Dear Mom,

What’s with the goat?

Love, Your Kid

(but not the only one, the only one)

Dear Kid,

I’m so glad you asked. (I was going to tell you anyway.)

In Green Eggs and Ham (probably the third best Dr. Seuss book as measured by the My-Opinion-Meter), Sam-I-Am offers green eggs and ham with a goat or on a boat. Imitation being the most sincere form of flattery, I opted to copycat both the boat (since you were on the crew team) and goat (because it rhymes).

Then I got thinking about the goat and realized that if your school had a goat as a mascot it would have made my (rhyming) life easier. (And by “easier” I mean “make more sense.”)

The only college that has a goat as a mascot (that I could find) is the US Naval Academy whose mascot is Bill The Goat.

But Bill was not always the USNA mascot. The original mascot was the Navy Monkey (which was actually a gorilla) because monkeys were then Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft’s favorite animal. Bill the Goat replaced the monkey in 1893 and for a few years there was mascot confusion (two cats, a bulldog, and a carrier pigeon each had turns) but Bill has reigned alone since 1904.

Why a Goat?

Ah, yes.

For many a moon (also many a century), ships sailed with livestock (especially goats). Goats provided fresh milk and butter (indirectly) and were the furry equivalent of a garbage disposal. They were also useful for disposing of trolls but there weren’t many trolls on the high seas as they tended to live under bridges at the time.

Bill the Goat (of USMA fame) has a habit of being kidnapped (even though he’s a full grown goat). The only napping I support involves REM sleep so if you’re interested you’ll have to go look it up yourself.

Love, Mom

Know any other schools with goat mascots? Let me know!