Illinois' new mascot?

[Cincydawg]

Illinois Thrashers.

Illinois Annoyers.

Illinois Bumpinroaders

Illinois Layflatearthers

Illinois Whooping Cranes

Illinois Blue Stockings with Orange Trim

Illinois Blues - heh, might be something.

[FearlessF]

just don't allow the Hawkeyes to come up with the name or the image

[Hawkinole]

just don't allow the Hawkeyes to come up with the name or the image

Just a moment. I thought Illinois Fighting or Friendly Otters, Illinois Unconditional Surrender (named after U.S. Grant), and Illinois, Land of Lincoln Railsplitters, were good.
They could sell a lot of cuddly otters to the freshmen co-eds at the bookstore every year.

[FearlessF]

Otter, the new mascot!

[Geolion91]

There is a D2 school in St George Utah that has burned through three mascots in less than ten years. Initially they were The Rebels due to their proximity to UNLV as well as the name of the school being Dixie State. Well of course this was the worst thing in the World from the vantage point of the androgynous academic types in the State University system. So they had a contest and a vote and what have you, where they decided that the new mascot would be the Red Storm.

It wasn't that bad of a name for the area as they have a lot of red sand that blows around. But as luck would have it it was discovered after a few years that Red Storm is actually some sorta obscure slang term for a woman's menstrual cycle. Like the rest of the world I had never heard anyone call it that before, but once the crustacean was out of the bus station the White Left had a Red Storm of their own, and it was time to change the name again. So this time there was no contest. No vote. They just changed it to the Trailblazers and the mascot is a buffalo.

The University of Tennessee, Chattanooga went through a similar progression. From Wikipedia: "Chattanooga was formerly the "Moccasins", named after nearby Moccasin Bend. Several identities have been associated with UTC. A water moccasin mascot was used in the 1920s. A Native American mascot, "Chief Moccanooga", was used until 1996. There was a short time in the 1980s when a moccasin shoe was used as the mascot. Due to politically sensitive issues, it was decided to drop the use of Native American imagery. The nickname "Moccasins" was shortened to "Mocs" and the state bird was selected as mascot." I think they should have gone back to the snake.

[Brutus Buckeye]

How do you pronounce the possessive form of Illinois with the apostrophe at the end, like in the thread title? No silent S? 

[847badgerfan]

The "s" is pronounced in that case. In other news...




https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-university-of-illinois-otter-defeat-20190310-story.html




So, no.

[Cincydawg]

The water moccasin is also known as the cotton mouth for obvious reasons.

They are ill tempered.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Otter is at least kind of original. 

[Hawkinole]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-university-of-illinois-otter-defeat-20190310-story.html




So, no.

I thought the thread was sort of ingest - in jest. I did not know there was actually a movement for the alma otter. I actually think the otter is kind of a cool idea, and at least in Iowa the DNR has re-introduced it into our rivers and the otter is coming back. It is a suitably native species to the area. The gopher mascot, and the badger mascot, add something that Illinois now lacks.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Every few years there is a movement to change Otterbein to the Otters, which would make a lot more sense than the Cardinals. It always gets voted down though, likely due to not wanting to bite on the style of the Allegheny Alligators.