Vote now: Which high school has the best mascot in America? (Geography Bracket)
Over the next month we'll be featuring some of the best nicknames in high school sports, with an end goal of determining the fans' favorite.
We've built 12 brackets of 15 teams each, and we'll roll out three brackets a week.
We recently released the Geography Bracket, featuring 15 outstanding high school sports nicknames with a geographical theme. Descriptions of each are below the poll.
Best high school mascots in America: 15 most unique nicknames (Geography Bracket)
Now, we want to hear from you: Which is the best nickname in the bracket?
Vote in the poll to pick your favorite, and the winner will advance to the Dandy Dozen Championship Bracket.
Geography Bracket voting will conclude Thursday, Sept. 29, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.
(Photo of Phillipsburg Stateliners by Keith Muccilli)
Delphi Community Oracles (Indiana)
The Oracle of Delphi was the most important shrine in all of ancient Indiana, I mean Greece.
DeForest Norskies (Wisconsin)
This nickname has nothing to do with the northern skies of Wisconsin. DeForest is a community of Norwegian ancestry, and Norskies is a term for "Little Norwegians.”
Gothenburg Swedes (Nebraska)
If we’re honoring the “Little Norwegians,” then we have to cite the Swedes as well. Gothenburg, Sweden, and Gothenburg, Nebraska, are believed to be the only two Gothenburgs in the world.
Northampton Konkrete Kids (Pennsylvania)
In 1922, Northampton was the center of the world’s cement industry, and the high school sports teams were referred to as the Konkrete Kids. In honor of the area’s high population of German immigrants, the spelling of concrete was changed to konkrete, the spelling as it appears in the German language.
Crawfordsville Athenians (Indiana)
In 1836, Crawfordsville dubbed itself the “Athens of Indiana” because of the number of popular authors either born in Crawfordsville or living there. The authors aren’t as famed as they once were (Meredith Nicholson, Lew Wallace, Susan Elston Wallace, Mary Hannah Krout, Maurice Thompson), but the name Athenians stuck with the high school.
Belvidere County Seaters (New Jersey)
Who’s proud of being the county seat? Belvidere, New Jersey, that’s who.
Diomede Dateliners (Alaska)
Perhaps the most geographically interesting school in the country, the Dateliners are on Little Diomede Island in the middle of the Bering Strait between the Alaska mainland and Siberia. Neighboring island Big Diomede is just over 2 miles to the west, but is part of Russia and west of the International Date Line.
Blaine Borderites (Washington)
Blaine is right on the Canada border, thus they’re the Borderites. Simple.
Phillipsburg Stateliners (New Jersey)
Very similar to the Borderites, but right next to Pennsylvania rather than British Columbia.
Horicon Marshmen (Wisconsin)
The city of Horicon is at the entrance to the 32,000-acre Horicon Marsh and the natural area that goes with it, so the high school went with Marshmen.
Madison-Grant Argylls (Indiana)
Yes, crossword puzzle fans: an argyll is a covered gravy holder of silver or other metal containing a detachable central vessel for hot water to keep the gravy warm. But these Argylls are named for people from the Scottish isles of Argyll, off the west coast of the mainland.
Shenandoah Zeps (Ohio)
The nation’s first U.S. Navy zeppelin crumbled near the site of Shenandoah High School. In 1925, the USS Shenandoah became caught up in violent thunderstorms, and the zeppelin crashed in Caldwell, Ohio, making international news. Shenandoah honors that history by going by the Zeps.
Potsdam Sandstoners (New York)
The Potsdam Sandstone lies uncomfortably on a surface of Precambrian metamorphic rock primarily north and west of the Adirondack Mountains. The Potsdam Sandstoners — located right near the Canada border — have a comfortably strong ice hockey program.
Lanai Pine Lads and Lasses (Hawaii)
There’s just one K-12 school on Lanai, which is colloquially known as the Pineapple Island because of its past as an island-wide pineapple plantation. The Pine Lads and Lasses celebrate that history.
Woonsocket Villa Novans (Rhode Island)
Villa Nova means "new town" in Latin, but what's interesting about the only Villa Novans in the country is that the Villanova most people are familiar with is in Pennsylvania, not Rhode Island. But the Woonsocket Villa Novans make it work anyway.
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