2005 Florida College Classic

[Al DeFlorio]

[Q]jeh25 Wrote:
UConn, okay maybe, but why in hell does Berkeley get to be "Cal" over UCLA or UC-Davis or UCSD?

Mass > UMass Lowell/Boston/Dartmouth > MIT  =p  (seriously, does MA have a 3rd tier?)
[/q]
I suppose the "Cal" thing is simply historical.  Back in the day only Cal-Berkeley and UCLA of the UC schools had big-time athletics, and the latter always went by UCLA.  So UC-Berkeley was Cal by default.  Like UNC is never referred to as UNC-Chapel Hill or Nebraska as Nebraska-Lincoln in the sports world. The flagship campus gets to drop the city designator by default, I guess.

The third Massachusetts tier would be places like Bridgewater State, Salem State, etc.

[KeithK]

Or likewise, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (though this gets used by some WCHA fans...)

[cornelldavy]

[Q]jeh25 Wrote:
why in hell does Berkeley get to be "Cal" over UCLA or UC-Davis or UCSD?
[/q]

The story I've heard from my teammates at UCLA and a Berkeley grad is that Berkeley was the first UC school, hence they were "Cal," since there was no other competition for the name. UCLA was the second UC school. This is supposedly why UCLA's teams are the Bruins and its colors are baby blue and gold - because they were the babies of Berkeley, whose teams are the Bears (state animal of California) and wear blue and gold. Other UC schools also have variations on the blue-yellow color scheme, although I suppose they ran out of Bear nicknames. This is all unsubstantiated, but it makes sense...

[ben03]

[Q]cornelldavy Wrote:
The story I've heard from my teammates at UCLA and a Berkeley grad is that Berkeley was the first UC school, hence they were "Cal," since there was no other competition for the name. UCLA was the second UC school. This is supposedly why UCLA's teams are the Bruins and its colors are baby blue and gold - because they were the babies of Berkeley, whose teams are the Bears (state animal of California) and wear blue and gold. Other UC schools also have variations on the blue-yellow color scheme, although I suppose they ran out of Bear nicknames. This is all unsubstantiated, but it makes sense...[/q]
yeah they definitely ran out of bear nicknames hence, "1986 UCSC  students in finally  convinced the chancellor to make the lowly but beloved Banana Slug
UC Santa Cruz's official mascot

[nyc94]

[Q]ben03 Wrote:
yeah they definitely ran out of bear nicknames hence, "1986 UCSC  students in finally  convinced the chancellor to make the lowly but beloved Banana Slug[/q]

Don't forget the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos.

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]nyc94 Wrote:

 [Q2]ben03 Wrote:
yeah they definitely ran out of bear nicknames hence, "1986 UCSC  students in finally  convinced the chancellor to make the lowly but beloved Banana Slug[/Q]
Don't forget the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos.[/q]

Go Gauchos!

(Another example is the UC Irvine Anteaters.)