Stanford Sports History

Most people think that the "Tree" is one of the dumbest mascots of all time. It is so dumb that Stanford doesn't even claim it, as the school officially does not have a mascot. The tree is part of the band, which is a weird delineation.

Stanford is also awful at coming up with nicknames. They were the "Indians" for 42 years (not cool). Then they were nothing for 9 years, despite almost settling on the "Griffins" (more cool), in 1978. In 1981, after 9 years of deliberation, they came up with the revolutionary nickname of "Cardinal", which doesn't even reference the bird, but the color red. Disappointing is an understatement.