Top 5 Most Ridiculed Mascots In College Sports

In modern sports, mascots are meant to provide more than entertainment for fans in the crowd. Through personification of the name of a team or organization, mascots are intended to display an identity, fierce and proud. USC's Tommy Trojan is a perfect example. With grace and nobility, he rides his gallant, white horse, 'Traveler', through the Coliseum after every Trojan touchdown. Indeed, one has difficulty imagining him not providing some respected identity for his team, which is to be taken seriously. Heck, Tommy doesn't even smile throughout the game!

There are some mascots, however, that fall short of providing such fierce, austere personification. Instead, these mascots dwell in the realm of mockery, caricature, and even downright absurdity.

We take a look at five of the most ridiculed mascots in sports.

5.) 'YoUDee' the Fightin' Blue Hen, University of Delware

To be fair, the name "Blue Hens" stems from battalion that was organized in Delware in 1775. According to the university, the troops would pass time by staging cockfights, using Kent County Blue Hens. Despite it's Revolutionary era origin, 'YoUDee' (see what they did there?) is known to catch verbal flack from fans of other schools as he parades around the basketball court.

4.) 'Artie' the Fighting Artichoke, Scottsdale

'Artie' appears to know something you don't know. 'Artie' is a fighting vegetable, specifically an artichoke, who represents Scottsdale Community College. According to the school, 'Artie' was originally meant to cause embarrassment, during a period in which there were strong differences in the opinions of the school's budget. However, after being accepted in the hearts and minds of students and athletes alike, 'Artie' was allowed to stay, and "fight" his team to victory.

3.) 'Peter' the Anteater, UC Irvine

Matadors, Mustangs, 49ers, Gauchos, Titans. The Big West conference sports some serious mascots on the field, and then there's 'Peter', an Anteater. 'Peter' represents UC Irvine, who, to their credit, have gone through a large number of different aesthetic representations of an anteater as possible to eventually get him to present himself more on the side of rigidity. However, visit the school's website here to view some of 'Peter's' more disturbing looks over the last 35 years.

2.) The Cardinal, Stanford University

Far and wide, one of the mascots fans and players fear most to see is the Stanford Cardinal, as it runs and frolics around the field, whirling and gyrating erratically. This fear tends to come more from seeing what can best be described as a Christmas tree, running violently around, as you sit there, dubiously uncertain of its intentions.

1.) 'Mr. Okra', the Fighting Okra, Delta State University

Another fighting vegetable, 'Mr. Okra' is considered the school's unofficial mascot. In the late 1980s, 'Mr. Okra' came into being as the result of a student vote, prompted by the school's thoughts that an inadequate amount of fear was being put forth by their original, and still official, mascot — a statesman/ lady statesman. Has anybody been more afraid of a vegetable than they have of a politician?