These two may appear to be evenly matched on land, but which mascot will fair better in water? Image from the Whittier College website
Back by popular demand (and a lack of new ideas), Mascot Matchups will make a triumphant return for the spring sports season, but with a bit of a twist. The sport that garnered the prestigious honor of having their mascots defamed this season will be women’s water polo. With the aquatic theme in mind, all of our showdowns will now take place in a theoretical body of water. Can a Leopard take down a Sagehen on the high seas? Do Poets know how to swim? Can a Tiger operate a jetski? All these questions and much more will be answered as Mascot Matchups get Wet ‘N’ Wild.
With “lo triumphe” standing in as our signature cheer I believe that we should work fast. Screaming out gibberish that people need cheat sheets to remember is simply not acceptable.
Throck’s “Tiger’s in the Front” idea is certainly interesting, but he is incorrect in thinking that it is an original cheer. I don’t know how many schools use the cheer, but I do know that the cheer was used in an episode of the somehow still-running sit-com Still Standing. It’s possible that Oxy is the only school inserting the word Tiger into the cheer, but my guess is that we aren’t. Besides this cheer is two long and doesn’t really even let people know what school is doing the cheer. When we look at some of the better rally cries across collegiate sports we see short chants that use letters.
The University of Illinois has a great one. At any point in time, one fan screams out I-L-L then everyone else responds with I-N-I spelling out the second part of the school’s mascot, the Fighting Illini. Locally Loyola Marymount University has figured out the concept quite well with a simple L-M-U-U-U-U-U cry.
Even the longest of the cheers that I know of from USC is still easy to remember, and helps distinguish the california school from the University of South Carolina. The cheer consists of a cheerleader signaling the beginning of the chant with an “OOOOOO” then SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA is spelled out then repeated at the end.
Can anyone remember any of the words to “lo triumph?” Probably, but I can’t, I won’t, and no one should have to. I don’t know if I’m the one to think up this rallying cry, but someone has to figure this out.
The best thing I’ve heard so far is the O to the X cheer Throck got a video of. If we can figure out how to get everyone to know yell that out without having to repeat the cheerleaders we might have a winner. Or of course there is Stu’s Song from The Hangover…
The Tiger Women’s Basketball team pulled out a big win last night against the University of Redlands as they edged the bulldogs 61-58 to claim the top spot in the SCIAC.
The Tigers' recent game against the Bulldogs was still sloppy despite Makenzie Brandon's impressive performance. Image from the Occidental College Tigers' Facebook page
The game while exciting, was not the prettiest of games. Sure there were flashes of brilliance such as the offensive clinic Makenzie Brandon put on in the first half scoring Oxy’s first 6 points on her way to 23 points in the first half and 30 for the game, but overall this event resembled more of a wrestling match than a basketball game.
At some points, it seemed like players were being knocked to the floor on every single play. The officiating was extremely inconsistent. Sometimes anything short of tackling would not warrant a foul, and at other times a dirty look would draw a whistle. Technical fouls and trash talk were plentiful, and there were more tie-ups for jump balls than any game I’ve ever seen.
Despite all of this though, this was a rather entertaining game as it was close almost from the start, except for when the Tigers went on a big run late in the first half to go up 10. Along with that, the defense from both teams was excellent. As per usual, the Tigers were anchored by their two bigs Rowe and Messick with strong defense in the post. Stephanie Scamman was also extremely active on the defensive front.
Whether or not it was pretty to watch this hard fought game should set the stage nicely for a rematch when Oxy heads into Bulldog territory on Feb. 9.
Tiger Talk Blog 