The defending CM Champion, the Canisius Golden Griffin, was off to a huge start yesterday, leading the Holy Cross Crusader by a couple hundred votes in the morning, but bit by bit the Crusader crept up until it was tied by midafternoon. They exchanged blows for a little while until the Golden Griffin began pulling ahead later in the day and then maintained that lead through this morning, in the end finding itself winning by over a hundred votes and heading to its 2nd consecutive Catholic Mascotology final four.
The Loras Duhawk’s wing power was outmatching the St. Edward Hilltopper’s ability to…climb mountains and eat grass(?) for most of yesterday, but the tide turned last evening when St. Edward’s school spirit kicked into high gear, resulting in the Iowan bird eventually succumbing to the goat/ram/hilltopper’s brute strength.
Meanwhile, yesterday’s other winning competitors all took early leads over their opponents, maintaining them throughout the day and into victory this morning:
Emmit S. Burg, the Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineer, made mincemeat out of his rival, the La Salle Explorer.
And Iggy, the Scranton Royal Wolf, ended up ruffling the feathers of the St. Peter’s Peacock, claiming victory in Day 3 and of the entire Jesuit region.
And thus you have your 2014 Catholic Mascotology Final Four: the Canisius Golden Griffin, the Saint Edward’s Hilltopper, the Scranton Royal, and the Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineer.
The defending champion, Petey the Golden Griffin faces off against fellow Jesuit, Iggy the Scranton Royal, in what is sure to be a showdown for the ages. And it’s goat vs. man when Topper the St. Edward’s Hilltopper faces Emmit the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineer.
Go vote below!
Continuing random facts:
# Jesuit schools beginning tournament: 16
# Jesuit schools remaining: 2
# wolves beginning tournament: 3
# wolves remaining: 1
# mascots named Iggy beginning tournament: 3
# Iggys remaining: 1
# birds beginning tournament: 4.5
# birds remaining: .5
May the Best Mascot win!
The Canisius Golden Griffin is the defending Catholic Mascotology champion and top seed of this year’s tournament. Half lion, half eagle, the mighty Griffin allows Canisius College two mascots in one. And of historical note, being a beast of both the land and the air, the Griffin was seen in old Christendom as a symbol of Jesus — both human and divine.
The University of Scranton Royal is not what you’d expect…that is, it’s not a royal person, i.e. a king or queen, but rather a “Royal Wolf” (who replaced the unofficial mascot, the “Royal Rooster” in 2004.) And like a few other schools in this bracket, it’s based on the wolves found on the family crest of St. Ignatius of Loyola. And like more than a few other (Jesuit) school mascots, it’s thusly named Iggy. So maybe it’s exactly what you expected.
The Saint Edward’s University Hilltopper is a goat; no, it’s a ram; no, it’s a goat; it’s a ram; it’s a type of horse used in fox hunting? Despite conflicting reports, the Hilltopper is technically “likened to a mountain goat”, named Topper and legend has that it came about a while back when the baseball team decided to bring a live ram to the game, (even though in 2010 a live goat began attending games).
The Mount Saint Mary’s University Mountaineer is the campus mascot of Mount Saint Mary’s University and head of the Mount Maniacs. Hailing from Emmitsburg, Maryland, the Mountaineer is actually named Emmit S. Burg. Always dressed in his coonskin hat, plaid, sleeveless shirt and a scruffy goatee, Emmit could easily be confused with an ironic hipster, however he authentically loves all things hiking and camping.
