No. 5 Wake Forest

    After a weeklong hiatus, we are back in the swing of things. So I’ll pick up right where I left off, bringing us to No. 5 out of 12 in the ACC mascot rankings. This week, with a score of eight out of a possible 10, is the Wake Forest Demon Deacon. Please read my previous posts to see how he fares in relation to some other mascots, and leave comments about what you think!
    Wake Forest has one of the more unique nicknames in all of college sports: The Demon Deacons. No other team shares this mascot, or has anything similar, for that matter. One could categorize other mascots together – for instance, the Panthers with the Bobcats, Wolfpack, Bearcats, etc. – but the Demon Deacon stands on its own. It is even more interesting by being contradictory: demon implies devilishness and perhaps evil, whereas deacon is a religious figure. But this is fairly obvious.
    The history of the nickname, however, is not so easily known. I give Wake Forest 4 out of 5 in this category, because it is funny in that it came as a response to Duke, but boring in that its origins came similarly to other schools. The only reason the Demon Deacons do not get a 5 is because the nickname came from use in the school newspaper, just as it did for Boston College, Maryland, and NC State.  According the Wake athletics’ website, “The current nicknames of the time were not descriptive enough of this new-found athletic spirit, school newspaper editor Mayon Parker ('24) felt. After Wake Forest defeated rival Trinity (now Duke) in Garrity's first football season (1923), Parker first referred to the team as ‘Demon Deacons,’ in recognition of what he termed their ‘devilish’ play and fighting spirit.”
    Interestingly enough, this explanation both helps and hurts the mascot ranking. It robs the school of the coveted 5/5, but supplies the Demon Deacon with four points by humorously mocking Duke, which had just named themselves the Blue Devils that same exact year. Most would agree that spoofing on Duke is hard to do, so if it is done successfully, it places a team in elite status; however, a team must have bragging rights before attempting this feat. After all, it serves little purpose for a team to mock the Blue Devils after getting annihilated in sports, which is what many have tried in the past. But, seeing that Wake Forest won the football game, the spoof is indeed successful and quite funny. Also, the religious aspect of the Demon Deacons nickname is acceptable in that they defeated the Blue Devils. Therefore, Wake earns a 4 out of 5, after just missing out on a full five points.
The mascot itself is nattily attired, with a tuxedo looking outfit, complete with bowtie and top-hat.  Also, many of the people who have donned the costume add to its legend through humorous stunts and impressive feats

many of the people who have donned the costume add to its legend through humorous stunts and impressive feats

    The points total for Wake Forest is 8 out of 10, which ties them with Duke; however, the tiebreaker is the uniqueness of the nickname. Wake has the only Demon Deacons, but the Blue Devils nickname is not just used by Duke. Therefore, Wake comes in at a respectable fifth place, leaving the Final Four (Virginia, UNC, Florida State, Georgia Tech, in no particular order) to battle it out over the next month.

*Have comments for Eric? Think his rankings are right or wrong? Comment on his rankings on our blog, www.thefanaticmagazine.com/blog 

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