In my mind mascots and sports team nicknames are the greatest thing since the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Mascots encourage enthusiasm among fans, lead team cheers, jump through rings of fire, and in the case of the San Diego Chicken they are pop culture icons.

     Many teams and mascots are commonly named after Birds, or vengeful animals with long claws and sharp teeth. The normal culprits are Lions, Tigers and Cougars (gotcha). Look no further than the 1995 national championship game between the Wildcats and the Wildcats to prove the point that team names are cliche.

      Although many mascots are about as unique as a P-Diddy song, there is one mascot that has slipped under the radar and not caught the right people's attention. During the 2006 men's basketball tournament, the Shockers of Wichita State became a household name, but their nickname? That still remains a question for most people who aren't in college or don't think like a 14-year-old boy.

      When the Wichita State athletic department chose the name "Shockers" they probably envisioned it meaning something to the tune of "shocking the competition". That's all fine and well, except for the fact that "The Shocker" is an interestingly not so G-rated nickname. In fact, the name "the shocker" and its accompanying gang symbol like hand sign are so innapropriate your not going to find an explanation for it on this page. For that you would probably need to redirect your browser to Urbandictionary.com, a website which is certainly frequented by people searching for explanations for urban lingo.

      If you've already heard about Wichita State's coincedental nickname, I wouldn't seem surprised. Among high school and college students the Shockers, and the hand symbol has become quite a phenomenon. Websites sell foam fingers to represent the vulgar hand symbol, and worse yet, the Wichita St. cheerleaders were captured using "the shocker" hand signal on CBS during the second round of the NCAA tournament. The hand signal, which is becoming more widely known and more widely used, was also sported by many male and female cheerleaders on the Wichita St. men's basketball media guide in the past few seasons.

Above: A Wichita St. cheerleader throws up what most people think is probably a strange suburban gang sign for rich white girls.

      Now it might just be the college student in me, but the name "Shockers" does not offend me. Personally, I think it is pretty funny that a school of that size can go on with such an interesting name and hand gesture without raising the eybrows of adminstrators or faculty members.

      Ironically, the talking heads of sports have only been mentioning offensive nicknames as they pertain to potentially offensive mascots named after Indians or Indian tribes. The Illinois Fighting Illini, Florida State Seminoles, North Dakota State Fighting Sioux, and the Central Michigan Chippewas are just a few of the schools fighting injuctions to keep their mascots the same because  they are not offensive. Meanwhile, sports fans are quick to point out other mascots like the Fighting Irish, Blue Devils, Demon Deacons and others that could be potentially offensive while completely overlooking the Shockers.

     It may be that some people have never heard of Wichita St. or that they don't even know they are the Shockers. It could be they have never seen the strange hand symbol, or just don't care all together. (Of course, you and I knew what the story behind the Wichita St. nickname all along because we are in the know like that).

     Years from now, the Shockers won't be remembered for a Cinderella tournament run, or for having their mascot participate in a slam dunk contest. They won't know the mascot because it danced on a dugout during the seventh inning stretch or because it fought the San Diego Chicken. The Shockers will always be known as the offensive team nickname/mascot that slipped the radar.

     Maybe this one time, a school should have chosen their nickname to be the Wildcats.

     Jon Gunnells is a journalism senior at Michigan State University who is totally in the know. You can get at him via e-mail at gunnell2@msu.edu