The National Football League has teams
representing five birds: ravens, falcons, eagles, cardinals, and seahawks. This
eclectic mix of mascots range from the fearsome, though tired falcons and
eagles to the far less threatening cardinals of Arizona. Since Cardinals are found only sporadically in Arizona
this mascot is based less in biology than an oversight of modern, revenue
driven sports and the pension for trading teams from St.
Louis, Missouri to Tempe, Arizona.
The Baltimore Ravens are of course a literary nod to Edgar Allen Poe’s birthplace.
The raven, however is a tough, intelligent and unforgiving bird making it a far
better mascot than the scavenging eagle. You won’t find a Seahawk in any modern
bird book but you don’t have to go to Seattle to see one. The term seahawk
is an antiquated term for the Osprey, the fish hunting raptor found throughout
coastal New England. Perhaps Seattle had the
huge Steller’s Sea Eagle in mind when it named it’s team. These massive birds are only found in western Russia and on rare occasion the
Aluetian chain. In the end of course it
not a bird but a gritty, citizen solider, lover of homeland, ready to play the
game of football in britches and a three-cornered hat – the Patriot - that will
trounce all other animals, minerals, and hobgoblins from the land this Sunday.
Go pats.
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