Battle for the Top of the NFL Food Chain
NFL logos and team names aren't chosen simply for the image of the animal itself. They are meant to convey certain behaviors, animal characteristics that are desirable in the NFL's wild world. Power, speed, ferocity, and dominance are some of the qualities necessary for victory on the field—and expected of the animals.
The search for such representative behavior further complicated Laurino's task. "You had to keep in mind the football parallels," she explained, "to find the kind of actions that would relate to what's happening on a football field."
"A lot of the mascots that we think of as more ferocious aren't always that way. Lions, for example, spend a lot of time sleeping."
In the end, she was able to capture all the animals of the NFL in action—with one possible exception. "There is one team," she confessed, "named for an animal that does not do anything terribly interesting—the Arizona Cardinals." "We were really, really searching, but although they look pretty in red, they just don't do seem to do much of anything."
Long-suffering fans of the Cardinals' football fortunes may nod their heads sagely at the observation.
So which of these imposing predators is at the top of the NFL food chain? There are quite a few contenders. "My first temptation is to say the lion," said Laurino, "but who knows what might happen if you put a lion up against a Kodiak bear?"
"Pound for pound, the eagle might be one of the top predators," she added. For the 2002 season, at least, the eagle apparently gets the nod. Philadelphia's Eagles were the last of the NFL's animal teams to be eliminated from this year's playoffs.
|
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES
|
