Go, Nads!

August 4, 2003 1:05 PM

Interesting list of college athletic teams' nicknames. [More inside.]
posted by Vidiot (40 comments total)

It's hard to pick a favorite, but here are some of mine:
the Presbyterian Blue Hose;
the St. Louis College of Pharmacy Eutectic (their athletic teams' name means "easily melted"?);
the Earlham Hustlin' Quakers;
the Endicott Power Gulls;
the Wabash Little Giants (sounds like a contradiction in terms there);
the Webster Gorloks;
the Southeast Missouri State Otahkians;
the Southern New Hampshire Penmen;
the Montana State University - Northern Skylights;
the Centre Praying Colonels...

...but the clear winner has to be:
the Rhode Island School of Design Nads.
posted by Vidiot at 1:09 PM on August 4, 2003

...but the clear winner has to be:
the Rhode Island School of Design Nads.
Same thought, GO!Nads...
posted by thomcatspike at 1:21 PM on August 4, 2003

I like Bar Habor's College of the Atlantic Black Flies.
posted by Red58 at 1:23 PM on August 4, 2003

thomcatspike: Hence the title of this thread :)
posted by Witty at 1:29 PM on August 4, 2003

Poca (WV) High School is called the Dots, hence the Poca Dots.

So is the middle school (Poca Middle School, or PMS). They used to show their school pride by having the flower bed on the hillside in front of the school landscaped to read "PMS DOTS."

I also like the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs.
posted by arco at 1:29 PM on August 4, 2003

"Hustlin' Quakers" wins, in my book. There's just something so risible about the image.
posted by soyjoy at 1:34 PM on August 4, 2003

My favorite is the Amherst College Lord Jeffs...

...but the clear winner has to be:
the Rhode Island School of Design Nads.

Since when do RISD kids play sports?
posted by SweetJesus at 1:35 PM on August 4, 2003

It looks like they changed recently, but Elon College in NC used to have the Fighting Christians.

Likewise, the Haverford Black Squirrels were, at least informally and to some, the Fighting Quakers. Which is an even more risible image... "I would not hurt thee for the world, friend, but thou art standing where I am about to blitz..."

And a nearby town's watertower proudly advertises "LEWISVILLE FIGHTING FARMERS," makes me wonder they have against 'em.

Me, I want to be somewhere where the teams are the Angry Amish.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:41 PM on August 4, 2003

I am, myself, proud to be a Blue Hose. Go Hose! Squirt the Fleet!
posted by MrMoonPie at 1:47 PM on August 4, 2003

Maybe they've changed their nickname since the early 1980s, but back then, Frisco High School, north of Dallas, was known as the Frisco Coons. Imagine my surprise upon seeing a newspaper photo of a black football player with "COONS" spelled across his chest. They have to have changed their nickname since then, right?
posted by Holden at 1:55 PM on August 4, 2003

Holden: they changed it to the Fighting Raccoons fairly recently. In the last two or so years, I believe.
posted by Ufez Jones at 1:59 PM on August 4, 2003

The BU Terriers. Nothing strikes fear in the heart of the opposition like a yippy little dog.

The Carnegie Mellon Tartans. I had a hard enough time rooting for a color, but it would seem even harder to rally behind plaid. Go plaid!

Evergreen State Geoducks --- (pronounced GOO-ee-ducks, not JEE-oh-ducks). Gooey ducks....
posted by shinnin at 2:00 PM on August 4, 2003

My favorite is the Amherst College Lord Jeffs

The women's teams are the Lady Jeffs.

In my high school the two top intramural volleyball teams were the Dangermice and the Thalidomide Babies. This ruled.
posted by furiousthought at 2:12 PM on August 4, 2003

Trivia Question, and you can use this link to answer it:

Name five NCAA Division I men's team nicknames that do NOT end in "s".
posted by dragonmage at 2:20 PM on August 4, 2003

I can never watch an Oregon-Oregon State game with a straight face. Just sayin ...

On preview: Illini, Thunder Herd, Fighting Irish, Orangemen, And Midshipmen. No link needed. What do I win?
posted by Wulfgar! at 2:24 PM on August 4, 2003

Go Gorillas! Not only are we the biggest, meanest primates in the Animal Kingdom, but we also have the smallest testicles.
posted by phong3d at 2:25 PM on August 4, 2003

*crap, that should have been Marshall's Thundering Herd*
posted by Wulfgar! at 2:26 PM on August 4, 2003

Colorado Buffalo, Crimson Tide ... This is kinda fun!
posted by Wulfgar! at 2:29 PM on August 4, 2003

Go Red Foxes!

I used to go to SJU, I see they're listed there too, as the Red Storm. Their name used to be the Redmen, but it was changed because it was decided "Redmen" was a derogatory term. There's still bitterness among the athletes about that; a lot of them have "Redmen" tattoos in response to the change.
posted by tomorama at 2:35 PM on August 4, 2003

Damn, having checked the list, I did forget the Harvard Crimson. But ya gotta love the Hardrockers.
posted by Wulfgar! at 2:36 PM on August 4, 2003

I think my favorite nickname is the Fisher (Ill.) H.S. Bunnies. Not exactly the most intimidating name.
posted by gyc at 2:46 PM on August 4, 2003

Come on, dragonmage, I want my pony.
posted by Wulfgar! at 2:51 PM on August 4, 2003

Wow... two schools had the fighting quakers, that's fairly amazing. And here I thought that only the Ivy League could come up with such fearsome imagery.
posted by mosch at 2:52 PM on August 4, 2003

Wulfgar: Ya shoulda quit while you were ahead. Sure, you threw this out in bonus time but I've got to throw the yellow flag on Colorado Buffalo.
posted by Fezboy! at 3:16 PM on August 4, 2003

15 yard penalty and no stinkin' pony to show for it. :(
posted by Wulfgar! at 3:26 PM on August 4, 2003

Plano High School are the Reapers. All of the uniforms had a big farming machine on them except for the wrestlers, who had the Grim Reaper on them.
posted by goethean at 3:27 PM on August 4, 2003

Oregon - Oregon State? That's got nothing on two rival high schools from Topeka, KS - Topeka Seamen and Topeka High Trojans. So, when the Trojans win, the inevitable high school newspaper headline reads: (wait for it...)

Trojans stop Seamen!

Oh, the memories...
posted by donnagirl at 3:33 PM on August 4, 2003

Why on Earth would a team from Topeka, Kansas, choose Seamen as a mascot? Really?
posted by Wulfgar! at 3:50 PM on August 4, 2003

Wulfgar!: one of the things to love about the Hardrockers is a cheer I heard there in the early 70's. The school (aka School of Mines or Mines) had only recently started admitting women:

"Due to lack of coeducation,
We resort to masturbation.
Mines, rah! Mines, rah!
How's yours? Mine's raw!"

My high school team nickname was the Cobblers. Yes, the mascot was a shoemaker.
posted by joaquim at 4:16 PM on August 4, 2003

I'm a Maroon.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 4:40 PM on August 4, 2003

New York University Violets. Yes, a flower. But seeing as that's lame, they started nicknaming our sports teams the Bobcats. From BOBst library CATalog. I'll leave you decide which is worse: a flower or a library catalog.
posted by The Michael The at 5:57 PM on August 4, 2003

More lore from my better half, who actually participated in athletics: "Actually, the mascot is the Bobcat (as opposed to the guy in the flower costume they used to have), but the teams are still the Violets. The fencing team refers to themselves as the Violence, but that's unofficial, of course."
posted by The Michael The at 6:02 PM on August 4, 2003

I've always backed the Centenary Gentlemen. Robert Parish, of Boston Celtics fame, was a Gent. Sadly, their women's teams are not the Lady Gentlemen.
posted by Zonker at 6:59 PM on August 4, 2003

vidiot singled out:
the St. Louis College of Pharmacy Eutectic ;
the Webster Gorloks;

Both in my town, and I have relatives that went to both places. In fact, I only asked my sister the other day, "What the fuck is a Gorlock?" It's apparently like a griffin - buncha critter parts thrown together.

Of course, I was a Junior Billiken. Ack.
posted by notsnot at 7:09 PM on August 4, 2003

Intramural squads don't appear to qualify for this list, but I'd bet the Fightin' Whities would be happy to sell you a T-shirt regardless. And keep their scholarship fund climbing. (I've got no affiliation -- just heard their story a while back.)
posted by skyboy at 7:16 PM on August 4, 2003

Since a couple other folks have mentioned teams from the North Dallas vicinity, I humbly submit my alma mater Richland College's team name: The Fighting Thunderducks.
posted by alumshubby at 9:21 PM on August 4, 2003

Yuma (AZ) H.S. "Criminals". Their logo is a picture of a criminal, instantly recognizable as such.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 10:39 PM on August 4, 2003

My fave is the Harrisonburg VA. HS Blue Streaks!!!

As in "cursing a blue streak."

Good times, good times...
posted by Dagobert at 10:56 PM on August 4, 2003

More fearsome imagery: the New Braunfels (TX) H.S. Unicorns.
posted by pineapple at 12:45 AM on August 5, 2003

HA HA! I went to RISD... The Nads were a pickup hockey team comprised of students, professors, janitors and the like. During games against the local culinary school, Johnson and Wales, we would yell "Time to make the donuts" at them while we were called art fags... Good times.
posted by machaus at 9:04 PM on August 5, 2003