Weirdest mascots in sports

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1/21 SLIDES © Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Stanford Tree

The Stanford Tree is officially the mascot of the school's wacky band, while the school's mascot is the color, Cardinal. The Tree made its debut in 1975 and has been banned from several other schools, including Notre Dame, BYU and Oregon. BING: WHY IS THE TREE BANNED?

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Western Kentucky's Big Red

Big Red, a big, furry blob, made its debut in 1979 for the Hilltoppers.

3/21 SLIDES © Courtesy of Rory P. Doyle/Delta State

Delta State's Fighting Okra

Delta State's official mascot is the Statesmen. But in the 1980s, students of the Cleveland, Miss., school began adopting a piece of okra with boxing gloves and a tough expression. This grew out of the thought that a "Statesman" wasn't very intimidating.

4/21 SLIDES © Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

Akron Zips

The Zips name made its debut in 1925, coming from "zippers", overshoes that were popular in the 1920s and 1930s. It was officially shortened to "Zips" in 1950. The school mascot is "Zippy", a kangaroo, and is one of the rare few female college mascots.

5/21 SLIDES © Courtesy of Washburn University Sports Information

Washburn Ichabods

The mascot of Washburn, a small school in Topeka, Kan., is the Ichabods. According to the school's website, the name is not related to Ichabod Crane from "Sleepy Hollow" or Mr. Peanut of Planter's Peanuts. Instead, the name comes from Ichabod Washburn, an early benefactor of the school.

6/21 SLIDES © Randy Belice/NBAE via Getty Images

Fort Wayne Mad Ants

The NBA Developmental League franchise in Fort Wayne, Ind., held a name-the-team contest in 2007, with fans voting on four finalists: Coyotes, Fire, Lightning and Mad Ants. Mad Ants, a tribute to city namesake General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, won.

7/21 SLIDES © Courtesy of UC Santa Cruz

UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs

The Banana Slug has been the school's official mascot since 1986 but was the unofficial mascot far before that. It's the school's response to the importance of athletic culture at other schools. The school even tried painting a sea lion on its basketball floor to cultivate a different image, but the students continued to embrace the banana slug.

8/21 SLIDES © Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

TCU Horned Frogs

The TCU Horned Frog, which refers to the Texas horned lizard or horned frog, goes back to 1897. In 1979, the school renamed the mascot from "Addy the All-American Frog" to "Super Frog."

9/21 SLIDES © Karl Gehring/Getty Images

Syracuse's Otto the Orange

Syracuse's mascot became Otto the Orange in 1980, although it wasn't officially recognized by the school until 1995. The school changed the teams' nickname from Orangemen to Orange in 2004.

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Pittsburgh Steelers' Steely McBeam

What does a Steeler look like? Steely McBeam became the team's official mascot in 2007, chosen from a pool of 70,000 suggestions from fans.

11/21 SLIDES © Courtesy of Williams College

Williams' Purple Cow

Purple is one of Williams' school colors. The origins of the purple cow, named Ephelia, are not clear, but a school humor magazine named the Purple Cow (begun in 1907) might have inspired it. The title of the magazine came from a poem by Gelett Burgess.

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Trinity Christian College Troll

Trinity Christian College's claim to fame is that it is the only school in the country with that mascot. So there's something, right?

13/21 SLIDES © J Pat Carter/AP

Miami's Burnie the Heat

How do you represent fire when your team's mascot is the Heat? Burnie, born in 1992 when the team was founded is the answer, although that green basketball nose doesn't quite fit.

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Ohio State's Brutus Buckeye

Brutus' headpiece is intended to resemble an Ohio Buckeye nut. Brutus made his debut in 1965, picked over a buck deer.

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Colorado Rockies' Dinger

Dinger, the official mascot of the Colorado Rockies, is a purple triceratops. Although that might seem like an unusual choice, it was inspired by the discovery of dinosaur fossils, including a triceratops skull, at Coors Field during construction.

University of Vermont Catamount

If you've seen Vermont's name before, you probably wondered, "What's a catamount?" It's another name for a cougar or mountain lion.

Wichita State Shockers

WuShock, the Wichita State mascot, isn't named after a lightning bolt. It refers to a shock of wheat.

New Orleans Pelicans' Pierre the Pelican

Pierre the Pelican is the newest entry onto this list. He was first introduced in October 2013, when the New Orleans NBA team played its first game as the Pelicans after switching from the Hornets.

Evergreen State Geoducks

Speedy the Geoduck (pronounced "gooey-duck") "represents the essence of the Olympia, Wash., school's charm," according to Evergreen's website. A geoduck is among the world's largest clams, weighing around 3 pounds, and is native to the Pacific Northwest.

UC Irvine Anteaters

UC Irvine adopted the Anteater mascot in the school's founding year, when it was brought to a vote of students. A popular chant among UC Irvine students is "Zot, zot, zot!", which is the sound the anteater makes in the comic strip B.C.

Saint Louis Billikens

The Billiken was a charm doll that was a huge craze in the United States in the early 1900s. An early Saint Louis football coach, John R. Bender, apparently resembled the doll. His squad became known as "Bender's Billikens" and the name stuck. Can't say he looks like the current mascot, however.

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