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In a ceremony held on Monday, the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) was awarded the Capital One “Toughest Mascot Conference” award.
This is the first time the award has been given out. The Capital One Company, which annually sponsors the “Capital One Mascot Challenge” for individual mascots, decided that an award for entire athletic conferences was necessary as well.
“We’ve known for many years that there are conferences out there with tough team names from top to bottom, and creating this award is a way to finally give them the recognition they deserve,” CEO of Capital One Rich Fairbank said.
<center><p><a href="http://www.users.csbsju.edu/record/2008/12/miac-recognized-for-mascots/" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
By Willie “Mays” Hayes
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Mascots in the MIAC have such fearsome titles as “Pipers” (Hamline), “Scots” (Macalester), “Cobbers” (Concordia-Moorhead), “Gusties” (Gustavus Adolphus), “Johnnies” (St. John’s), “Tommies” (St. Thomas) and “Oles” (St. Olaf).
The MIAC faced some tough competition in winning this award. Athletic conferences representing NCAA Division I, II and III schools were all eligible for claiming the prize.
“The process was very difficult for our judges, very difficult. But in the end, we kept coming back to the MIAC,” Fairbank said. “There ended up being two “tipping points” that put them over the top.”
“One of our judges was a mythology expert, and she informed us that in ancient Greece, it was the Piper who struck fear into the hearts of entire armies,” Fairbank said. “Another judge hails from the Fargo-Moorhead area, and he told us that the entire ‘Cobber’ community is just a scary group of individuals to deal with.”
MIAC officials were very pleased with the news.
“This is a very exciting development for our conference,” MIAC Commissioner Dan McKane said. “I knew we had a chance at this award, but I feared we would be overlooked because we are a Division III conference.”
While celebration rang out throughout Minnesota, the news has struck others with surprise and disappointment.
“I thought if any Division III conference was going to win, it would be us,” Gary Karner, Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Commissioner said. “I thought with names like Warhawks, Blue Devils and Titans, we would be in contention, but I guess I was foolish to think we stood a chance against the MIAC.”
Other conferences across the nation are already trying to improve their chances to win the award next year.
The University of Louisiana-Lafeyette, whose mascot is the ‘Ragin’ Cajun,’ has already received invitations to join the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“UL-Lafeyette isn’t exactly up to par to compete athletically with the rest of the schools in our conference, but if their “Ragin’ Cajun” name can help us win this award, they will have proven their worth to us,” SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said.
The MIAC is already thinking about next year as well. “We’re not going anywhere,” McKane said. “I figure we’ll be in the running for this award as long as it is around.”
Filed under: Blazers, Johnnies, Sports by The Record Staff
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