Sports News: Spring 2011

Friday, March 25, 2011

COMPETITON GETS FIERCE IN MASCOT MADNESS SWEET 16
As Moravian College’s Amos the Greyhound defends his crown, new challengers emerge among other animals, humans and humanoids in Third Annual competition

NEW YORK, NY --- With Spring Break ending for most colleges, SportsTalkNY’s Third Annual Mascot Madness competition kicks into a higher gear this week, featuring what promise to be fierce tiger-eat-tiger, lion-eat-lion, bear-eat-bear and whatever-eat-whatever competitions in this year’s Sweet Sixteen.

Proving that last year’s competition was no fluke, Moravian College continued to rally its forces behind their beloved mascot, Amos the Greyhound, whose quest to repeat as Mascot Madness champ moved into the next round. This week, Amos squares off against the University of Central Florida’s Knightro in the battle to represent the Oh!My! Quadrant in the Final Four.

But a looming challenge is appearing on the horizon in the form of the University of Nebraska at Kearney’s Louie the Loper. With a vote total rivaling Amos’s, Louie thrashed Brandeis University’s Ollie the Owl and will face Indiana State’s Sycamore Sam in the other half of the bracket.

  Ollie’s defeat was one of two sour notes emanating from the first week’s outing, along with the loss suffered by New York Institute of Technlogy’s Nyit. The two mascots represented the alma maters of SportsTalkNY’s hosts, A.J. Carter (Brandeis) and Mark Rosenman (NYIT).

“But I can still rejoice,” Carter said, “The advance of Columbia University’s Roar-ee to the Sweet Sixteen proved once again the value of doing graduate work." (Carter has a master’s from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.) “Of course, if Roar-ee loses this week, I will regret not continuing for a PhD,” he added.

Rosenman preferred to focus on the big picture – a competition that, if past years’ experiences hold true – will see votes increase steadily from week to week. “Mascot Madness fever is gripping campuses all across America. And besides, I’m doing better in this bracket pool than in the other one, which depends on the outcome of basketball games.”  

The other Sweet 16 pairings are:

In the Lions quadrant:  University of South Alabama’s South Paw vs. Columbia University’s Roar-ee and University of Sioux Falls’s Cooper the Cougar vs. Missouri Southern State University’s Lion.

In the Tigers quadrant: Towson University’s Doc vs. University of the Pacific’s Power Cat and Occidental College’s Oswald vs. Grambling University’s Mr. Tiger.

In the Bears quadrant:  University of Montana’s Monte vs. Coast Guard Academy’s Objee  and Kutztown University’s Avalanche vs. University of Maine’s Bananas.

People wanting to cast their ballots should visit  the show’s website,www.sportstalknylive.com. and click the Mascot Madness link

Now in its fourth year, the weekly SportstalkNY has built a growing loyal following with its mix of interviews with sports celebrities and authors and its analysis of the week’s developments. Guests have ranged from boxing greats Evander Holyfield, Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler to hockey legends Phil Esposito and Gordie Howe and authors Peter Golenbock, Phil Pepe and Jim Bouton as well as comedians Pat Cooper Robert Klein.
  
What makes SportstalkNY different from other sports talk shows is the live chat component, allowing viewers to comment, in real time, on the evening’s discussion, talking about the hosts, to them, or even asking questions that are passed on to the guests.

Mascot Madness stemmed from a chat room discussion, as Carter reported on his trip to the college cheerleading championship at Disney World (his son cheers for the University of Delaware) and watching the mascot competition. The reports sparked so much back-and-forth in the chat room that Carter and Rosenman decided to run a bracket competition similar to the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament.

Viewers wishing to catch up on the competition can view previous shows in the archive section of the SportstalkNY website. They can also download podcasts of the interviews.

The show airs from 9-11 p.m. Sundays on UStream Television. The winner of the Mascot Madness competition will be announced on the April 24 show.