UNBE-LEAF-ABLE!
Stanford’s infamous Tree doesn’t make Mascot Hall of Fame
For a mascot, the Stanford Tree is larger than life.
In its various incarnations since being selected in 1975 as the school’s unofficial and irreverent delegate to the entire world, replacing the increasingly non-PC “Indian,” The Tree has been lampooned as “a constipated squid struggling with dinner” and listed as a topchoice on many Internet lists of “worst mascot.” It’s been physically attacked on multiple occasions. It’s been taken “hostage”
by rivals, including Stanford’s nemesis across the bay at UC Berkeley. And it’s stoked fear and loathing among visiting teams and their fans.
On Friday, the Tree was again in the news — not for what it did, but for what it didn’t do.
It did not get nominated for induction into the Mascot Hall of Fame. Why not? Ask The Tree. “The Tree doesn’t care that much about being in a Mascot Hall of Fame,” said Sam Weyen, the 21-yearold symbolic systems major currently serving as the latest in a long line of tree costumed rabble-rousers who’ve stoked the aspirations of Cardinal fans over the years while terrorizing their opponents. “We don’t strive for conventional affirmation or recognition that other mascots do.
“The whole idea of The Tree,” Weyen continued, “is to unapologetically be yourself, even if that often coincides with drunkenness and callowness. I personally don’t drink, though I’m probably the first Tree that can say that. But I certainly am callow.”
But while Tree may not care about the Hall, there’s also this: No one nominated it.
Nevertheless, with ground being broken Friday in Whiting, Indiana, on the new Hall headquarters, Stanford’s unofficial mascot was definitely on the minds of mascot-loving Americans everywhere.
The Associated Press called Weyen to pick his brain about the fact that one of the country’s most famous/infamous costumed ambassadors was not heading to the Hall of Fame. And The Tree was a topic of conversation Friday morning at the groundbreaking for the $18 million, 25,000-squarefoot home of the Hall, an enterprise founded online by creative guru David Raymond, who was invited by Whiting to set up shop in their quaint burg on Lake Michigan.
Raymond’s a huge fan of The Tree, even if it happens to not be in the running this year. “There’s almost no other mascot that makes me wet my pants like the Stanford Tree,” said Raymond, high praise coming from a guy who once served as the original Philadelphia Phillies’ Phanatic. “The Tree stands out among mascots. They almost rejoice in how bad it looks. It’s like they try to make the worst mascot costume they can, and the students rally around it.”
And The Tree’s pedigree, he said, is nothing to sneeze at.
“You’re talking about a lot of gray matter on that campus,” said Raymond. “I see The Tree as brilliant stupidity, and I applaud that.”
The Hall, which is expected to open its doors in 2017, will feature a threestory atrium where the heads of inducted mascots will hang like a mobile from the ceiling. And should The Tree ever be nominated for consideration, the Hall and the city of Whiting would welcome it with open arms.
“This project has evolved beyond my wildest dreams,” says Whiting’s mayor, Joe Stahura. “It’s going to be a really cool place — and since we’re trying to make sure that the mascots who have performed well over time get the recognition they deserve, The Tree would certainly be a strong candidate for the Hall of Fame.”
The Tree said that “if someone does nominate us and if we win, then I guess we’d deserve it.” Weyen quickly adds that he “prays to god” that Oski, Cal’s cardigan-draped, goofy grinned mascot, “never gets into that Hall of Fame, because the kids would be scared to death. In fact, Oski should be put in jail because he’s like something out of some 1920s horror film.”
But Weyen will not push for The Tree’s induction during his one-year service.
“I’ll just keep being reckless,” he said, “spinning around really fast and sticking my giant fake tongue out at everyone I see.”