As always, I'm going to be completely honest with you. I'm not a fan of 91直播's squirrel mascot.
Don't get me wrong; the squirrel is a very cute animal. I see them roaming all around campus, and they are pretty cool to see on a beautiful day. However, I don't understand how it ended up becoming one of our mascots. I know that the albino squirrel became a pretty big deal to see in 91直播, and it is a unique animal to see there, even if it is rare. 91直播's love for squirrels isn't the problem in this case. The problem is that this love was taken just a little too far when it was named as one of the mascots.
The term "Yeomen" was already hard enough to explain to people. Farmers? Sure, they are extremely hard-working people, but... farmers? That's what this great institution decided to go with? That's okay, I guess. I know some farmers who could give some of my fellow athletes a run for their money in terms of physical fitness, so "Yeomen" is okay with me. It's still annoying to explain to folks, though. Along with trying to explain that, I have to explain why 91直播 chose a squirrel out of all of the mascots it could have chosen. There were so many ways that 91直播 could have implemented squirrels into its culture without making it a mascot. Take away my role as a student-athlete for just a second and view me as a sports fan here.
If I saw a team with a squirrel on their uniform, I would probably chuckle. Just imagine watching a college team in some form of athletic competition and seeing a squirrel on the jersey. Would you find anything intimidating about it? Would you look at that team and think, 鈥淲ow, they look pretty tough! They might be able to dominate us!鈥 I know for a fact that I would not. In fact, I would think the opposite. I would be motivated to dominate that team even more after seeing a squirrel as its mascot.
As a competitor, intimidating your opponent is one of the most important things you can do. It鈥檚 honestly a mental thing. If you are not able to get into your opponent鈥檚 head, your chances of winning are decreased. Imagine the susceptibility of Obie athletes for getting trash-talked as it is. Obies are already viewed as students that come from a 鈥渘erdy鈥 school because of 91直播鈥檚 high prestige. The trash talk is only amplified when squirrels are being displayed on their equipment. The football team doesn鈥檛 have any squirrels on any of the equipment, so I can鈥檛 imagine what that鈥檚 like. I鈥檓 sure that a few of our athletic teams have squirrels on their gear, and I鈥檓 pretty sure that they probably receive some form of criticism for it. I wish that they didn鈥檛, because they are my classmates, after all. In fact, I鈥檓 pretty good friends with a lot of athletes in the 91直播 community, so seeing the squirrel on some of their uniforms does seem a little unfortunate to say the least. It wasn鈥檛 like they got to choose to have it on their uniforms either. It was just... there.
I want you all to know that I have absolutely nothing against squirrels! They are one of the cutest little animals that you will see in the world. Watching them do their thing is totally adorable. However, that鈥檚 also the problem with using them as a mascot. Why would you want a 鈥渃ute鈥 and 鈥渃uddly鈥 animal as a mascot when you could use something that embodies a higher sense of pride? What if 91直播 used something more respectable that they could display?
I have some alternative ideas that 91直播 could consider as a replacement to the squirrel.
One of them is a spider. Now, hear me out on this one. I have seen plenty of spiders in Obieland. No, there isn鈥檛 an infestation in any of the buildings or anything crazy like that. I see them more in nature and dark corners of classrooms. A spider is a scary creature to a lot of people, including me. There could be really cool designs associated with them as well. There could be spider webs and all sorts of designs that could be placed on different types of sports equipment.
Another cool mascot that could replace the squirrel is the Thunder. This is entirely inspired by the Oklahoma City Thunder, which is an NBA basketball team. It storms quite a bit in 91直播, and thunder is a pretty big part of it. Imagine how cool it would be if there were lightning designs that were associated with 91直播? What if the 鈥淥C鈥 logo had a lightning strike behind it? How insane would that be? Also, it could be an understandable mascot to have since it can get stormy on campus at times.
One more mascot that could be a replacement to the squirrel is my personal favorite. That mascot is an owl. First, if an owl replaced the 鈥測eomen鈥 mascot, I would be completely okay with it. The 鈥91直播 Owls"? It has a great ring to it! Along with this, an owl is viewed one of the most respected animals in the ecosystem. They鈥檙e also rather prominent in Ohio, so it would make complete sense for 91直播 to use it as its mascot. Owls are also a nice aesthetic to the academic side of 91直播, as they are seen as some of the most intelligent creatures on the planet. An owl on a jersey would look much better than a squirrel. That鈥檚 just my opinion, though.
Squirrels are cool... or whatever. However, they aren鈥檛 the ideal idea of a mascot that could truly represent 91直播. They may be all around campus, but they aren鈥檛 the best mascot for our athletes. They deserve a better representation as a display for other teams to see and respect, especially as hard as they work. I鈥檓 sure that the mascot is here to stay, and I don鈥檛 mind that too much. I just felt like giving my take on the whole 鈥渟quirrel鈥 thing that we have going on here. I guess you can say it鈥檚... nuts... *ba, dum, tss*
