Ah, mascots, the unspoken heroes of sporting events.
Nothing completes a sporting event quite like a giant anthropomorphic monstrosity making their way up the nosebleeds while beating a drum. It’s dangerous work! One wrong step and you can go flailing down the stairs, or you can catch the ire of coaches and players. Let us never forget Harvey the Hound having his tongue ripped out by Edmonton Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish. Gritty has been a bad (good?) hallucination for the better part of a year. In honour of these brave men and women, we took a look at all of the mascots from each Quebec university.
Gaiter – Bishop’s University
Barney the Dino – I mean, Gaiter, is the giant purple alligator of Bishop’s University. The team name isn’t even named after the animal, but *checks notes* boot coverings? I’m all for taking creative liberties with the mascot, so I guess a purple alligator beats a pair of Timbs hyping the crowd up at games.
No mascot – Université de Montreal
UDEM doesn’t have a mascot, but if they did, it would probably be the personification of the shin splints I get walking up all the stairs on their campus.
Marty the Martlet – McGill University
McGill went the route of basing their mascot off of the bird that graces their university flag instead of the uhhhh… Other name their athletic teams used to go by. The massive red bird wears a vest with the McGill logo on it, which I assume is mandatory for all McGill students and staff. Marty also rocks a fanny pack – unclear yet whether it’s Gucci or Supreme. Instead of pants, Marty goes for a kilt, much to the dismay of anyone looking up. Despite rocking some bold fashion choices, for some reason it’s canon that the mascot’s favourite poutine topping is duck, which I’m still trying to wrap my head around in deciding if that’s badass or terrifying.
Sherlo – Sherbrooke University
I can’t be the only one that only sees Squanch from Rick and Morty right?
Victor – Université de Laval
https://www.instagram.com/p/BX-8ClfFPGb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Laval has been an absolute athletic juggernaut the past 20 years, especially in football, claiming national title after national title. So it makes sense that they’re a little cocky. Victor, the bald eagle mascot of the university, personifies that cockiness to a tee. If I listen carefully, I can hear it telling me “on es les best suce ma bite”.
Buzz – Concordia University
Who could forget Buzz. The bug, the myth, the legend. Buzz has been a part of Concordia culture forever. Evolving from nightmare-inducing, to only slightly terrifying, Buzz is a constant at every Stingers game and is pretty reminiscent of that one fever dream you had when you were 7. He’s also the only mascot to not wear anything covering their lower-body like the insect-version of Porky Pig.
I also found this phenomenal Concordia promo video from 2008. And let me tell you, it’s just *chef’s kiss*. Where to even start? The horror-movie-killer-esque first person? The suit and tie? The fact that he’s (still) not wearing any pants? Wherever you tune in, it’s incredible and there are some wholesome moments mixed in there that almost make Buzz not the scariest thing in the world.
Feature photo by Hannah Ewen
