College Mascots

I have been swimming in Urbana, IL at the Indoor Aquatic Center. I noticed that the high school girl's coach puts a picture of a beaver onthe wall each day and names it for a girl who has done very well at pratice.

Here is the link to UC Santa Cruz's swim team: www.goslugs.com/.../swim.html

Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com Matt, The mascot is a tiger. The coach is a woman but none of the girls have signed anyu thing. I mentioned it to my childhood friend whose husband is onthe school board. They didn't think anything of it. Another person mentioned that it means that the girl swims well. I thought it was really bad news. I've mentioned it to several people and no one evens thinks of the other thought. I was really surprised. I know their coach really well, and I know a lot of the girls and their parents really well. This must have some decent meaning to them because I cannot see their coach allowing it otherwise. I CAN find out what it means.

Craig, I know what I experienced in 1981, drinking with the coach, has completely changed today. My old school now prohibits that kind of fraternization. However the memory is a good one and I still have a great deal of respect for him. I currently coach masters at the University of Denver and their Varsity coaching staff is very professional and they would never go out drinking with there swimmers as a matter of course and by rule. Part of this is a cultural change. We were legal at age 18 and it was part of college life. It's now illegal at that age. At the time we actually had two 3.2% bars on campus. Additionally professors would routinely meet students at these bars have a beer with there student and discuss papers and projects. Again a different era.

Originally posted by Matt S Craig, Speaking as an attorney, I sincerely hope that for the sake of the high school coach's career, to say nothing of the school district's account that pays for law suit judgments, that the official mascot for boys and girls teams at this high school is the beaver. If not, this has sexual harassment written all over it. (It might possibly pass muster if the coach is a women, and all her swimmers back a statement from her that the use of the beaver refers to that animal's manic work habits, and not - ahem - anything else.) Matt Matt, The mascot is a tiger. The coach is a woman but none of the girls have signed anyu thing. I mentioned it to my childhood friend whose husband is onthe school board. They didn't think anything of it. Another person mentioned that it means that the girl swims well. I thought it was really bad news. I've mentioned it to several people and no one evens thinks of the other thought. I was really surprised.

Originally posted by Ken Classen My college swim team's nick name was the "Toughukkers" say it real fast three times. That's what we did as our team cheer. The official name for the school was the "Roadrunners" Metropolitan State College of Denver. But we thought that just plain boring. So how have times changed since the early 80's. We used to go to 3.2% beer happy hour after Friday afternoon practice with our coach! Back then, you could drink 3.2 beer at age 18 in Colorado. You say only 3.2 beer, trust me it works on a empty stomach just after swimming 6000 or 7000 yards. We were only NAIA but we had fun. Where I went to college, now has a rule that no staff can drink alcohol where students are present. They've had terrible times with this at first in restaurants & bars. Now, I think it is only together as a group.

Originally posted by dorothyrde I know their coach really well, and I know a lot of the girls and their parents really well. This must have some decent meaning to them because I cannot see their coach allowing it otherwise. I CAN find out what it means. Dorothy, When I first saw it on the wall at the pool, I was really puzzled by it. I really believe it is the responsiblity of a coach to promote the team coming together for the same goal. But I think this is really off the course. Ken, For my freshman year, I went to DePauw in Indiana. Not only was the coach a real drinker but he was also the "housemother" for one of the fraternities. I life-gaurded for the faculty swim during lunch hour. Most of the professors only swam for a few minutes. But they all drank inthe faculty lunchroom and showed up at classes drunk. DePauw is very conservative socially but a very wild school. Then I went to Knox. It is very liberal. However, the coaches were very hands-off socially. But every reception had booze served. Now none. Knox's partying wasn't even close to the extreme scenes held at DePauw. Knox has a spring holiaday called Flunk Day. At 5:30 am the bells go off & everything is cancelled. When I was there it was absolute mayhem. One year, I wouldn't help my friend get his girlfriend to the ER because my mom was a nurse at the hospital.

OK, I think I am wrong, and I think the UHS thing is raunchy. The person I asked who is in the know refused to tell me the what, but said it was not nice. HS kids often have an odd sense of humor, sigh.

Except all the swim teams have "mandantory parties", this is not just UHS. Same thing goes on at the other schools too. It is called team bonding. I think IHSA has a lot more on their hands besides girls being required to go to parties. Considering they were just sued by the private schools for weighting the enrollment for private schools in the playoff system.

Team bonding? Mandatory parties? My HS swim team didn't have those. What did we do with all that free time?!