Where The Buffalo Roam

In southwestern Alberta, Canada, there’s a historical landmark curiously named “Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump”. It’s the former location of a vast communal bison trap. Thousands of years ago native hunters would drive herds of the roaming animals over the plains and then right over the adjacent cliffs, in what is described as “the single greatest food-gathering method ever developed in human history.” The buffalo aren’t running in this part of Canada anymore. They’re no longer running in Boulder, Colorado either.

In case you missed it, the American college football season kicked off last Saturday… in Dublin, Ireland.  Kansas State played Iowa State in a converted rugby stadium in front of a sell-out Guinness-filled crowd.  A roving reporter took to the streets to ask locals what they knew about the American game and the answers were wonderfully ignorant.  How many points is a touchdown? (“4?”)  Name any American college football team (“Yankees?” “Dodgers?”)  And then my favorite: What is Kansas State’s mascot? (“A tractor?”)  Not a bad answer if you ask me.  I’d guess there are more tractors than wildcats in Kansas.

Ralphie’s run

Speaking of wild things, let’s get back to Boulder.  The University of Colorado (CU) boasts one of the few live animal mascots in college football: a full-grown snortin’ stompin’ buffalo named Ralphie.  Before each half of the home games Ralphie is released from her trailer on the sidelines (yes, Ralphie is a “her”) to run a horseshoe lap around the field at full speed, before her five handlers corral her back into the trailer.  It’s the stuff of rodeos, and more than a few handlers have eaten dirt in the process (but at least they earn a varsity letter for their efforts).

Ralphie is actually the sixth live buffalo to represent CU since the mascot was selected in 1934.  But Ralphie VI – aka “Ember” – has a singular distinction.  She’s just not into the run.  Whereas her five predecessors ran for at least ten seasons each, Ember decided to call it quits after just three.  The University officially called it “indifference to running” and cut Ember from the team so she could spend the rest of her days roaming in pastures.  Maybe Ember’s thinking she’s going to go over a cliff every time she runs.  Can you blame her for hanging it up?  No word on whether Ralphie VII is up for the task.

At least CU has a ferocious mascot, one a fan would associate with the Colorado surrounds.  Like Texas’s Longhorn or Florida’s ‘Gator, you want a mascot that speaks to your particular locale and does so with a confident puff of the chest.  But instead, a lot of America’s college football mascots have you thinking either lightweight or what the heck is THAT?

Don’t mess with Texas!

Cases in point.  If I pull up this year’s top college football teams, I guarantee I’ll find several to underscore my point.  And I am right.  Ohio State’s mascot is a buckeye (which is a tree, and not a very ferocious one at that).  Georgia’s is a bulldog, described as “loyal, gentle, and affectionate”.  Oregon’s is a duck (A duck!)  Alabama is known as “the Crimson Tide”, which was a reporter’s colorful spin on a long-ago game played in the mud (and not a mascot at all).  Finally, Arizona State’s is a Sun Devil, which better belongs on Saturday morning cartoons than Saturday afternoon football fields.

On the other hand, you have the Penn State Nittany (Mountain) Lions, the Michigan Wolverines (don’t mess with wolverines), the South Carolina Gamecocks (don’t mess with those either), and the Miami Hurricanes (not an animal, but points for ferociousness and local flavor). Any one of those deserves to stand side-by-side with a live buffalo.

Notre Dame’s leprechaun

As much as I’d like leave this topic with Ember the Buffalo and her chest-thumping buddies, I sheepishly include one more: my beloved alma mater Notre Dame.  We at Notre Dame are the Fightin’ Irish, because our football teams (at least those from the early 1900s) showed “the grit, determination, and tenacity characteristic of Irish immigrants”)  That all sounds great until you see our mascot: a leprechaun who looks like he’s taking a break from the Lucky Charms cereal box.  Is there anything less ferocious and less “state of Indiana” than that?

NOW we’re talking!

If it were up to me, Notre Dame’s mascot would be an open-wheeled, open-cockpit IndyCar (VROOM! VROOM!), the kind they race every year at the Indianapolis 500 just four hours south of campus.  An IndyCar toughs out a jigging leprechaun by a mile, not to mention an indifferent buffalo who’d rather roam than run.  I still say, good on you for choosing to head out to pasture, Ember.  I wish the Notre Dame leprechaun would tag along.

Some content sourced from the Athabasca University Press article, “Imagining Head-Smashed-In”, the CUBuffs.com article, “Ralphie VI retires”, and Wikipedia, “the free encyclopedia”.

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Author: Dave

Five hundred posts would suggest I have something to say… This blog was born from a desire to elevate the English language, highlighting eloquent words from days gone by. The stories I share are snippets of life itself, and each comes with a bonus: a dusted-off word I hope you’ll go on to use more often. Read “Deutschland-ish Improvements” to learn about my backyard European wish list. Try “Slush Fun” for the throwback years of the 7-Eleven convenience store. Or drink in "Iced Coffee" to discover the plight of the rural French cafe. On the lighter side, read "Late Night Racquet Sports" for my adventures with our latest moth invasion. As Walt Whitman said, “That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” Here then, my verse. Welcome to Life In A Word.

20 thoughts on “Where The Buffalo Roam”

  1. I once was looking at going to UC Santa Cruz for my BA … mostly because I liked their school mascot, the banana slug (they don’t have a football team). Most days I can relate more to being a banana slug then a wolverine or bull or whatever … 😉

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    1. I knew about the Banana Slugs from my years of living in the Bay Area. There are a lot of other notables out there, mostly from schools who don’t have football teams. UC Irvine comes to mind (Peter the Anteater!) What is it about the UC schools? 🙂

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  4. I went to Wayne State University and the current logo for the “Tartars” is a boring green shield with a “W” inside the shield (think the new-and-improved-but-quickly-discarded Cracker Barrel logo). Back in the day when I attended, the logo was a shirtless, swashbuckling pirate, but it was abandoned for being racially insensitive shortly after I graduated in 1978. The Notre Dame Leprechaun does look like it moonlights from its regular gig on the Lucky Charms cereal box, even with his “put up your dukes” stance. 🙂

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      1. I have actually never attended any of WSU’s sports events Dave and the local sports reporters only mention U of M and MSU … that’s all I’ve heard this week as college football season ramps up: MSU’s first game is tonight and U of M’s first game is tomorrow. The WSU logo is boring and needs revamping, but “Tartar” isn’t something you can do much with. 🙂

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      2. Yep, it’s all about football this time of year. Even the Tigers will take something of a back seat to the Lions once the NFL gets underway. Football really is America’s national pasttime (not baseball, as the saying goes).

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      3. The Tigers were in a mini-slump … so it’s easy for people to start thinking Lions. People are giddy in SE Michigan right now as our weather is like football weather. We were 48 this morning when I got up and I actually put the furnace on once to take the chill off. Furnace in August – that is a first!

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  5. Just curious how you came to know about Head Smashed In. I live about 2 hours north of it. I think before the interpretive centre was built in 1987, few people in Alberta even knew about it!

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    1. My family and I were fortunate enough to take a trip on the Royal Canadian Pacific (railway), from Calgary on into the Canadian Rockies. Head-Smashed-In was one of the sightseeing stops (as well as Lake Louise and a restored western town I can’t recall the name of). It was one of the best trips we’ve ever taken.

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  6. Maybe Ralphie VI didn’t like noise and crowds and preferred a peaceful life on the prairies so she’s happy she was put out to pasture? If your going to have a leprechaun as a mascot it’s better it be a cute one, and that guy is not. I don’t think my high school Fighting Irish team had a mascot. I can’t even think of any Canadian mascots, as hockey teams aren’t really into them. The Blue Jays baseball team has a big stuffed Blue Jay but he’s seldom seen other than on Junior Jays games for the kids. Incidentally, I would be like the Dubliners when it comes to football – I don’t really understand it or the rules? Is there a reason American college football games are being played there?

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    1. I can’t explain the recent trend of college football games in Dublin, Joni (and only Dublin). Notre Dame has played in most of them and the Fightin’ Irish make more sense, of course (because of our nickname, not our mascot, ha). It’s a bit of gimmick but the games are always a sellout. The NFL has a similar trend going but those games are clearly a marketing strategy/global exposure. There’s talk of putting an NFL team in London one day.

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  7. My college had a cardinal as a mascot – not very intimidating (unless Alfred Hitchcock gets involved).

    Notre Dame’s pugnacious leprechaun (who looks a little drunk, to tell the truth) doesn’t look like he would fare well against Purdue’s musclebound Boilermaker. I have no bets on that one, being more aligned with a Hoosier, whatever that is. 🙂

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    1. No sports fan I know questions the connection between “Hoosiers” and “Indiana” (you can thank the wonderful basketball movie and Bobby Knight for that). Neither “Buckeyes” and “Ohio (State”). “Fightin’ Irish” and “Indiana”? Sounds like a fish (leprechaun) out of water.

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  8. I wonder what would happen if your mythical leprechaun and my mythical Jayhawk (Kansas) got together. Neither one is particularly fierce, so they’d probably just drink beer and have a good time!

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