October 31, 2004
TRIVIA:
Name as many Division 1 college sports teams as you can whose nickname does not either end in the letter "s" or include a color.
UPDATE:
We've posted some answers in the Extended Entry portion
Here are 20, courtesy of Mark McCormick:
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Illinois Fighting Illini
US Naval Academy Midshipmen
North Carolina State Wolfpack
Hofstra Flying Dutchman or Pride (a twofer!)
Union College Dutchmen
Bucknell Bison
Marshall Thundering Herd
Georgia Tech Ramblin' Wreck (more traditional than Yellow Jackets, this was the nickname when John Heisman was football coach; yes, that Heisman)
University of Southern California Women of Troy (women's teams!)
University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine (women's teams again, the men are the Warriors; technically "Rainbow" is not a color)
Hobart College Statesmen (lacrosse)
University Wisconsin Green Bay Phoenix
University of Nevada Reno Wolfpack
University of Massachusetts Minutemen
Pepperdine Wave (actually the Waves, but in SoCal it's cooler to just call them the Wave)
University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux
North Dakota State Bison
Centenary College Gentlemen (Robert Parrish's alma mater)
William & Mary Tribe
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 31, 2004 10:14 AMThe Minutemen.
Posted by: David Cohen at October 30, 2004 6:49 PMIs "cardinal" a color? Stanford.
Posted by: robin at October 30, 2004 7:00 PMThe Notre Dame "Fighting Irish," the Illinois "Fighting Illini" and the North Dakota "Fighting Sioux" (the hockey team is Division I).
Posted by: Random Lawyer at October 30, 2004 7:01 PMThe Marshall "Thundering Herd."
Posted by: Random Lawyer at October 30, 2004 7:05 PMThe Crimson Tide
Posted by: djs at October 30, 2004 7:07 PMThe Green Wave (Tulane)
Posted by: djs at October 30, 2004 7:09 PMrobin:
Yes, cardinal is the color not the bird.
djs:
"Green" & "Crimson"
Posted by: oj at October 30, 2004 7:10 PMSorry, following instructions is not one of my strengths. How about the NC State WolfPack?
Posted by: djs at October 30, 2004 7:29 PMNaval Academy (Midshipmen).
Posted by: joe shropshire at October 30, 2004 8:34 PMUniversity of Nevada Wolfpack
Posted by: Pat H at October 30, 2004 8:43 PMMiami Hurricane
Posted by: Harry Eagar at October 30, 2004 10:34 PMThe worst Division I nickname: the Hofstra Pride. Aren't Wisconsin-Green Bay and Elon College both the Phoenix?
Posted by: AC at October 30, 2004 10:35 PMNo the worst nickname is the California State University-Long Beach, "Dirtbags". (Men's baseball only)
Georgia Tech has two official nicknames. Yellow-Jackets is one, but the other is "Ramblin' Wreck" which meets your stipulation.
The University of Southern California women's team is call "Women of Troy"
Posted by: h-man at October 31, 2004 4:51 AMHofstra used to be the Flying Dutchmen.
Syracuse are the Orangemen, a reference to the House of Orange not the color.
North Carolina State are the Wolfpack.
North Dakota is the Fighting Sioux.
Posted by: Bart at October 31, 2004 6:20 AMElon College used to be the Fighting Christians. My sister went there. They may have changed their name since the 80s though.
Souix is considered the plural, so is that fair? I mean, what about an implied 's'?
Posted by: NKR at October 31, 2004 8:40 AMIsn't one of Auburn's names the Plainsmen?
Of course, Tigers violate the conditions.
Posted by: Bruce Cleaver at October 31, 2004 9:15 AMNo way you can count Hobart and Union and not Elon (which is I-AA in football and DI in basketball as a member, I believe, of the Big South Conference). They were the Fightin' Christians for years, but the move upward called for a more marketable (though less amusing) nickname.
Posted by: AC at October 31, 2004 11:59 AMRe Fightin' Christians - Whitman College is still the Fighting Missionaries. Still awkward, but made up in part by the accompaning cheer: "Missionaries, Missionaries, we're on top..."
Posted by: Mike at October 31, 2004 12:34 PMCentre is the Praying Colonels.
Dirtbags is not, to my mind, worse than Bugeaters, which was Nebraska before they changed to Cornhuskers.
The school has since changed its name, but no name ever tickled me more than Eastern Washington State Teachers College Fighting Savages.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at October 31, 2004 2:32 PMDirtbags is not, to my mind, worse than Bugeaters, which was Nebraska before they changed to Cornhuskers.
We native Bugeaters do not take kindly to that remark. ;-)
Posted by: Matt Murphy at November 1, 2004 10:51 PMHere's another challenge. Name college teams whose color is yellow.
Let's see. LSU. Cal-Irvine.
I believe that's about it.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at November 1, 2004 11:37 PMGeorgia Tech
Posted by: oj at November 1, 2004 11:46 PMThe Iowa Hawkeyes?
The Ducks in Oregon (partially yellow)?
The WV Mountaineers (partially yellow)?
The Pitt Panthers used to be yellow, now I don't know.
Posted by: jim hamlen at November 2, 2004 12:37 AMTech is gold and black.
Iowa and Oregon you're right.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at November 2, 2004 12:05 PMThe Yellow Jackets.
Posted by: oj at November 2, 2004 1:29 PMTo set the record straight, Auburn has only one nickname -- the Auburn Tigers.
The term "Plainsmen" comes from a line in that same Goldsmith poem, "Sweet Auburn, loveliest (sic) village of the plain..." Since Auburn athletes were, in the early days, men from the Plains, it was only natural for newspaper headline writers to shorten that to "Plainsmen."
Posted by: at November 11, 2004 8:57 PMDivision III & MIAA The Hope College "Flying Dutchmen" & Women's "Flying Dutch"
Posted by: at November 11, 2004 9:02 PMUniversity of North Texas "Mean Green"
Even though it has a color, I like it.
Howard University "Bison"
Posted by: at November 11, 2004 10:01 PM