Top 10 Mascots of the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

The 2009 Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament, known as March Madness, begins March 19th. In offices and bars across the country, NCAA pools are being filled out and discussed and as you begin filling out your brackets, petside.com brings you our Top 10 Pet Mascots of March Madness 2009. Petside.com can't guarantee that choosing teams by mascot will help you win your office pool, but we can give you a reason to justify why you selected our #1 pick to win it all this year. Good Luck!

www.ku.edu 10. The University of Kansas Jayhawks

Not actually a real bird, the Jayhawk is thought to be a mythical combination of a Blue Jay and a Sparrow Hawk. During the civil war, people in Kansas fighting to rid the state of slavery were called "Jayhawkers." The attire of the mascot was memorably changed in 1912 when Henry Maloy, a student newspaper cartoonist, drew the 'hawk with shoes on his feet. Maloy explained this was for kicking opponents, and the mascot has worn shoes ever since.

butler.edu 9. Butler Bulldogs

In 1919 a Bulldog named Shimmy, the mascot of a Butler fraternity, strolled into the student newspaper office just as they were looking for mascot inspiration. Previously the teams were known as the "Christians," but a long string of losses in the football season had caused the school to search for a new name. The idea stuck, and the next day the school paper featured a cartoon showing the dog labeled "Butler." The Bulldogs lost the next game, but the nickname remained.

www.marquette.edu 8. Marquette Golden Eagles

From 1954 to 1994 Marquette's teams were known as the "Warriors." The nickname was then changed to the Golden Eagles to be more politically correct. In 2004, Marquette considered changing the name back to the Warriors, but, the Board of Trustees rejected the idea on the grounds that the Warriors logos were insensitive to the Native American population. Reportedly, an alum offered Marquette $2 million dollars to return to the Warriors name, but the school rejected it. The nickname was briefly changed to just "Gold," but the reaction to this was extremely negative. This led to a series of voting between the choices of "Golden Eagles" and "Hilltoppers" to become the mascot. "Golden Eagles" was restored in June 2005.