University of Mars

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The University of Mars is a fictional college on the planet Mars that began as a joke told by football announcer Alex Karras. During one Monday Night Football broadcast, ABC's cameras showed Oakland Raiders lineman Otis Sistrunk and his steaming bald head. Sistrunk never went to college, having gone straight from high school to semi-pro football, so Karras joked that the Raiders star had attended "the University of Mars." Sistrunk didn't care much for the nickname, but it stuck.

[edit] Other references

• In Greg Bear's Hugo-winning novel Moving Mars, students angered at the breaking of their contract with the University of Mars, Sinai, start a protest and plan to storm the university.

• A group of computer scientists at the University of Calgary have created an on-line role playing game called the University of Mars. [1]

• An episode of Futurama, entitled "Mars University," was broadcast in 1999. [2]

• Arizona State University, due to its desert location, is sometimes nicknamed the University of Mars; in fact, two Mars rovers were designed by ASU professor Phil Christensen. [3]

• There is a rock band in Norway named Mars University. [4]