February 17, 2006

Drunken Tree Gets Axe The Stanford Tree has been fired for drinking on the job. Yes. You read that right. Stanford University, here in the ever-puzzling Bay Area, has a mascot, The Tree, and the woman inside the tree suit was found to be drinking at a basketball game, and subsequently tested to have a .15 blood acohol level. Just another entry in the long-running rivalry between Cal and Stanford.
  • "She wasn't doing anything offensive,"Urmy said. "She was just jumping and dancing. The tree's movement is usually consistent with that of someone who's had something to drink."
  • Okay, finally a mascot even stupider that the Wichita State Shocker. Now, will someone please come up with a tree/bush/shrub drinking joke?
  • as an aside, i just looked up the banana slug (the mascot of UC Santa Cruz... yes California schools have really fucking bizarre mascots) and found this, um, nugget, again, courtesy of wikipedia:
    Ariolimax dolichophallus, a species of banana slug (dolichophallus meaning "long penis" in Latin) has the largest penis-to-body length ratio of any animal. The record-holding specimen had a body length of 6 inches, with a phallus length of 32.5 inches, well over five times the body length.
  • She's not drunk. She's pinin'.
  • UCSC's original mascot was a sea lion but banana slugs are not only cooler but are really fricking common to the area. Never, ever step on one barefoot.
  • For the fjords, Ooga, for the fjords.
  • maybe now she's lost this job she can branch out. You know, turn over a new leaf.
  • Maybe now she's lost this job she can branch out. You know, turn over a new leaf.
  • Here's the Stanford drinking song: My eyes are dim I can not see I have not brought my specks with me I have, hey, not, ho, brought my specks with me. Oh it's beer, beer, beer that makes you want to cheer On the farm, on the farm It's beer, beer, beer that makes you want to cheer On the Leland Stanford Junior Farm. My eyes are dim I can not see, I have not brought my specks with me. I have, hey, not, ho, brought my specks with me. Well it's gin, gin, gin that makes you want to sin On the farm, on the farm It's gin, gin, gin that makes you want to sin On the Leland Stanford Junior Farm. Chorus It's whisky, whisky, whisky that makes you feel so frisky On the farm, etc. The official Berkeley drinking song: Oh, they had a little party down in Newport There was Harry, there was Mary, there was Grace. Oh, they had a little party down in Newport, And they had to carry Harry from the place. Oh, they had to carry Harry to the ferry, And the ferry carried Harry to the shore; And the reason that they had to carry Harry to the ferry Was that Harry couldn't carry any more. For California, for California, The hills send back the cry, We're out to do or die, For California, for California, We'll win the game or know the reason why. And when the game is over, we will buy a keg of booze, And drink to California 'till we wobble in our shoes. So drink, tra la la, Drink, tra la la, Drink, drank, drunk last night, Drunk the night before; Gonna get drunk tonight Like I never got drunk before; For when I'm drunk, I'm as happy as can be For I am member of the Souse family. Now the Souse family is the best family That ever came over from old Germany. There's the Highland Dutch, and the Lowland Dutch, The Rotterdam Dutch, and the Irish. Sing glorious, victorious, One keg of beer for the four of us. Sing glory be to God that there are no more of us, For one of us could drink it all alone. Damn near. Here's to the Irish, dead drunk. The lucky stiffs.... This is a rite of passage. At least, when I went to Berkeley, frosh were required to learn the drinking songs. And, in my day, the campus and environs were a pretty safe spot to test out your ability to have a few without hurling, or even with hurling. But you learned something your classes didn't teach. I think that not many got shit-faced after freshman year. Stanford and Berkely survirors had a lot more to deal with - the songs always struck me as a legacy of another time. (Though, I can give you the lyrics for a couple of more Berkeley drinking songs. which would be just as boring without the music, though I still occasionally sing them just 'cuase they're funny.)
  • My college's nickname is the Bonnies. As such, there is not much guidance as to what the mascot should dress like. The mascot was a Brown Indian for many years. It was a Brown Indian my first couple of years there. Then the movement started to drop Native American names. As the school's nickname had nothing to do with Native Americans, the school decided to get rid of the Brown Indian. The replacement? A gorilla. A guy in a gorilla suit. Presumably, a gorilla suit was cheap and available at the time. I have no idea what they do now.
  • I would've thought the Bonnies would have a Highland bagpiper or something.
  • tracicle, the slugs ain't so common around UCSC these days. A lot of construction has made them somewhat scarce around main campus. Go into the north campus woods on a wet morning and you will still see plenty though. Although I did spot one crossing a rather large cement walkway a few days ago, hopefully he made it before classes got out.
  • I always seemed to spot them while I was there, but yes, not so much around the main campus. I saw a few around Porter and College 8 in the shade. A friend housesat up Bonny Doon way and they would be all over the front porch in the mornings, which is where I had my ill-fated meeting with the late Slugmeister.
  • the late Slugmeister Ike Turner?
  • Oooh - take a lap TUM!
  • Outstanding hehe
  • Could have been worse... a drunken Geoduck.
  • So she got a little knotty; at least she didn't get falling down drunk and bruise her lumber region.
  • I can't beleave that one.
  • The copse just gave an excuse to the band's bark - her ability to act like a tree was sappy and wooden at best. Better for her to branch off and ply her wiles in a workplace that might stump her and by challenging her, keep her from rooting through the booze cabinet. Whadidimiss?
  • OK, Chimp wins. And that geoduck looke like a wingèd willie.
  • Ariolimax dolichophallus, a species of banana slug (dolichophallus meaning "long penis" in Latin) has the largest penis-to-body length ratio of any animal. The record-holding specimen had a body length of 6 inches, with a phallus length of 32.5 inches, well over five times the body length. I told you guys the other day I thought slugs were cute! hehehe
  • I love Bonny Doon.
  • How sad that no one else on this thread is saying, "What the #$#@?" How cares whether the mascot grabs a drink? Why can't we be a little bit less anal? A little bit less neopuritanic? this country is headed straight to fascism. But really, all we are doingf
  • How sad that no one else on this thread is saying, "What the #$#@?" How cares whether the mascot grabs a drink? Why can't we be a little bit less anal? A little bit less neopuritanic? this country is headed straight to fascism.
  • Ooh! I'm not the most recent Godwin anymore! I feel so freeeee! Anyway, there IS something seriously wrong when the mascot is expected to be the only sober person at the game.
  • How sad that no one else on this thread is saying, "What the #$#@?" How cares whether the mascot grabs a drink? Why can't we be a little bit less anal? A little bit less neopuritanic? this country is headed straight to fascism.
  • I was on exchange at a school where the mascot was a Triton. Not a Triton as in a three-tined pitchfork -- that would have been vaguely menacing -- but a shell. Fear the Triton shells! Unless you're a Conch! We put forward a petition to change the mascot to Fire Ants -- the campus was built on dredged-up sand, and was infested with the little fuckers -- but to no avail. Fire Ants are fiesty little things, triumphing through teamwork. Nope. No go. So they're still with largish marine snails. Woo hoo.
  • Pretty, up Bonny Doon way. Too bad their wines are so mediocre. And: my college's teams were called The Big Green. Never saw an actual mascot, though. Vomit stain? Well-tended lawn? I've never been able to find out.