4th Annual Murphspot Mascot Bracket - West, Round One, Part Two

I should address the obvious fact that these are going up after the tournament has started. Mostly because I have a job, and getting up an entire bracket with a paragraph on each game is hard to do between Sunday and Thursday. Given that the mascot bracket has little to do with the actual tournament and that no one in their right mind should have been using this as a guide for filling out a bracket, we're just going to ignore the fact that most of it is going up after the start of things. Expediency isn't what the mascot bracket is about. It's about trying to figure out what kind of bear will beat what kind of tiger.

#6 Cincinnati Bearcats vs. #11 Missouri Tigers

BINTURONG!

Bonus points for having the best species name thus far in the tournament. Yes. The tiger is likely going to have an advantage in a straight out one on one brawl, but bearcats can, according to Wikipedia, be vicious when cornered and have a tendency to chuckle. Also, binturong musk smells like buttered popcorn. That sounds made up. Given that, I think it's entirely reasonable to ascribe magical powers to it. Also, the Bearcats remind me of The Bear Coat, which is fun. Am I being swayed by a preference for less common mascots so that I don't have a dozen Tiger/Tiger and Bear/Bear matchups? Possibly. If that bothers you, I invite you to do your own in depth writeup of the ridiculous concept of mascot brackets. Go on. I'll wait. Cincinnati advances.

#3 UConn Huskies vs. #14 Bucknell Bisons

I'm not sure what to make of the position of the right hoof of the Bucknell Bison. I think it's supposed to look as though it's charging, which it sort of does, but it also looks like it could be hunched over and writing an angry email to everyone it knows about Obama's birth certificate. Either way, I have to imagine that the Bison is going to be more than a match for a Husky, heterochromia notwithstanding. Bucknell advances.

#7 Temple Owls vs. #10 Penn State Nittany Lions

I'll have to admit that I like Penn State in a general sort of way, and I'll even allow "Nittany Lion" to be what it's meant as; a mountain lion that hangs out around Mount Nittany. According to the Wikipedia write-up, it even originates from a Mascot Bracket style matchup.

"The mascot was the creation of Penn State senior H. D. "Joe" Mason in 1907. While on a 1904 trip to Princeton University, Mason had been embarrassed that Penn State did not have a mascot. Mason did not let that deter him: he fabricated the Nittany Lion on the spot and proclaimed that it would easily defeat the Princeton Bengal tiger.[2] The Lion's primary means of attack against the Tiger would be its strong right arm, capable of slaying any foes (this is now traditionally exemplified through one-armed push-ups after the team scores a touchdown)."

Owls are fine too (even if they're not going to have a fighting chance against a mountain lion), but if you're doing a Mascot comparison in 1907, you're making it at least to the second round. Penn State advances.

#2 San Diego State Aztecs vs. #15 Northern Colorado Bears


I'm always amused to see what a mascot in a logo is doing with its limbs. As with the Memphis Tiger, I'm kind of puzzled here. Yeah, the Bear doing some sort of menacing swat at the person who's drawing him, but he also looks like there might be a turntable just off to his lower left. I can't tell. The Aztecs probably have had to deal with a few bears in the course of their existence (there used to be a Mexican Grizzly Bear, but it's extinct now so that's probably significant). And they're likely have weapons, so they'll be able to overtake DJ RAARRGHHHGHGHH. San Diego State advances.