A Bear is an awesome mascot to have. To quote Stephen Colbert, they’re “giant, marauding, godless killing-machines.” There’s so much potential for a fierce and intimidating logo and mascot, especially when we compare it to … a tree. And our athletics department, for better or worse, is trying to take advantage of this potential with their new Bear logo.
Even though bears rank as one of the most badass animals — right behind sharks and pistol shrimp — for some reason Cal created some sinister looking anthropomorphized bear that totally looks like a bear version of Chucky. I mean, we’re not bashing Oski, but the mascot leaves us with so many questions.
The new logo seems to want to reclaim the badassness of the bear, which we can get behind. But how does the logo stack up to other schools?
1.) UCSC Athletics — the banana slug.
That is one mean looking slug. This is what slugs would look like if they participated in 90′s era professional wrestling. But as a logo? We’re not so sure. The grungy block letters really do not sell this, either. Also, aren’t a slug’s eyes on the ends of its stalks? We object to your anatomically incorrect logo, UCSC. For shame.
Verdict: Cal is way better.
2.) Valparaiso University athletics — the crusader.
This cartoon crusader is far from intimidating. We would love to see this lanky dork engage in fisticuffs with the Cal Bear. We imagine he would comically trip over a banana peel and fall into a canyon before our Bear even got a chance to maul him to death.
Verdict: Cal Cal Cal!
3.) South Carolina State athletics — the bulldog.
Yeah … We’re not even sure where to start. This is not very well drawn. He looks like he’s made of silly putty. And what’s with the thigh hair? We mean, we wouldn’t mess with a dog walking around like that, but we wouldn’t mess with anything that looked like it came from a 1950′s comic strip.
Verdict: Hmm … Cal.
4.) Stanford athletics — the Tree.
Come on, you knew it was coming. Now, let’s be real here. There’s not many ways to make a tree look like a good sports logo. This about all you can do with it. Even then, the Stanford S looks like a 5-year-old playing hide-and-seek. We can see you, Stanford S, and we know your mascot sucks. Don’t try to hide in shame.
Verdict: Cal!
Regardless of any minor complaints or nostalgia for the old Cal Bear, we think sports fans will be just as proud to sit under the banner of this new logo.
Have any opinions on this new logo? Do you love it or hate it with a passion, or maybe feel completely indifferent to everything? Comment below!
Image source: Cal Athletics, AVCA, John Fea, Sportslogos and Wikipedia.
Contact Erik Swan at [email protected]