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Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - Printable Version

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Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - bassiehd - 11-07-2011

Seen in the conversation thread re: the upcoming Stanford/Oregon game:

WTDOregonDucks (semiliterate Oregon fan):
does any one else want to just punch that dancing tree right in the eye and those goofy eyes or that just me

BallsOfFury2 (Stanford fan):
Nobody with a green and yellow Donald Duck (complete with sailor suit!) as a mascot should talk about any other school's.

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - wyattp - 11-07-2011

*slow clap*

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - fullmetal - 11-07-2011

Opposing mascots only annoy me when the opposing team is winning.  Here's hoping for roast duck this weekend!

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - jayasena - 11-07-2011

(11-07-2011, 04:23 PM)fullmetal link Wrote:Opposing mascots only annoy me when the opposing team is winning.  Here's hoping for roast duck this weekend!
Umm... given the first part of your statement, I'd rather have you kissing every duck in the state of Texas by Sunday.

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - fullmetal - 11-07-2011

If they're barbequed, sure :)  Duck is pretty tasty and does not annoy me at all :)

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - FarmBoy - 11-07-2011

I've definitely noticed a lot of hatred by web commentators when it comes to discussing the tree. It's amazing how angry people get about the costume. Like it's a personal affront to them that Stanford would use such a mascot. After saying how much they hate the tree, they go on to wonder why the university would have such a "stupid mascot." Therein likes the proof of the Tree's value. The fans love it (well, maybe not the geriatrics who crave the day of a goose stepping band and a dancing indian) and the opposing players, coaches, and fans hate it. You want a polarizing character roaming the sideline. If opposing fans loved our mascot, I would think there's something wrong with the mascot choice.

And I'm on record that the Tree is only the second coolest mascot in the NCAA. First place goes to the Santa Cruz Banana Slugs. That's just awesome.

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - Treebound - 11-07-2011

Great points FarmBoy.  I enjoy telling people that it's a Stanford (Band) tradition that the person chosen to be the tree, must make his own costume!  My son actually helped one "tree to be" design his costumer a few years back up at Sierra Camp.  Our band is non-traditional so it's no surprise that our mascot is non-traditional as well.  Some of the costumes are good and some look more like "shrubbery" or a celery stalk.  We tend to get good play in the ESPN commercials and we never fall into the generic mascot category.

As for the USCS Fighting Banana Slugs, the best name I've seen for a rugby tournament is their annual "SlugFest!"

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - CowboyIndian - 11-07-2011

(11-07-2011, 05:26 PM)FarmBoy link Wrote:The fans love it (well, maybe not the geriatrics who crave the day of a goose stepping band and a dancing indian)

Farm Boy...perhaps you should just be quiet concerning things about which you're ignorant. The phemomena you attempt to describe never occurred.

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - unclechuck - 11-07-2011

(11-07-2011, 06:32 PM)CowboyIndian link Wrote:[quote author=FarmBoy link=topic=4850.msg34733#msg34733 date=1320711973]
The fans love it (well, maybe not the geriatrics who crave the day of a goose stepping band and a dancing indian)

Farm Boy...perhaps you should just be quiet concerning things about which you're ignorant. The phemomena you attempt to describe never occurred.
[/quote]

Yeah, ditto from someone else who was on campus when they were and there was.  Jerk.

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - george - 11-07-2011

(11-07-2011, 05:26 PM)FarmBoy link Wrote:And I'm on record that the Tree is only the second coolest mascot in the NCAA. First place goes to the Santa Cruz Banana Slugs. That's just awesome.

Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington deserves honorable mention for their geoduck mascot.  I guess they're not in the NCAA but a geoduck makes a banana slug look downright cuddly.

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - yvonne - 11-08-2011

You haven't been to a Council meeting, have you?

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - JohnR34231 - 11-08-2011

Interestingly enough, because of their phallic appearance, geoducks are considered NSFW by some magazines, who refuse to publish pictures of them. Presumably for the same reason, Oriental cultures consider them a sexual stimulant.

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - Leftcoast - 11-08-2011

And now we have uncovered the third rail of Stanford fandom - a modern day generational gap that I first stumbled upon in the mid 80's. 

My advice for younger fans?  Just back away sloooowly from the electric track, mind the gap and whatever you do don't say anything even mildly pejorative about Chief Lightfoot!



Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - Farm93 - 11-08-2011

1963 will mean someone born in the early 1940s was on campus at the time.  That would make them 70ish today.  There are A LOT of people in their 70s and 80s at our games.  Logically then there might be quite a few ticket holders that may recall AND prefer Marching Bands and Indian mascots.  Powerful, wealthy people apparently with mascot memories that younger types cannot understand.

I remember when I was a student (now too long ago) there were all kinds of people that wore those "Always an Indian" pins and Stanford Indian sweaters to Big Game.  In time those pins and sweaters have started become less common, but it was always clear the transition away from those items would take a few generations.

Thankfully, Stanford was ahead of the curve on the name change because it is clear Stanford would have had to change its name a few years ago when the NCAA banned schools with offensive mascots from hosting NCAA tournament events.  If Stanford still had the Indians, the name would have been dropped at that time for sure.  But it would have always appeared that the school only made the change because the NCAA forced the change.  Far better to do the right thing on our terms IMHO.  I am not sure the tree was the best option, but making the change away from Indians was wise.  And now "Indian" pride/love does not really matter because the team could never return to the Indians AND be able to recruit the best student-athletes in the land.  Since the best athletes would never want to go to a place that would require all of their tournament games to be played on the road.

LSJUMB's tree is the Stanford Mascot to most in the country, so I will support the mascot.  Thankfully there is nothing offensive about trees.  ;)  And the idea of the tree has some meaning to the university, so it is cool with me.

As far as the band goes, Stanford could not possibly have 300 or 400 students out there for a game.  So since Stanford can't possibly match the best bands in the land, I don't mind the LSJUMB approach.  Though with this approach LSJUMB will never have the outstanding musicality one could find in the SWAC, for example.

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - yvonne - 11-08-2011

When I was at Stanford, we had some sort of dean visit our dorm for a sort of fireside chat. I'm not sure whether the band was the theme of the talk, but we did have several members of the banned band in our house, so the topic came up. The dean was from an Ivy League school that had a scatter (or scramble) band. He said the origin of those bands was that in the 1960s, when many students in the Ivies were turned off the militarism of traditional bands and could not get the numbers of students necessary to field a band. I have not been able to verify this, but the part about small numbers does seem to make sense.

On an unrelated band note, I found this list of Brown skits. We would NEVER get away with many of them, but since all but one of the Ivies has a scatter/scramble band (and nobody nationally watches Ivy football), they don't get in much trouble.


Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - Robbie - 11-08-2011

Quote:LSJUMB's tree is the Stanford Mascot to most in the country, so I will support the mascot.  Thankfully there is nothing offensive about trees.

Spotted Owls, by contrast, apparently are highly offensive. At least to those who believe that cutting down trees is a god-given right.

http://bit.ly/5fatBC

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - FarmBoy - 11-08-2011

I may not have been there to see it, but I've heard first hand accounts that the pre-scramble band was fairly run of the mill and boring. When I was in the LSJUMB, there was a trombonist old-timer who had played in the pre-1963 band and was still performing field shows in the 90's. (the guy was a crack up. he would go barefoot on the field, but painted his feet white to look like he was wearing spatz like the old band wore.) He made it very clear in stories to us that even the band members at the time thought they were boring. But I guess you could argue that's a selective poll, since he clearly loved the LSJUMB enough to play in it for 30+ years.

As for the Indian, I have no problem with the Indian as our mascot. Stanford seems to generally respect the heritage, with the annual Pow Wow and Mu-wekma-tau-ruk (sp?). I personally prefer the tongue-in-cheek nature of the current tree. The guys at Rule of Tree were posting Big Game covers and some of the older ones were very cool, with the chieftain theme, but by the 50's, the Indian caricature hiding behind a rock to shoot arrows at the Bare drawn Conestoga Wagon just looked stupid.

The visceral, negative reaction many opposing fans and players have towards the tree is the true test of its power.

Re: Amusing exchange in the ESPN conversation thread - Stanford/Oregon - fullmetal - 11-08-2011

One of the many things I missed out on at Stanford (due to this zero-sum game that time plays) was the opportunity to learn more about Native American cultures and issues.  Muwekma-tah-ruk is the Native American theme dorm on campus--how many schools can say that they have something like that and also host an annual powwow on campus?

I don't mind either the Tree or the Indian.  Both are capable of squashing ducks.