What are the origins of the term "Oskie?"

Out here, in California, "oski" is the name of the Cal Golden Bears mascot.

As far as using it as a term for an interception? Not sure why it's used...just know we use it because of the mascots name.

I guess I don't have a real good answer. LOL

I was once taught that "OSCI" meant Our Side Caught It

I was always taught that the phrase originated at the University of Illinois whose official fight song is Oskee Wow Wow.

don't have my copy handy, but I think Coach Switzer was referring to Gen. Neyland..... that's the way I remember it, any how.

The clip on one of the sports shows recently said they used it in WWI as a battle cry before Neyland brought it to football.
www.facebook.com/pages/General-Robert-R-Neyland/44392590939?v=info



"People think I'm the greatest damn coach in the world," said the great Bear Bryant, "but Neyland taught me everything I know."

The Bear coached against Bob Neyland's Tennessee teams seven times and never beat him. "I never beat him," he said, "but I learned a lot from playing him."

We use WETSU

We Eat This Stuff($#%&) Up

In College we used FIRE

Anyone use the term PETER on a bouncing punt. Kids always ask me why we say PETER, I say, it means, DON'T PLAY WITH IT!


www.volnation.com/forum/tennessee-vols-football/77503-need-help-general-neylands-maxims.html

uihistoriesproject.chass.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/cview?SITEID=1&ID=335

I like the post on the Vols site,
One of my high school coaches said it is "Eskimo for Interception"!

That gives me an idea that "oskie" might've been a Prohibition euphemism for "whiskey", which would mean General Neyland attributed some of his success to drink! Or if not literally liquor, that the term came to mean a type of enthusiasm the way "mojo" (morphine) or "Moxie" did.

It came from Neyland... I thought everyone knew this

This thread makes me want to change back from bingo to oskie. At least I have a story for Oskie, for bingo its just... well just yell it out dangit!

Does anyone ever remember hearing someone yell either one while you were playing, and that being the first indication to you that the ball was intercepted? Or do we just teach it because we are supposed to?

So "Ball, oskie" was like he was telling Oskie he was throwing a ball for him? And by the time he wrote that, he expected the readers to already know, and it just looks funny taken out of context? Plausible. That'd mean people have been misreading "oskie" separately from "ball", thinking the comma was just delimiting items in a list. He should've punctuated and capitalized it like this, then:

5. Ball, Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.

No one wants to touch a Peter!!

Yeah joe4372, our DB's used to holler it out, whenever they picked one off.....I think any of them that saw the int. hollered it out too....so it was loud enough for us d-line to hear, even in a game with a little crowd noise......I tried to get the kids to use it, on the teams I coached, but most of them couldn't do anything but mumble something incoherent with their mouthpiece in......its definitely been around awhile though......I first learned it the 60's myself.

That reminds me of the origin of a "Booty Call."

Only fans of "Two and a Half Men" will get that.