If history went a different way, the University of California, Santa Barbara would not have a spot on this list. According to the university, back in the 1930s a group of female coeds voted to change the name of the school's mascot from the Roadrunners to the Gauchos because they were inspired by silent film actor Douglas Fairbanks' titular character in the 1927 film The Gaucho.

Gauchos are Argentine cowboys, and the students figured that a cowboy would be more fearsome than a skinny-legged bird. (Granted, this was a decade before the Road Runner started to outsmart Wile E. Coyote on the silver screen.) That makes sense, but it's not just a generic cowboy we're talking about here, which is why some people say it's an example of cultural appropriation. It doesn't help that some fans think it's culturally acceptable to toss tortillas on the court or field during a sporting event, even though tortillas have nothing to do with cuisine of Argentina. The current logo depicts a menacing Zorro-like character — why not change it to a nice pair of flowing gaucho pants? That would keep everybody happy, right?

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