With great pride in our past achievements and full of great expectations for the future of the state's flagship university, the University of Maryland family has come to embrace "Fear the Turtle" as a reflection of our great stature. First conceived as a slogan of athletic success, the phrase has evolved to embrace the spirit of achievement and excellence in every aspect of the university.
Yikes. I'm glad that I don't work somewhere where my spirit of excellence is embraced by frightening turtles. Beside, I don't think turtles are frightening. I like turtles.
3 comments:
I am more frightened of Black Flies than turtles. Turtles have an essence of longevity, but they are slow of foot and slow to change direction. Black Flies terrify me as they are fast tiny little creatures that are hard to grasp and extinguish. They also attack in mass. Fear the turtle? Ha! Fear the Black Fly!
Sports are a big deal at UMD. As you drive toward the College Park campus you can see the gleaming athletic complex (just finished 3 or 4 years ago) rising over the tops of the cold-war-era science buildings. The beloved terrapin actually has a name, believe it or not - Testudo. Right now he's immortalized as a bronze sculpture in front of the research library, its nose worn down from generations of Terp fans rubbing it for good luck.
I'm so glad I didn't go to a college with testosterone-crazed jocks yelling things like "Fear the Turtle." COA doesn't really need a mascot - we're our own breed.
In high school, I was a Terrier - specifically, a Scottish terrier. We were going up against the bulldogs, the wildcats, red devils, tigers... I always joked that we could bite them in the ankles, til they died of embarrassment. Some other teams were worse off, though - the Cobden Apple Knockers, for one. Might as well be the cherry pickers or blueberry rakers...
Post a Comment