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- The Oregon Duck shows no mercy.
- During a recent mascot battle with Colorado, the Duck showed Chip who is boss.
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Very few, if any mascots in the NCAA can rival the greatness of the Oregon Duck.
Sometime during the 1920s, a live duck mascot named Puddles started showing up at University of Oregon sporting events. The live mascot remained on the sideline until the 1940s, when, as the university puts it, “repeated complaints from the Humane Society finally sucked the fun out of bringing a live duck to games.”
As a result, a few years later, the current costumed mascot was born. Oregon’s athletic director reached what the school calls a “handshake agreement” with Walt Disney in 1947. It allowed Donald Ducks’ likeness to be used as the basis for the mascot, so he is.
Although the Duck is lovingly referred to as Puddles, the school is very clear that it does not have a name.
“The Duck is The Duck,” Oregon assistant AD for communications Andy McNamara said in 2015. “Puddles was the name of a live duck the student body paraded around in the early 20th century.”
Whatever you choose to call the Duck, it is hard not to love the Duck. Whether the Duck is finding hilarious ways to socially distance during football games or showing up on College Gameday to mess with Kirk Herbstreit, it is always up to something.
Most recently, the Duck was in Las Vegas for the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament.
While in Sin City, although Oregon went on to lose the actual game, the Duck partook in an epic mascot duel against Colorado’s buffalo mascot and won. It absolutely ANNIHILATED Chip during the battle.
After an initial joust, the Duck picked up its lance and charged full-speed toward Chip, bludgeoning him in the head and sending him to the floor. It was VICIOUS, take a look:
@pac12network 30 minutes after games end, you never know what you’re gonna see 💀 @The Oregon Duck @Chip The Buffalo
Gotta love the Duck.