DON’T MESS WITH THE FIGHTING ARTICHOKES!

Ohio St. has the Buckeyes. Michigan has the Wolverines. Scottsdale Community College? Well, they have the Fighting Artichokes. Yep. Not much of a beast that strikes fear in the hearts of the competition. In fact, it could be the worst name in college sports history (aside from Santa Cruz’s Banana Slugs.) That’s mainly because Artie the Artichoke (the mascot’s name) was born out of a battle between students and faculty. [Took me a while to find this answer. Actually had to google for it – Wiki had nothing.] The time was 1970, Scottsdale Community was just ten years of age. College heads were working with the student government to figure out the budget. To make a long story short, the students wanted the money to go to needed things like housing and local scholarships. While the faculty want to use it as bribe money to lure out-of-state athletes to their new team. In the end, the faculty overruled the students. As a result, the outraged student senate protested by offering up three "not-so-sporty-tough" team names for vote – Artichoke, the Rutabaga, or the Scoundrels. To avoid further confrontation, the administration let the winning name stand. Though the heads managed to have the last laugh. For the last handful of decades the Artichoke t-shirts have managed to bring in a decent chunck of change. Go Artie!