Cougars? Sign me up!

[sloasdaylight]

I really don't know what to say to this.

New school can

Students at a new Utah high school are facing disappointment after their choice for a new school mascot was rejected for one of the strangest reasons possible: Board members deemed it might be seen as offensive to middle-aged women.


As reported by Salt Lake City Fox affiliate KTSU, Draper (Utah) Corner Canyon High announced its new mascot and school colors on Wednesday, with Canyons School District officials proclaiming that the school's teams will be called the Chargers, using a blue and white color scheme.

That's all fine and good except for the fact that the school's future student body -- which was given the opportunity to select its own future mascot -- had chosen to be the Cougars. With some 23 percent of the student vote, the Cougar choice was far preferred to other options, which included the Chargers, Diamondbacks, Falcons, Raptors, Broncos, Bears and Cavaliers.

The reason why the future student body gravitated toward Cougars is pretty clear: Area collegiate power BYU uses the Cougar as its mascot and enjoys an enormous fan base of area residents and those who follow the Mormon faith (BYU is a Mormon institution).


Still, the Canyons School Board refused to accept the Cougar as a mascot out of fear that it might offend older women. In the current edition of the Webster Dictionary, the second definition for cougar sights a slang terminology that refers to "a middle-aged woman seeking a romantic relationship with a younger man."

To say that the board's reaction to having a school play as the Cougars was a bit over the top is certainly an understatement, particularly when one considers the fact that BYU and a host of other high schools in Utah use the Cougar as their mascot. By pulling the right to pick their own mascot away, the school board turned what appeared to be a nice nod toward student self determination into a first overbearing act of a new administration that doesn't even exist yet. Appoint Dean Wormer as principal and the student rebellion will be ready to go by the first day of school.

[Related: Jazz mascot drops cake on fans from upper deck]
More significantly, why would the board even offer "Cougars" as a potential mascot choice if it wasn't prepared to accept it? That lack of logic is positively baffling. Surely everyone could have saved themselves a lot of face if they simply had not allowed prospective students to choose to be the Cougars in the first place.

Of course, there's still plenty of time for the Canyons School Board to re-consider and give the students back their Cougars. Corner Canyon isn't scheduled to open until fall 2013, so the initial announcement of school colors and mascot was seen as a way to get positive attention for a project that remains on schedule.

Needless to say, it doesn't seem to have quite worked out that way.

[BurningSkies]

It makes me sad because everyone should rejoice in cougars.


...and telling me the football stadium is full of cougars would be just about the only way you'd get me to go to a HS football game...Otherwise I'll just head to the local upscale supermarket.

[stratovani]

PC is alive and well in America in 2012.

[runmikeyrun]

And yet no one makes a stink when we name a team the Blue Devils...? This is so ridic.

[Horny Toad]

[Roscoe East]

This thread is useless without pic... oh, nevermind.

Hnnnnnnnngggg!

[MonetBass]

I wonder how BYU feels about this.

[Waffles and Scotch]

Ridiculous. And sad.

[Chebass88]

[Related: Jazz mascot drops cake on fans from upper deck]

I would like to hear more about this stunning little nugget contained in the article.

I'll bet that the School Board is comprised of overweight, middle-aged women who SECRETLY & DESPERATELY WANT to be considered cougars, but do not have the looks to pull it off.

[Horny Toad]

Originally Posted by Chebass88

I'll bet that the School Board is comprised of overweight, middle-aged women who SECRETLY & DESPERATELY WANT to be considered cougars, but do not have the looks to pull it off.

I'll bet that's a pretty safe bet.

[MatticusMania]

I could use a cougar right about now...

[EricF]

Was "MILFs" not an option?

[BurningSkies]

MILFs and Cougars aren't the same...

[electracoyote]

Originally Posted by EricF

Was "MILFs" not an option?

Hahahaha

I'm hearing this in my head being announced over the PA at a football game.

"And ladies and gentlemen, let's give a big cheer for the Lexington Grove High School MILFS!"

[EricF]

Originally Posted by BurningSkies

MILFs and Cougars aren't the same...

Sometimes they are. Sometimes they aren't.

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by EricF

Sometimes they are. Sometimes they aren't.

+1

[Bass_Thumper]

This is a sad case of PC gone very wrong. Before you know it, we won't be able to call actual cougers, cougers. I suppose we need to go ahead and dust of catamount and bring it on back.

[Lee H]

Originally Posted by electracoyote

Hahahaha

I'm hearing this in my head being announced over the PA at a football game.

"And ladies and gentlemen, let's give a big cheer for the Lexington Grove High School MILFS!"

that would be classic...and the stands would be full

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

I could use a cougar right about now...

Have I ever got a good deal for you then... I have another one hanging around, and I do not want it here. If you come get it, it is all yours...
just to be clear...you do want the kind with 4 legs, right?


My area is over run with predators right now. They are issuing deprivation permits to anyone who asks. Bears and lions are really becoming a danger, and they are wiping out the deer population

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by Lee H

Have I ever got a good deal for you then... I have another one hanging around, and I do not want it here. If you come get it, it is all yours...
just to be clear...you do want the kind with 4 legs, right?

2 legs, 4 legs, either one will serve me well right now, for quite obviously diffferent purrposes.

[Pilgrim]

Mark Twain wrote: "For practice, God made an idiot. Then he made a school board."

More proof.

Those of you who recognize my avatar can guess how low my opinion of this ruling is.