History Main / TheWildcats

* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' gives us their football team, the Sodor United. United ''what?'' Darned if we know!

* In ''[[WebComic/EightBitTheater 8-Bit Theater]]'', when the various teams (Light Warriors, Dark Warriors, Other Light Warriors), [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/11/06/episode-1056-mix-n-match/ recombine]], one of the teams (comprising Rogue, Garland, Ranger and Fighter) is the Wildcats, which was also Fighter's elementary school mascot.

* [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/11/06/episode-1056-mix-n-match/ Lampshaded]] in ''[[WebComic/EightBitTheater 8-Bit Theater]]''

* One of the racing teams in ''VideoGame/{{Juiced}}''.

Similarly generic team names are Cougars, Tigers, Eagles, or Bulldogs. These along with the Wildcats are among [[https://www.mascotdb.com/reports/most-popular-active the top 8 most popular team nicknames]] in use by high schools, colleges, and professional teams in the US.

Definitely TruthInTelevision. Nor is this trope confined to high school: the sports teams of the University of Arizona, Bethune–Cookman University, Davidson College, Kansas State, University of Kentucky, University of New Hampshire, Northwestern University, Villanova, and Weber State (not an exhaustive list) are all RealLife Wildcats.

Similarly generic team names are Cougars, Tigers, Eagles, or Bulldogs.

[[folder:Sports]]
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d [[https://www.espn.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=4029728&sportCat=ncb in this article,]] on a "likability index" involving the teams in NCAA basketball's 2009 Final Four: "If your mascot is a Husky, deduct one point for triteness. If your mascot is a Wildcat, deduct two points for JustForFun/{{egregious}} triteness." This same sportswriter puts out a "likability index" every year, and in 2018 he lampshaded this trope [[https://sports.yahoo.com/likable-final-four-team-heres-definitive-guide-root-team-isnt-023442382.html again]] with "If your school’s nickname and mascot are Wildcats, deduct 10 points for triteness."
* "Eagles", "Tigers", "Hawks" "Lions" and "Bulldogs" are the most common nicknames in college sports. "Wildcats" is still in the top 10. The rankings on the high school level are about the same.
* The Southeastern Conference of NCAA Division I FBS football has THREE universities (Auburn, LSU, and Missouri) that share the same team name: Tigers.
** Which is the [[HistoryRepeats second time]] the SEC has had three sets of Tigers. While Mizzou didn't join until 2012, Sewanee, a small private school out of Tennessee, was in the SEC from the league's founding in 1932 until leaving in 1940.
** Also, in the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship, the two universities (the aforementioned LSU, and Clemson, which is in the Atlantic Coast Conference) are both named, you guessed it, the Tigers.
* The SEC isn't the only D-I league with three "Tigers". The Southwestern Athletic Conference, which plays one level down in Division I FCS, has Jackson State, Grambling State, and Texas Southern.
* A ''third'' D-I league, the Atlantic 10 Conference (which doesn't play football), also has three members with the same nickname: Fordham, Rhode Island, and VCU. In this case, the shared nickname is Rams. While Fordham and URI have football teams, they avert this trope by being members of different conferences in that sport (respectively the Patriot League and CAA Football, the technically separate football arm of the Colonial Athletic Association).
* It appears that one can avert this trope by using more obscure cats, such as the [[UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} WNBA]] team the Minnesota Lynx, especially since it's a play on their [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]] counterpart the Timberwolves. On the community college level, there's the Schoolcraft College Ocelots in Michigan.
* While Cougars is quite common, the more localized slang term Catamounts (derived from "cat of the mountains") is used by the University of Vermont and Western Carolina University.
[[/folder]]

* While Cougars is quite common, the more localized slang term Catamounts is used by the University of Vermont and Western Carolina University.

* Also very common in RealLife are Eagles and Wolverines.

* It appears that one can avert this trope by using more obscure cats, such as the [[UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} WNBA]] team the Minnesota Lynx, especially since it's a play on their [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]] counterpart the Timberwolves.
* In a localized take on the trope, the University of Vermont's team is the Catamounts, a northeast slang term for a mountain lion.

-->"Wild Cats everywhere! Put your hands up in the air!"\\

* In ''Series/ModernFamily'', when Haley has her disciplinary hearing, her last comment on her actions becomes "Go Wildcats"; a member of the board points out that's not even the college's mascot.

Not to be confused with the superhero comic series ''ComicBook/WildcatsWildStorm''.

* Superhero teams aren't immune to this. Just ask [=WildStorm=] Comics' ''ComicBook/WildCATsWildStorm''.

* Superhero teams aren't immune to this. Just ask [=WildStorm=] Comics' ''ComicBook/WildcatsWildStorm''.

Not to be confused with the superhero comic series ''Comicbook/WildcatsWildStorm.''

!!Examples

* Superhero teams aren't immune to this. Just ask [=WildStorm=] Comics' ''ComicBook/WildcatsWildStorm.''

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

-->"Wild Cats everywhere! Put your hands up in the air!"
-->"WHAT TEAM?" "WILDCATS!"

* Claire's original high-school football team on ''{{Series/Heroes}}'': The Wildcats.

* The Pee Wee Hockey League team ''Series/MacGyver1985'' belonged to as a boy was the Wildcats, as seen in the episode "Harry's Will".

[[folder: Webcomics]]
* [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/11/06/episode-1056-mix-n-match/ Lampshaded]] in ''[[WebComic/EightBitTheater 8-Bit Theater]]''

[[folder: Web Originals]]
* In ''Literature/BabeRuthManTankGladiator'' amateur team are always named "Wildcats".

* The Kitchen Coliseum in ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' is "Home to the Kitchen Universium Wildcats."

[[folder: Other ]]
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d [[https://www.espn.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=4029728&sportCat=ncb in this article,]] on a "likability index" involving the teams in NCAA basketball's 2009 Final Four: "If your mascot is a Husky, deduct one point for triteness. If your mascot is a Wildcat, deduct two points for JustForFun/{{egregious}} triteness." This same sportswriter puts out a "likability index" every year, and in 2018 he lampshaded this trope [[https://sports.yahoo.com/likable-final-four-team-heres-definitive-guide-root-team-isnt-023442382.html again]] with "If your school’s nickname and mascot are Wildcats, deduct 10 points for triteness."
* Parodied on ''WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad'' with the Fighting Growlbacks.
* Also very common in RealLife are Eagles and Wolverines.
* The Southeastern Conference of NCAA Division I FBS football has THREE universities (Auburn, LSU, and Missouri) that share the same team name: Tigers.
** Which is the [[HistoryRepeats second time]] the SEC has had three sets of Tigers. While Mizzou didn't join until 2012, Sewanee, a small private school out of Tennessee, was in the SEC from the league's founding in 1932 until leaving in 1940.
** Also, in the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship, the two universities (the aforementioned LSU, and Clemson, which is in the Atlantic Coast Conference) are both named, you guessed it, the Tigers.
* The SEC isn't the only D-I league with three "Tigers". The Southwestern Athletic Conference, which plays one level down in Division I FCS, has Jackson State, Grambling State, and Texas Southern.
* A ''third'' D-I league, the Atlantic 10 Conference (which doesn't play football), also has three members with the same nickname: Fordham, Rhode Island, and VCU. In this case, the shared nickname is Rams. While Fordham and URI have football teams, they avert this trope by being members of different conferences in that sport (respectively the Patriot League and CAA Football, the technically separate football arm of the Colonial Athletic Association).
* It appears that one can avert this trope by using more obscure cats, such as the [[UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} WNBA]] team the Minnesota Lynx, especially since it's a play on their [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]] counterpart the Timberwolves.
[[/folder]]

%% Image selected via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/ImageSuggestions127
%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700
%% Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Superhero teams aren't immune to this. Just ask [=WildStorm=] Comics' ''ComicBook/WildcatsWildStorm.''
* The school mascot in ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan''.

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* Goldie Hawn was in a 1986 film called... ''Film/{{Wildcats|1986}}''. Her dream was to coach high school football. Guess what the name of the team is... go on, guess.

* The football team from Prudence's high school in ''Film/{{Across the Universe|2007}}''.

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

* The Pee Wee Hockey League team ''Series/MacGyver1985'' belonged to as a boy was the Wildcats, as seen in the episode "Harry's Will".

* Series/{{House}}: When Cuddy asked, "The janitor's closet ''here''?" in response to hearing that Cameron and Chase had been having liaisons in the janitor's closet, House sarcastically replied, "No, the one at the local high school. Go Tigercats!"[[note]]This may have been a slightly fictionalized local in-joke. ''House'' is set in a slightly fictionalized Central UsefulNotes/NewJersey, specifically in the area around Princeton; as [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague Princeton University]]'s mascot is the Tigers, the two high schools in town (the public Princeton High and the private Princeton Day School) are called the Tigers and the Panthers.[[/note]]
* The college in Gulfhaven uses the Cougar nickname, as a self-admitted weak justification for ''Series/CougarTown'' keeping its original title.

* Played with in ''Series/HighSchoolMusicalTheMusicalTheSeries'', since the actual mascot for East High isn't the Wildcats, but the Leopards. "Wildcats" still becomes an unofficial term for the drama club, however.

[[folder: Theatre ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* One of the racing teams in ''Juiced''.

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* The high school and middle school teams from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' were originally named the Cougars. It was changed to the Longhorns later on.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' {{lampshaded}} this trope in "Bart Star", when the Springfield Wildcats' first game is against... the Ogdenville Wildcats.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'': In "Bobcats on Three!", Daffy's recruited to coach the school water polo team, the Bobcats. (Which makes very little sense as the name of a water polo team.)