Penn has a mascot problem.
Ours is the Quaker. It doesn’t make sense to me–I assume the logic goes like this: Pennsylvania was founded by Quakers, and we’re the University of Pennsylvania, so we should be the Quakers, too.
On the surface that is sort of understandable, but it doesn’t get far. Not only was our illustrious founder, Dr. Franklin, decidedly not a Quaker, but our first provost William Smith actually published anti-Quaker pamphlets, one of which suggested “cutting their Throats.” (Don’t you love old-time capitalization?)
So if we’re really going by the values of our founders, then we should be the Deists. The problem there is that since Deists don’t bring us oatmeal, no one really knows what they look like.
Then there’s the nightmare of trying to run an athletic program named after a group of pacifists. Who can rally behind that? We want our mascot to inspire our athletes–to be the focal point of our excitement–but we’re left with a guy known for shaking. The Quaker fails–we know that behind his stupid grin, he’s really saying, “Let’s not compete.”
The Quaker should go. Inertia and tradition are poor excuses for sticking with something which doesn’t work.
I know it’s one thing to diagnose a problem, and quite another to offer a solution. Tune in next time when I propose to do just that. I’ve thought of a doozy of a mascot, and I can’t wait to share it.
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October 19th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
one point of having a blog is that one can post as long or as short of an article as one wants. cliffhangers in a blog? i demand answers now!!
October 19th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
At least you’re not the ferocious UMF Beavers!
October 21st, 2007 at 4:20 pm
(Nice Maine-Farmington reference sam)
Nicky,
Your logic, as you point out yourself, is wrong. The reason we’re called Quakers is because in the early days of intercollegiate athletics, Philadelphia area sportswriters called all Philadelphia sports teams Quakers. It was only are school that never decided to change the name.
Also, your comments about the Quaker not working, and not inspiring our athletes, is completely bogus. Do you have any proofs of these statements? Just look at the next Penn-Princeton basketball game and you’ll see an enthusiastic crowd that couldn’t care any less about Quakers being pacifist.
October 21st, 2007 at 5:46 pm
“It was only are school that decided not to change the name.”
Wow… Please tell me you don’t go here.
May 4th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
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October 1st, 2008 at 9:39 am
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