In 1955, the Scarlet Knight officially became the mascot of Rutgers University. However, what many don't know is that everyone's favorite knight replaced a previous mascot, the Chanticleer. What is a Chanticleer, you may ask? Well, it's a name for a medieval fighting rooster. According to the official page for the Scarlet Knight, the Chanticleer found itself without a job because of the fact that it was so similar to a chicken. Indeed, it wouldn't be good to let people call us "the Rutgers chickens," but I still feel the need to present the following reasons as an argument for bringing back the Chanticleer anyway.
1. We don't have to replace the entire medieval motif we have going on
Whether it's the person riding the horse at football games or the Knight Wagon, Rutgers loves its medieval theme. However, remember that the Chanticleer is still a medieval rooster. We don't need to lose the suit of armor or anything else. After all, what's more terrifying: a regular person on horseback or an anthropomorphized chicken doing the exact same thing?
2. It would give you a really good Jeopardy! answer
No one else in the world, except maybe the San Francisco-based vocal group of the same name, would know what a Chanticleer is. We would have a leg up during any niche trivia games, and, "Hey, do you know what a Chanticleer is?" is a great ice breaker.
3. We used to have a humor magazine called "The Chanticleer," and this would be a perfect opportunity to bring it back
Kenlew.com has a rather large archive of Rutgers-related publications, and I looked at some of the old issues of "The Chanticleer." It's just pages and pages of truly terrible 1920's jokes. That should be reason enough to begin the magazine again, this time with horrible 2019 jokes.4. The Chanticleer is still valuable
Inside the Park Collectibles, according to their own website, auctions off vintage sports merch. In 2015, an auction for a tiny Chanticleer statue closed at $514, which proves that someone, somewhere, cares enough about the Chanticleer to spend actual money on a statue of its likeness.
5. Speaking of merch, can you imagine the Chanticleer memorabilia?
Just the idea of the sort of stuff whoever controls Rutgers gear designs would come up with makes me really happy. We already know that Rutgers loves its puns, so the amount of chicken-themed items and slogans would be amazing.
6. The Scarlet Knight tweeted about it, and we don't want our mascot to be a liar
On April 1st, 2018, the Scarlet Knight (@RUScarletKnight) tweeted: "BREAKING NEWS: @ruathletics has informed me we will no longer be the Scarlet Knights. Instead, we will be moving forward as our previous name The Chanticleers!" Yes, it was an April Fools joke, but I really think we should take the Knight at its word.
7. We don't care what anyone else thinks
Who cares if people joke about our mascot? In my eyes, no one can make fun of this school as well as its actual students, so they might as well not even be trying.
