quack quack

“Rise and shout, the cougars are out.”

So are the ducks.

Not to demean the ever-so-fierce cougar mascot that BYU is so proud of, but sometimes I wonder if a duck would be a more appropriate mascot. I mean, they are all over the place on this campus. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stumbled upon a duck while walking to class. They can be found sun bathing on the grass, gathering around puddles, and scavenging left over crumbs at lunch time. Come spring, if you close your eyes and listen, you can hear them quacking in the distance.

Some BYU students even speak duck. Just the other day I was walking to my Physiology class and I looked over to my right on the neighboring sidewalk and saw a boy, hands on hips, staring at the fowl near his feet. The duck was staring at said boy when it let out a loud “quack”. Then, to my surprise, do you know what the boy did? He quacked back.

Did you know that BYU has a duck pond? It’s true, and every BYU student is full aware of it. Mostly I’m just fully aware that it smells really bad. But it does indeed exist.

AND to add to this plethora of duck 411, BYU students are full of everything-you-need-to-know-about-ducks information. And I quote, “Did you know that duck’s quacks don’t echo?” Yes. I overheard a student say this just the other day.

Now with finals looming in just over 1 day, students are starting to lose their minds. They study into the wee hours of the night; they wear pajamas and sweats and don’t bother to keep tidy; they are cranky (or maybe that’s just me); they forget to eat meals or eat way too much as a coping mechanism; and their eyes slowly become more bloodshot as the week wears on.

I think it is safe to say that by the time finals are over, most BYU students will have turned into quacks themselves.

I guess I should be happy campus doesn’t reflect the animal we sing about in our fight song. After all, I’d hate to run into a cougar on my way to class…