William & Mary failed in its mascot selection
The next time you see the William & Mary Tribe running into Zable Stadium onto Cary Field, you might be left with some questions. Today, the nation’s second oldest college introduced the fans to the school’s new bizarre mascot, the William & Mary Griffin (actual name is currently under vote).
If you are asking yourself what in the world is a griffin, you are not alone. A griffin is a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. For W&M, the eagle head represents the national symbol of the United States and the lion body represents the college’s strength. Together, the mascot represents nothing.
The other mascot choices in consideration were the king and queen, a phoenix, a pug, and a wren. We are not sure who came up with these ideas, but as history has proven, William & Mary has failed when it came to mascots. Prior to the Griffin, you would see a green and gold frog hopping aimlessly along the sidelines called Colonel Ebirt (“tribe” spelled backwards). The students thought so lowly of the mascot that they dubbed Ebirt as the amorphous green blob. In 2005, Ebirt’s services were no longer needed. Before Ebirt, W&M had a more traditional mascot. Two students would dress in buckskins. One would be Pocahontas and the other Pocahontas’ friend. That eventually got scrapped due to political correctness.
Hey William & Mary, sometimes being generic isn’t a bad thing. You could always go with the Tigers, Lions, Bears, or how about the William & Mary Eagles? To the general public, The Griffin looks like a half naked bird.
Other schools that share the same thought and mascot as W&M are:
- Canisius College
- Sarah Lawrence
- Reed College
- Seton Hill University
