South Carolina Football: NFL.com revealed top-10 mascot list in college football; Where’s Cocky ranked?
By Kevin Miller
NFL.com released their top-10 college mascot list on Thursday. The list was a combination of live and costumed mascots, and legendary figures such as Ralphie the Buffalo, Mike the Tiger, and UGA the Bulldog were obvious inclusions in the rankings. South Carolina football fans might be interested to see where the iconic Cocky would be ranked.
The full rankings were:
- The Oregon Duck (Oregon, costumed)
- Brutus the Buckeye (Ohio State, costumed)
- Mike the Tiger (LSU, live and costumed)
- Reveille (Texas A&M, live)
- UGA the Bulldog (Georgia, live)
- Ralphie (Colorado, live)
- Gus the Gorilla (Pittsburg State, costumed)
- Chief Osceola (Florida State, live)
- Aubie the Tiger (Auburn, costumed)
- The Mountaineer (West Virginia, live)
*For clarity, Reveille is the Rough Collie on the sidelines at Texas A&M, UGA is the live bulldog only at Georgia (Hairy Dawg is the costumed mascot), and Ralphie is the live buffalo only at Colorado (Chip is the costumed mascot).
The list is…interesting. The Oregon Duck, Brutus the Buckeye, Mike the Tiger, UGA the Bulldog, Ralphie the Buffalo, and Chief Osceola all probably belong. However, South Carolina football fans have noticed by now that there is at least one glaring omission: Cocky got snubbed!
One of only eleven mascots to ever win the Capital One Mascot Challenge (2003), Cocky certainly belongs on the list over Reveille (there’s not even a good story behind having a collie as Texas A&M’s mascot), Aubie the (generic) Tiger, and Gus the Gorilla…whatever that is. Cocky is the only mascot ever to be the official mascot of the College World Series. Let Pittsburg State’s mascot Gus into the conversation once he can say that, or maybe once he knows how to spell his city correctly.
Cocky is a national treasure and should be treated as such. No other mascot was selected as “America’s Mascot” in a nationwide contest put on by Ford in 1986. No other mascot in the nation teleports into the stadium on Saturdays. No other mascot gets the loudest cheer of all the pregame festivities. No other mascot flaps his beak with such majesty.
This list is a joke, and whoever is responsible for it at NFL.com should apologize personally to Cocky, Cocky’s girlfriend Caroline, the live mascot Sir Big Spur, and Cocky’s parents who come out for Parent’s Weekend every season.
There is one piece of solace for Gamecock fans and, in reality, fans from all over the country: this list correctly did not include that abomination of a Tiger that does push-ups in the Upstate of South Carolina.