Last Saturday, I went to a Salt Lake Bees game with a few friends. During the game, one of them asked me, “What’s a Zephyr?” (The question spawned from the fact the Bees were playing the Zephyrs)
And having a wealth of knowledge at my finger tips (the Blackberry), I decided to Google it.
Turns out zephyr has multiple definitions:
- The west wind.
- A gentle breeze.
- Any of various soft light fabrics, yarns, or garments.
- Something that is airy, insubstantial, or passing.
Well, isn’t that interesting?
I looked up at the scoreboard and took notice of the Zephyr’s mascot – a rat! I then asked, “Why a rat?”
This entry was posted on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 7:58 am and is filed under Day in the Life of....
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That naked Zephyrs is supposed to be named Zephyrs! Oops!
This is why I love blogging.
You learn new stuff everyday. Thanks, Elle!
ps. I made the change; it should be better.
The mascot is not a rat, it’s a nutria and his name is Boudreaux.
Zephyr comes from the origin of the team – Colorado. They were naked zephyrs after the western wind.
When the team was moved to New Orleans the nutria was adopted as its mascot because nutria are a pest in the lowlands of Lousiana and the people’s attempts to control the water to make the land habitable.
Elle
PS: I think your blog entry is missing a word after Bees.
or a fiesty beaver!
That looks more like an angry hamster. *giggles*
So I seem to be unable (or not quite willing) to focus on my tasks at work today, and decided to poke around and see what I could learn about the Zephyrs.
Sacramento has the Rivercats, and I understand that mascot name. Our field is built close to the Sacramento River and there are catfish in the river. Sacramento has also been known as River City, and we have a huge jazz jubilee every May which features some "really cool cats" and their bluesy music. So Rivercats makes a bit of sense.
But why would you want to name a mascot after a rat? (I am not fond of rodents in any shape or form.)
I guess technically their mascot is a nutria:
http://neworleans.zephyrs.milb.com/fans/page.jsp?ymd=20070130&content_id=167401&vkey=fans_t588&fext=.jsp&sid=t588
Boudreaux D. Nutria and his wife Clotile are not only the New Orleans Zephyrs official mascots, but they have become King and Queen of Zephyr Field and the ambassadors of baseball for the entire south Louisiana area.
This lovable, fuzzy husband-and-wife tandem has become the most popular nutria in Jefferson Parish, an area that has often greeted nutria with open fire instead of open arms.
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/nutria.html
and, it looks like the Zephyrs inherited their name:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_Zephyrs
In 1985, the team name was changed to the Denver Zephyrs, after the famous passenger train.
Okay – time for me to stop playing and be productive.
maybe because you want a rat to be like a zephyr — passing. Quickly passing.
I think I knew what a zephyr was (thanks to studying for the GRE), but I have no idea how it relates to a rat.
I’m curious on why a rat too. I never heard of them, but I knew what a zephyr is- I once wrote a poem using it.
I’ll give it some thought and come back with a reason it’s a rat. (Not the real reason, but a reason nonetheless.)