Endangered Species

So there are a lot of UFL fans who've reacted with hostility towards the Tuskers "move" to Virginia, and I can understand that. I can't picture myself writing this blog  if the Hartford Colonials became, say, the Manchester New Hampshire) Maples. But the time has come to put all the negativity behind us. What's done is done, and who's to say that there can't be any good to come out of a situation like this? Virgina gets a strong team and hopefully that helps bolster the fanbase.

Not that it's exactly the same situation, but I'll admit that I wasn't too happy when the Redwoods became the Mountain Lions. I mean there aren't too many sports franchises named for trees, or plants. I'll be blunt: it took serious balls to name a football team after what is, after all, a tremendous vegetable. Whereas teams named for predatory animals, particularly for large cats, particularly wild cats, can be found in every sports league ever invented. There's a bowling team out there in Camden New Jersey named the Wildcats; their star is a 244-pound plumber named Ed, and they're gearing up to crush the NJRBL (New Jersey Regional Bowling League) so that Ed can go back to coaching his son's little league team, the Wildcats. That way his wife can stop doing that and go back to her bridge club... the Lady Wildcats.

In other words, I'm not too impressed with the name Mountain Lions.

But it did spawn something awesome. The revamped Sacramento team has this.

Don't even dare suggest that the California team went from one endangered species to another. Mojo the Mountain Lion is basically a blender made of fur and fuzz and would end you for looking at him the wrong way. An avid contributor to the UFL Access forums, Mojo talks more trash than the rest of the UFL mascots combined and could likely take them all in a fight, possibly picking one up and beating the rest to death with it. If nothing else, he's been seriously entertaining, which is good because that's pretty much the point of the mascot.

You know what sort of mascot you would have ended up with if the Redwoods has stuck around? This.

I'm Woody the wood sprite! Go team!

So there is some good to come out of relocation.