I thought of this with the NCAA championship being won by the terrapins. I had to ask someone at work what a terrapin was. It's a turtle. A basketball team? Shouldn't they want something quick and agile for their mascot? Then I thought of Gamara. Maybe they have fire coming out of their legs and big tusks (or fangs). He said it wasn't a gamara-like turtle. It's a little happy turtle.

I don't know what a "Hoosier" is but if someone said the warehouse is being attacked by Hoosiers and the lab is being attacked by little happy turtles I'd assume the lab was safe.

Wasn't "Hoosiers" an old basketball film starring Luiz Felipe Scolari... I mean Gene Hackman?

Uh...yes to the second one, Sven.

Actually, as far as this sports trivia buff can tell, nobody - not even Indiana natives - can agree on what a 'Hoosier' is.

I don't know what a "Hoosier" is but if someone said the warehouse is being attacked by Hoosiers and the lab is being attacked by little happy turtles I'd assume the lab was safe.

ROTFLOL! I dunno, I just love the phrase 'little happy turtles'.

(Although, Berry, if memory serves me correctly terrapins are also the edible sort of turtle - soup etc. - so they're probably not happy all the time....)

...terrapins are also the edible sort of turtle - soup etc. - so they're probably not happy all the time....

They were probably happy to the bitter end... aww bless 'em...

The phrase "hoosier daddy" is inevitable.

Some great malapropisms quoted from sports figures of the past:

"The pitching is really the Achilles tendon of this team." - San Diego Padres broadcaster Jerry Coleman

"Beau Jack needs a fight just to relieve the monopoly." - Boxing publicist Chick Wergels

"Mickey Mantle can hit just as well right-handed as he can left-handed. He's just naturally amphibious." - New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra

"Even Napoleon had his Watergate." - Philadelphia Phillies manager Danny Ozark

"There were so many fumbles in that game, the ball looked like a Mexican jumping jack out there." - West Virginia football coach Don Nehlen

"That was the nail that broke the coffin's back." - Villanova basketball coach Jack Craft

"It's all water under the dam." - California Angels manager Lefty Phillips

"I'll have pie a la mode with ice cream." - Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Johnny Logan

"That game was a real cliff-dweller." - New York Mets manager Wes Westrum

"All you fellows line up alphabetically by height." - New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel

"This is the greatest country in America." - Florida State football coach Bill Petersen

"This is going to be a typical Browns-Bengals game." - Cleveland Browns former quarterback-turned-analyzer on just the second-ever meeting between the two teams

Re inappropriate mascots:

A terrapin for a basketball team is quite sensible compared to some of them out there. For instance, I'm told that the symbolic animal of Seattle is a slug.

And the U.S.'s famous motto 'E Pluribus Unum' is from an Ancient Greek poem about making salad dressing.

I'm told that the symbolic animal of Seattle is a slug.

No, that's UC Santa Cruz (Go Banana Slugs!}

BTW, The Banana Slug is also California's Official State Mollusk. I kid you not.

Some things that even non-sports fans can chuckle about.

The Indianapolis Colts play in a dome. They have to play in New England outside. If the game time temps hit 20 degrees F then we are having a heat wave. To prepare for this the Colts will practice with the doors open.

In the Titans - Patriots game last Saturday it was about 4 degrees (F). Everyone on the sideline for the Titans and not one can tell the coach, "You have frozen snot in your mustache."

Speaking of domed stadiums, you can understand a place like Minnesota and maybe even St. Louis. Why, however, are there domed stadiums in Houston, New Orleans, and Atlanta?

For instance, I'm told that the symbolic animal of Seattle is a slug.
Was it someone from Seattle or Tacoma who told you that?

While there are a lot of slugs here in western Washington and jokes that involve slugs and even an ugly ferry boat, the Kalakala, which was nicknamed the Silver Slug, I can't imagine too many Seattlites being happy at the comment that the Slug is their symbolic animal.

As for Seattle & other regional sports teams I don't know of one that uses the slug as a mascot.

Basketball
The Seattle Supersonics (later just Sonics) was originally named after the Supersonic Transport that Boeing was working on before brain-dead lawmakers made it illegal. The original mascot was the Wheedle From the Needle (also the name of a children's book) later the Wheedle was replaced with Squatch, which was a Sasquatch in a basketball jersey.

The Seattle Reign was a pun on Rain.

Baseball
The Seattle Pilots were named after people who fly airplanes.

The Seattle Mariners are named after seamen, but for some odd reason the mascot is a Moose.

The Everett Aquasox have a frog as a mascot. They used to be the Everett Giants.

Football
The Seattle Seahawks are named after hawks that live near the sea.

The University of Washington Huskies are named after a cold weather dog. Although at one point they were called the Suncatchers.

The Washington State Cougars are named after a mountain lion. At one point they were called the Farmers.

Hockey
The Tacoma Sabercats are named after an extinct animal.

The Tacoma Sabercats are named after an extinct animal.

Isn't that kind of a bad omen, to name yourself after an extinct animal?

It was Terry Pratchett who said the slug was the mascot of Seattle! Blame him!

I'd rather blame Canada.

Constanze, I would assume so.

Anyone who follows Hockey know how well or bad the Sabrecats have done?

They had a contest for what the team would be called and that was deamed the best choice. I might have sent in a suggestion, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was.

Thande, if Terry Pratchett said the Earth was flat would you believe him???

Since this is supposed to Humor from Sports I'll tell a football joke.

The Seattle Seahawks. [rimshot]

Since he did - yes. (see 'Strata)

What do you call 42 guys watching the Super Bowl on TV?

(Enter team name here.)!

Why do you have to tell Oregon State's Alexis Serna the same joke over and over and over again?

Because he keeps on missing the point.

A page on team names;

http://www.eeeeeegp.com/NotGiants/FBDB.html

Another page on the same site on Star Trek figurines;

http://www.eeeeeegp.com/NotGiants/Kirk.html

And a news story on a team's name
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/nation/7633184.htm?1c

I'd read about weird sports team names in countries other than the US, but I couldn't find much.

There is no state mollusk. There was a bill that tried to establish one (it was originally project of the campfire girls, I believe), but it was vetoed. The grounds for the veto of the Banana Slug bill (mentioned above) were that it was not indigenous to California, but instead is indigenous to Oregon.