BEST MASCOT FOR A SPOKANE UNIVERSITY
Marmots
Overwhelmingly (as in by a factor of 15-to-1), our fauna-minded voters went with everyone's favorite local rodent, Jimmy Marks. Just kidding; they voted for the Marmots. Now, marmots are a more varied breed than you might think. There are at least four major kinds — those are hoary marmots you see on the banks of the Spokane River — and they're closely related to prairie dogs, groundhogs and chipmunks. Our Spokane readers are not unaware of such matters. They're not about to vote for just any old generic marmot, no sirree. In fact, Inlander voters, in the full plenitude of their botanical discernment, differentiate among many subcategories of our rodent friends, to wit: the Mighty Marmots, Super Marmots, Fighting Marmots, River Marmots, Hoary Marmots, Rabid Marmots, Munching Marmots and Manly Marmots. Some of our readers have apparently befriended individual members of Marmot Nation, opting as they did for Marty Marmot, Rick Marmot and (our favorite) Chuckhole the Marmot. One reader even came up with a nickname for the nickname, as it were: she voted for "Marmots (Large Downtown Rats)."
Before we move on to the other award-winning mascot nominees, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention some of the more creative entries. Some folks would like Spokane State's athletic teams to be known as the Ranting Old Men, the Unemployed, the Apple Maggots, the Level III Sex Offenders and (in a nod to UNLV) the Running Tax Rebels.
2nd: Potholes; 3rd: (tie) Meth Addicts (including one vote for the even more picturesque "Toothless Meth Addicts") and Mullets
