestions, many alluding to the industry of the school's founder, railroad tycoon Leland Stanford — the Robber Barons, the Sequoias, the Trees, the Cardinals, the Railroaders, the Spikes, and the Huns. The Robber Barons won, but the university's administration refused to implement the vote. In 1978, 225 varsity athletes started a petition for the mascot to be the griffin, but this campaign also failed. Finally, in 1981, President Donald Kennedy declared that all Stanford athletic teams would be represented exclusively by the color cardinal.
However, in 1975, the Band had performed a series of halftime shows that facetiously suggested several other new mascot candidates it considered particularly appropriate for Stanford, including the Steaming Manhole, the French Fry, and the Tree. The Tree ended up receiving so much positive attention that the Band decided to make it a permanent fixture, and thus began the process through which the Tree has gradually colonized the collective unconscious of Stanford's student body.
Read and you shall learn to FEAR THE TREE.
Anon--
ReplyDeleteI read the wikipedia summary of tree history, and I continue to be unimpressed. Surely you can concede the Stanford Cardinal is a bow in the direction of the Harvard Crimson and the Dartmouth Big Green, thus the reference. Analogies are always imperfect.
Stanford is a fine school and Coach Harbaugh has rapidly built a winning tradition there. I just don't think The Tree serves the school particularly well.
I appreciate you weighing in, and good luck on Saturday.
Best wishes,
Dale
I love the irreverence that Stanford brings. Remember when a few of the UCLA football players were caught in a scam whereby they had illegally obtained handicapped parking stickers from some booster that was an MD? That year, after the story broke, UCLA was visiting Stanford for the game and afterwards when the Bruin players came back to the locker room, each had a handicapped sticker to use. I laughed so hard! I also like the Stanford band. They keep things light.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there's no mascot like the Duck mascot!!
Agreed that the Stanford mascot is easily one of the worst in all of college sports. Being a Duck fan (and a big fan of Puddles himself) I wonder why Oregon has the mascot begin the game riding out of the tunnel on a Harley. To me it is a tradition that makes no sense. Some guy got his hog painted in Duck colors so they drive Puddles out on his back? I've always thought they could do much better with an entrance.
ReplyDeleteGoDucks58, I love the Harley thing. In the beginning, I think it was an all-time great fan favorite Josh Wilcox riding it and the Duck was a nice touch.
ReplyDeleteGoDucks--
ReplyDeleteTV loves the Harley shot--it always makes the prekickoff intro. I agree with you there's nothing clearly Oregon about it, but now it seems to have a life of its own. Not sure what you'd replace it with.
I think we can ALL agree that thank goodness Roboduck is gone. That was mascot embarrassment of Tree proportions.
Dale