This Study of Luckiest Nicknames Will Have You Rolling Your Eyes

Maybe you're one of the many fans who believes analytics have ruined the sport of baseball, then maybe you'll simply roll your eyes on this study, too.

The numbers crunchers have done it again. For the good of mankind, they analyzed 16,000 different high school and college football team mascots to come up with the luckiest, unluckiest, and most popular school football mascots.

First thing they found was, the most popular nickname is Eagles, so if you're from Schoolcraft, I've already got your interest. But that's just the most popular. The luckiest is Conquistadors, but given our cancel culture, you have to wonder how long they'll even be around. The name is more prevalent in California, but teams with "the Conquistador name have nearly a 1 in 5 chance of winning their league title."

Now, here;s some bad news for you Galesburg-Augusta fans, Rams is the least winning-est nickname. (Bill Maskill is somewhere rolling his eyes.) The likelihood of a Rams team winning is 0.15%. (Don't get ahead of me here, but didn't the Lions' new GM come from the Rams. Uh-oh.)

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I'm not a very smart guy but I know what I know. I believe it was former WMU Bronco and major league pitcher Jim Bouton that had a chapter in one of this books titled "Tell your statistics to shut up."

Why do I say that? I went to Southern Illinois. We are the Salukis. (Egyptian greyhound, world's fastest dog. Thanks for asking.) Doesn't something like that throw all those numbers out of whack? There are no other Salukis, just like there are no other Apple Knockers, Nimrods, Boiling Springs Bubblers, Cornjerkers or Criminals. One really good season or two and you're at the top of the list.

What's the old saying? Lies, damned lies, and statistics.