LITTLE ROCK — No Foolin,’ that’s their real mascot
It’s been a tough start for the University of Arkansas’ football team, but the state can take pride in the fact that one of its teams brought home a national title.
In a completely unscientific process, the satirical sports website sportspickle.com has named the Arkansas School for the Deaf Leopards as the best high school mascot in the country.
“No, you get out,” the sports humor website wrote. “That’s really their name. Unfortunately, their biggest rival is not the Alabama School for the Blind Melons.”
Now the only question is whether the Little Rock school’s boosters can cobble enough money together to hire Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott to sing the national anthem before games.
Other contenders included:
Mars Area Fightin’ Planets from Pennsylvania
Centralia Orphans from Illinois
East Providence Townies from Rhode Island
Laureal Hill Hoboes in from Florida
Here’s another team that should have been considered: The Columbia (Mo.) Hickman Kewpies.
Yep, it takes guts to make a baby doll your mascot.
Nice while it lasted
In a man-bites-dog moment, NFL fans showed their appreciation for the return of regular referees Thursday night.
Prior to the start of a game between Baltimore and Cleveland, Ravens fans gave the zebras a standing ovation an hour before kickoff.
“We know how special this is,” said referee Gene Steratore, a 10-year veteran of officiating. “We have always taken such pleasure in being a part of this whole thing and having it go smoothly without being recognized.”
Of course, now it seems everyone appreciates the regular referees a little more after a debacle that saw Seattle practically pilfer a victory from Green Bay on Monday night because of a missed offensive pass interference call and a highly disputed touchdown reception by Seahawks receiver Golden Tate.
After days of chatter about how replacement refs were undermining the integrity of the game, fans were happy to have old crews back. So Steratore pulled off his white cap and acknowledged the crowd.
“The emotion kind of overtook us there for a moment,” Steratore said.
The only question was how long the love fest would last before fans started booing the officials again.
The answer: The third quarter.
Savor it
Dinamo Zagreb defender Domagoj Vida may have taken the most expensive sip of beer ever.
According to Reuters, the Croatian champions were on their team bus en route to a match when Vida popped the top on a beer. Coach Ante Cacic ordered Vida off the bus immediately, and the club fined him $100,000.
Headlines
Finally, a few headlines from comedy website theonion.com:
“Nobody can quite make out if Lou Holtz just went on an anti-Muslim rant on ESPN.”
“NFL: We want to protect the integrity of our brutal, inhuman game.”
“Andrew Luck gets first whatever it’s called when you beat the Minnesota Vikings.”
Quote of the day
“It’s old-school football. It’s what football is and should be. Maybe we’re finally getting back to it.” Arkansas State defensive coordinator John Thompson on today’s game against Western Kentucky
Sports, Pages 20 on 09/29/2012