HE'S GOT A NAME, YOU KNOW. The Drexel Dragon -- unlike the Temple Owl, the Penn Quaker, the St. Joe's Hawk, the Villanova Wildcat and the LaSalle Explorer mascots -- has a first name. I discovered this while taking photos of the bronze dragon sculpture on the Drexel campus at 33rd and Market Sts. There's a steam vent on the sidewalk in front of the statue and I was trying to get a shot that looked like he was breathing smoke, if not fire.

During the course of that I noticed a plaque identifying the Dragon as "Mario the Magnificent" (you were expecting, maybe, George?). The bronze dragon sculpture by Eric Berg was installed in 2002 was named in honor of beloved Drexel alum Mario V. Mascioli, who hadn't missed a Drexel men's basketball home game in 20 years before his death in January 2005. Mario the Man would have loved what this Drexel team is doing this season. Besides getting off to a 14-4 start , the Dragons smoked every Big Five opponant they played this season, sweeping their big-name Philadelphia big brothers for the first time in Drexel history. I guess that means that this year you could call Drexel's dragon mascot Super Mario.