Article:ORU Mascot benched... MASCOTS GONE WILD!

From Oral Roberts University, the same school in Tulsa, Oklahoma that founder Oral Roberts said "God was going to call me home if we don't raise more money" comes this. The school has benched three students that play the role of Eli the Eagle for a scuffle with the mascot of IUPUI (that's Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, in case you're wondering) during the Summit League Championship Game in Tulsa Wednesday night. The eagle in question wrestled with Jawz the Jaguar, representing Indiana-Purdue Indianapolis, when things got a bit out of hand (or paw or wing, depending on who you're cheering for). The fight has been recorded on You Tube and can be seen on that web site as well as the Tulsa World's site.

The melee started out as a dance contest between the two but got uglier than Mike Golic in one of Erin Andrew's dresses when the mascots got into a shoving match, then trying to wrestle and slam one another to the floor at the Union Multipurpose Activity Center.

For those of you that think that this is the first time this academic year mascots have duked it out, that's not the case. Houston's Shasta and the Oregon Duck got into it when the duck took exception at Shasta's doing pushups when a touchdown was scored when the two teams met in Eugene in September. The melee would wind up on ESPN and other news/sports outlets and the duck would wind up on the bench.

While the school took action, the Summit League chose not to after both ORU and IUPUI apologized for the action. If this kid from ORU is on scholarship, he should lose it forthwith. I would suggest tar and feathers but he (or she) is already feathered.