MaxPreps Mascot Mondays: Massachusetts high school mascots

Just as important as a school's name and its location is its mascot. Options abound, and some teams go with the commonplace while others go with the truly unique.

In Massachusetts, there are 380 schools with mascots listed in the MaxPreps database. Listed below are the Top 17 most popular mascot names in Massachusetts, the mascot names that only one school owns and other mascot facts/stats.

NOT THE LEAD ANCHORS ON THE CHANNEL 4 NEWS TEAM
All you Ron Burgundy fans should take a liking to the sports teams at St. Clement (Medford). The school is the only Anchormen in the nation, and that of course means that an individual male athlete would be referred to as an Anchorman, just like the Will Ferrell character from the hit 2004 movie "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy." But it's not such a funny story about the origin of the nickname. The Catholic Encyclopedia states that Saint Clement, the fourth Pope, was ordered into the sea with an iron anchor. For a Catholic school, that's probably a more appropriate choice for a mascot than a mustached comic in a burgundy suit.

RED & BLUE, THEN REDMEN, THEN BACK TO RED & BLUE
On the surface, Natick has a patriotic mascot name that takes care of two of America's three flag colors. Dig deeper, and the story of the Natick High mascot name is an important one as some states look at the impact of Native American-themed mascot names, including Oregon, which banned Native American-themed mascot names. A story from the Boston Globe details how the school was originally the Red and Blue, then switched to Redmen for around 50 years. But the name switched back to the Red and Blue after the Natick School Committee voted unanimously to do so. The same thing has happened and will continue to happen at many other schools nationwide with similar mascot names to the Redmen.

CAN'T KNOCK THE CLOCKERS' JOCKS
You can go a lot of different directions with a mascot name like Clockers, the pride of Ashland. Perhaps a double meaning would be best on this one, as it implies physical strength (or at least ferocity) and a shout-out to the town's heritage. Ashland is the "Home of the Electric Clock" on the city's website. It was invented by Henry Warren in the early 1900s and changed the way many people told time. In addition to that, the definition of clock as a verb is to strike sharply or heavily, something most all athletic teams and players aspire to do. So have it either way: Either Ashland is going to strike its opponents or it's going to brag about its place in technological history. Not a bad draw either way.

HIGH-TECH KITTIES
There are roughly 1,000 examples of the word "cats" in mascot names (co-ops make it difficult to find the exact number). Regardless, nobody comes close to the name that Sci-Tech (Springfield) chose: The CyberCats. It's a trick of mascot naming to just add some type of adjective in front of or behind the word cats, and then all the sudden it's a new, unique name. Sci-Tech went with Cyber because the school is a magnet campus that specializes in science and technology, a fitting mascot name. Here are some of the other cat-themed names that no other school has: Bluecats, Firecats, Hillcats, L-cats, M-Cats, Purple Cats, Swampcats, Tigercats and Wildecats.

THEY'RE NOT SLEEPY
The mascot name "Naps" makes you think of that mid-afternoon recharge session, a little dose of sleep to help get through the day. But at Holy Name Central Catholic (Worcester), it's got nothing to do with sleeping. They are the Naps at Holy Name, and that is a tribute to Napoleon Bonaparte, a French miltary leader who is regarded as one of the most successful of all-time. Among his accomplishments were serving as Emperor of France and the Napoleonic Code legal reform.

TOP 17 MOST POPULAR MASCOT NAMES
# Warriors 17 (There is 1 Golden Warriors)
# Panthers 16
# Eagles 14 (There is 1 Golden Eagles)
# Tigers 14
# Bulldogs 12
# Wildcats 12
# Indians 10
Rams 10
Red Raiders 9 (There are 6 Raiders and 1 Blue Raiders)
# Vikings 9
# Cougars 9
Crusaders 9
# Mustangs 8
Spartans 8
Blue Devils 7 (There are 2 Red Devils)
# Falcons 7
# Lions 7
# Denotes mascot name is in America's Top 15

MASCOT NAMES USED BY ONLY 1 SCHOOL

* Anchormen Arrows Aztecs Big Blue * Big Blues Big Green Bishops Black Knights Blackhawks Blue Raiders * Blue Stars * Bombardiers Bombers Boxers Braves Broncos * Brownies Buccaneers * Canalmen * Clockers

Colts * Craftsmen Crimson Tide * CyberCats Dolphins Ducks * Fightin' Saints Flyers Foxes Golden Eagles Golden Tornadoes Golden Warriors Governors Grey Ghosts Guardians * Harbormen Hillers * Hoggers * M-Cats Magicians

Middies Millionaires Mohawks Mountaineers Mounties * Naps Orioles Pacers Penguins Polar Bears Presidents Red Hawks * Red Heifers * Red Wings Redmen * Reggies * Rocketeers Roughriders Royals Sailors

* Sammies Scarlet Knights Seahawks Seawolves Senators Shamrocks Skippers * Spy Ponders Stags Terriers * The Red and    Blue Tomahawks Townies Unicorns * Vineyarders * Wamps Witches Wolfpack * Woolies

* Denotes that no other school in America has that mascot name

MASCOT STATS
Most popular mascot name is used by 4.5 percent of schools.
There are 141 different mascot names for 380 schools.
24 schools have mascot names that no other American school has.
Massachusetts' Top 17 features 12 of America's Top 15 mascot names.