Mascot Monday: Ohio State Buckeyes

We love college pride, we love sports, and we especially love alliteration (sorry, nerd status!) so Mascot Monday is our attempt at combining all 3 things! Each week we will feature a different, random college mascot, just because. Maybe because we think it’s weird, maybe we think it’s hilarious, or maybe it’s just totally awesome (or some combination of all three!) Check back every Monday to see if we feature your school! Want us to feature your school’s mascot? Comment, email us, or tweet @SurvivinCollege with the tag #MascotMonday!

This week on Mascot Monday: The Ohio State Buckeyes (AKA Brutus)

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Wait, wait! We don’t see it. We keep on looking at the Ohio State Buckeyes’ logo and we just don’t see a buckeye. Or any kind of symbol outside of an O. What is a buckeye, anyway? These were the things we wondered as we pondered what today’s Mascot Monday feature would be. We decided to just go for it – we’ve got love for you, Ohio State, but what the heck is a buckeye? We researched and found out (and if we’re already late to the party and you’re reading this thinking “DUH! It’s a nut!” all we have to say is #sorrynotsorry!) Now that the suspense is ruined, yes. The buckeye is a tree nut. According to Wikipedia:

“Ohio State students Ray Bourhis and Sally Huber decided Ohio State needed a mascot in 1965 and convinced the athletic council to study the matter. At the time, mascots were generally animals brought into the stadium or arena. A buck deer was contemplated but rejected as impossible. Instead, the buckeye was selected, as the buckeye is the official state tree of Ohio.”

And thus, Brutus the Buckeye – a walking tree nut – was born. Don’t you find that a little weird?

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On the bright side for Ohio State, we wouldn’t label the buckeyes as the weirdest mascot we’ve come across (and we certainly think we can find stranger ones!) but we do find Brutus oddly endearing. The name? Intimidating to other sports teams. The look? Not so much. And while we still think Brutus looks more like a person with an oddly shaped head and some crazy sideburn/neck-beard action going on, at least we now understand why their logo has zero representation of their mascot on it. Could you imagine what that would look like? We guess the reason other sports teams still feel the fear of competing against the Ohio State Buckeyes is because they think they’re all nuts! (Bad puns aside, it’s one interesting mascot.)

What do you think of the Ohio State Buckeyes?