The mascot debate

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#276      
CHEEF
Battle89 said:
I don't think it's a mockery. Probably a mix of some sincere people and others who just like the attention of never letting this die, even though they 'won' many years ago.
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The people proposing this are sincere, however, these are people who don't care about the university and don't care about Illinois athletics.
 
#277      
pruman91
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We don't need no stinkin Kingfisher.....we really really don't.......................
 
#278      
Oranges
Not that I feel strongly about it, but if we have to have a mascot I really don’t think the Kingfisher is a bad idea
 
#281      
OP ILLINI ROB
Having just participated in the B1G10K event in Chicago, it was obvious that it would be nice to have some sort of mascot. It was cool to see the mascots from the other Big Ten schools having fun and competing with each other. What did Illinois have at the event - a couple of real life cheerleaders. Give me an Abe, a Block I, a Kingfisher, or anything to be part of this fun that almost every other B1G school has.
 
#282      
Gary J
The time has come... but the BoD moves very slowly... so, for those of you that oppose, it will probably take a couple of more years.
 
#287      
IllinoisIntegrity
I don’t understand the endless fascination with college mascots. Students in college are adults, not children at Disney World. They are old enough to serve in the military (who themselves use real animals as their mascots, not someone in a costume). Grow up. Other major universities (Michigan, Indiana, etc) don’t have them either. As for the Fighting Illini name, it honors Illinois veterans and doesn’t need to change. The school/alumni should lean into that and educate people as to the actual name origin (see attached 1925 Alumni newsletter with first known use of term Fighting Illini). If people are still determined to have a symbolic “mascot”, it should be military related, perhaps a real person (Not a Sparty like costume) dressed as WWI soldier or better yet, an actual soldier or vet from Illinois to be honored at each game as “Fighting Illini”.
 

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#289      
TheGMan
Sounds like a lot of this board probably still holds a grudge against their 2nd grade crush for not giving them a Valentine card.

It's time to move on.
 
#294      
RML
MaineIllini said:
Honest question please. I’m an alum from the early 80’s, so I’m a dinosaur compared to many of you. And since then I’ve lived pretty far away from Illinois. So I really don’t have a feel for what is going on with this kingfisher mascot business. The people who support this — do they really think this is a good idea, or is it a lampoon / mockery? From a distance, it’s reminding me of when British people wanted to name a new research ship “Boaty McBoatface”.
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Lol, that might better describe the proposed Alma Otter. (Though I would totally be on-board with Alma.)
Alma or HAL 9000 are the only two that I would tolerate.
 
#296      
Ransom Stoddard
RML said:
Lol, that might better describe the proposed Alma Otter. (Though I would totally be on-board with Alma.)
Alma or HAL 9000 are the only two that I would tolerate.
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Alma Mater is a phrase that probably every university uses. We have a statue, but even that isn't truly unique as Columbia University has one and there may be others.
 
#300      
RML
Ransom Stoddard said:
Alma Mater is a phrase that probably every university uses. We have a statue, but even that isn't truly unique as Columbia University has one and there may be others.
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what I like about Alma Otter: 1) while not unique, the Alma Mater statute is an important part of our experience (when our games are televised, they almost always show our Alma Mater statue,) 2) Alma Otter is clever. 3) it fits into the rodent (ish) theme of many of our traditional B10 schools: wolverines, badgers, gophers. (And otters are way cooler than any of those.)
 
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