From our good friends over at our Washington State blog CougCenter, we have a transcript of Mike Leach's power rankings of Pac-12 mascots, which he provided on the Calabro Show podcast.
Ralphie and his buffalo brethren rank highly in Leach's estimation, right there with the Golden Bear and the Bruin. But, of course, the Cougar wins out. Check out the transcript below:
Jim Moore: In a battle to the death among Pac-12 mascots, which animal or person wins?
Mike Leach: The Cougar absolutely. [...] Buffalo ... I think the buffalo would be pretty tough to beat. The Golden Bear, Bruin and Buffalo ... I think those are the tough ones.
Moore: Why the Buffalo?
Leach: Do you want to fight a buffalo? I don't know, those buffalo are big. You know, buffalo are significantly bigger than elk. I grew up near Yellowstone so I've been near buffalo. Buffalo are huge. And then the other thing I've always gotten a kick out of: When you play Colorado, there's those buffalo dragging those six handlers around. Those handlers aren't dragging the buffalo. The buffalo's dragging him.
Ralphie's not even a big buffalo. Ralphie pulls those people wherever he wants to.
We'll just need to wait until Saturday, Sept. 22, this fall to find out if the Cougar will actually prevail in Leach's first year at the helm. The Buffalo suffered a letdown last fall.