BleedGopher
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What's funny here (outside of the ridiculousness of this article) is that the reporter sent an email to the Gophers AD and never heard back...what the reporter doesn't mention/realize is she sent the AD an email smack dab during the academic scandal...no wonder we didn't respond, in addition to the oddity of the question.
Per SI:
Back in 1999, when I was a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington, my then sports-fanatic boyfriend got us tickets to the NCAA tournament’s first-round games in Seattle. I hadn’t really followed college basketball; I’d never filled out a bracket or understood what the “madness” was all about. I’d grown up in more of an NFL house. So, I was just going for the experience, not rooting for any team in particular—which is probably why I became so enthralled with the mascots.
My research at the time was focused on small mammals, like rodents, and so I got super excited when I saw one of the teams playing was Minnesota, nicknamed the Golden Gophers. A college team whose mascot was a rodent! Suddenly, Minnesota was going to be the highlight of my tournament. And at the start of that game, this big, golden furry thing comes marching out, riling up the crowd.
Then it turned around, and I could see its backside. And that’s when the disappointment set in.
I remember screaming: “That’s not a gopher!”
First, Goldy Gopher has a big, floofy tail. But a real gopher has a little nub tail, which is characteristic of subterranean rodents. I thought for a moment that this mascot might actually be a beaver, because its tail is almost flat and paddle-like. But a beaver’s tail isn’t furry; it’s scaly.
I looked at the color pattern on Goldy’s tail and body more carefully, and I thought it might, in fact, be a chipmunk—but a chipmunk has stripes that go down the center of its back and tail. Goldy has stripes on the side. Eventually I became convinced: He’s actually a golden-mantled ground squirrel, which has a fluffy tail and stripes on its sides. The Minnesota Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels—that has a nice ring to it, right?
www.si.com
Go GOPHERS!!
Per SI:
Back in 1999, when I was a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington, my then sports-fanatic boyfriend got us tickets to the NCAA tournament’s first-round games in Seattle. I hadn’t really followed college basketball; I’d never filled out a bracket or understood what the “madness” was all about. I’d grown up in more of an NFL house. So, I was just going for the experience, not rooting for any team in particular—which is probably why I became so enthralled with the mascots.
My research at the time was focused on small mammals, like rodents, and so I got super excited when I saw one of the teams playing was Minnesota, nicknamed the Golden Gophers. A college team whose mascot was a rodent! Suddenly, Minnesota was going to be the highlight of my tournament. And at the start of that game, this big, golden furry thing comes marching out, riling up the crowd.
Then it turned around, and I could see its backside. And that’s when the disappointment set in.
I remember screaming: “That’s not a gopher!”
First, Goldy Gopher has a big, floofy tail. But a real gopher has a little nub tail, which is characteristic of subterranean rodents. I thought for a moment that this mascot might actually be a beaver, because its tail is almost flat and paddle-like. But a beaver’s tail isn’t furry; it’s scaly.
I looked at the color pattern on Goldy’s tail and body more carefully, and I thought it might, in fact, be a chipmunk—but a chipmunk has stripes that go down the center of its back and tail. Goldy has stripes on the side. Eventually I became convinced: He’s actually a golden-mantled ground squirrel, which has a fluffy tail and stripes on its sides. The Minnesota Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels—that has a nice ring to it, right?
Harvard mammalogist: Your mascots are all wrong - Sports Illustrated
This Harvard mammalogist is here to tell you: There’s a fair chance your college mascot isn’t what you think it is.
www.si.com
Go GOPHERS!!
