The "real" mascots, Jim, were live animals. Mascots were introduced in some schools as far back as the early 1900's ... needless to say there are many reasons they were replaced by people in costume, up to today. Some still hang on, like the Georgia bulldog, and a smattering of others. SD chicken came about because the product on the field there was sooooooo bad at the time they needed something else to "entertain" fans, and Chicken One was certainly entertaining. What concerns me with UMaine ramping up to a more "participative" Bananas is whether an interest to "keep up" with Goldy or Bucky will also mean we will have what those other U's have as well...it pains me to even say ... hockey cheerleaders ... ick I'll tell you know, for all that's honorable to fans being there to watch the SPORT...don't ever go that far, Maine... Dan (the only hockey cheerleaders I ever liked were ones from Lake State I met at Lake Placid) PS - could there be any more spelling mistakes in the Allison ebay auction ? The seller must be a New Hampshire graduate (tee hee)... james acheson wrote: >I could only bear a few lines of that... > >a "real" mascot??? > >THE REAL mascot is the San Diego Chicken. >'nuff said >