MaxPreps Mascot Mondays: Alabama high school mascots

MaxPreps Mascot Mondays is a weekly feature on an individual state's mascot stats and some interesting commentary. Check back each Monday in 2012 for another state, in alphabetical order

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 Alabama, there are 482 schools with mascots listed in the MaxPreps database. Listed below are the Top 18 most popular mascot names in Alabama, the mascot names that only one school owns and other mascot facts/stats:

A SLICE OF CANADA IN ALABAMA?
Shades Valley (Birmingham) chose to go with “Mounties” despite the fact that Alabama is one of the farthest American states from Canada. It's almost certainly a derivative of Mountaineers or at least related to mountainous terrain, as the school's website says that it was the only "over-the-mountain" high school in its early years. After all, how else could you explain a school in Alabama sharing its mascot name with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

NULL TIDE, NOT ROLL TIDE
The University of Alabama has one of the most unique mascot names in college sports: The Crimson Tide. Nine high schools in America are the Crimson Tide. Not one is in Alabama, despite people in Alabama being pretty loyal to the U of A (or rabid about it). Also, Bryant (Cottondale) is named after famous U of A football coach Paul W. Bryant, more commonly know as Bear Bryant. The mascot, however, is not the Bears or Crimson Tide — it's the Stampede. And to add insult to injury for Crimson Tide fans, the most popular mascot in the state is Tigers, something to make Auburn fans smile.

AT ONE TIME IT WAS ANOTHER COUNTRY
Alabama was the capital of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, so essentially, it was a part of another country for a stretch. Schools pay homage to that fascinating point in world history by naming mascots associated with the Civil War. Two schools, Lee (Huntsville) and Lee (Montgomery), are both know as the Generals, which is a reference to Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy's top general during the war. Jefferson Davis (Montgomery) is named after the short-lived president of the Confederacy, and the mascot is the Volunteers. There are 13 Rebels, three more Generals, one Colonels and one Admirals.

RED AND GOLD ON TOP
Red and Golden are the most popular adjectives ahead , it’s a tie. Ten schools have mascot names that start with those adjectives. Golden Bears (4), Golden Eagles (3), Golden Gophers (1) and Golden Tigers (2) make up the golden group, while Red Devils (7), Red Raiders (2) and Red Tops (1) make up the red group. Next on the list is blue, with eight Blue Devils.

A WIN TO BECOME POETS
According to the Tuscaloosa News, the Sidney Lanier Poets became the Lanier (Montgomery) Poets due to the result of a football game. Montgomery County and Lanier were to combine and the mascot of the new school was decided on a 1928 game that Lanier won. Sidney Lanier was a famous Southern poet who also has a large lake named after him in north Georgia.

TOP 18 MOST POPULAR MASCOT NAMES
# Tigers 49 (There are also 2 Golden Tigers and 1 Fighting Tigers)
# Eagles 33 (There are also 3 Golden Eagles)
# Bulldogs 32
# Wildcats 31
# Panthers 28
# Lions 22
Rebels 14
# Warriors 13 (There is also 1 Kingdom Warriors, 1 Sparta Warriors)
Yellowjackets 12
Patriots 11
Rams 11
# Indians 10
Pirates 9
Hornets 9
Bears 8 (There are also 4 Golden Bears, 2 Bearcats and 1 Black Bears)
Blue Devils 8 (There are also 7 Red Devils and 1 Purple Devils)
# Trojans 8
# Raiders 8 (There are also 2 Red Raiders)
# Denotes that mascot name is in America's Top 15

MASCOT NAMES USED BY ONLY 1 SCHOOL

Admirals Ambassadors Bison Black Bears Braves Broncos Buccaneers Bucks Cardinals Cavaliers Choctaws Colonels Conquerors

Cowboys Demons Dolphins Dragons *Fighting Rangers Fighting Saints Fighting Tigers Flame *Flying Squadron Gamecocks Golden Gophers Hawks Huskies

Ironmen *Kingdom Warriors Lightning Longhorns Mounties *Pacesetters Poets *Purple Cats Purple Devils *Red Tops Redskins Rockets *Silent Warriors

*Sparta Warriors Stallions Stampede Thunder Thundering Herd *Torches Toros *Valley Cubs Warhawks Watchmen Whippets Wolverines

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

MASCOT STATS
Most popular mascot name is used by 10.2 percent of schools.
There are 101 different mascot names for 482 schools.
10 schools have mascot names that no other American school has.
Alabama's Top 18 features 10 of America's Top 15 mascot names.