The Secret Life of Live Mascots: Uga, Bevo and Rameses are all household names [tr]

ESPN ^ | November 8 ,2017 | Ryan McGee

[C19fan]

Since 1892, when a Yale student showed up at a sporting event with his pet bulldog, Handsome Dan, collegiate sidelines have been like Disney's Animal Kingdom, crawling with critters big and small, chosen to represent their school's very literal spirit animal. In the days before such acts became (thankfully) more regulated, football teams shared the field with actual bears and cougars, led around loosely with little more than leashes of rope. "When I played at Houston, ol' Shasta the cougar, he'd be right there on the sideline with a rope around his neck, looking very unhappy about it," James Mayfield, father of Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield and himself a former Houston backup QB, recalled over the summer, sounding like Ricky Bobby not wanting to get in his father's race car. "Thank goodness someone eventually said, 'Hey, you know, this feels like a bad idea, doesn't it?'"

[mindburglar]

Penn State should have Kevin Spacey in a cage as their mascot.

[TXBlair]

My mom’s high school in Louisiana had a live tiger named Mike as its mascot. It lived at the local zoo, except when it attended the football games. She never mentioned if it were taken to basketball games, but I’m assuming not. This was around 1960.

[Fiji Hill]

USC's Traveler--greatest mascot of them all

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I thought that their mascot was a condom.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The best mascot today is, without a doubt, the University of Colorado's "Ralphie." That's a lot of unhappy meat on the hoof to control:

[leapfrog0202]

Thanks for sharing! Very interesting article.

[Fantasywriter]

Bol—thanks for posting!