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(1)College and university sports teams have nicknames. (2)Most
are common, such as the Bears, Lions, and Tigers. (3)However, some are unusual. (4)For
instance, the University of California at Irvine is nicknamed "Anteaters."
(5)The University of Washburn's sports teams are called the "Ichabods."
(6)Richland College sports teams are called "Thunderducks." (7)And perhaps the
strangest of all belongs to the University of California at Santa Cruz. (8)Their nickname
is the "Banana Slugs."

Explanation

What is the main idea of the paragraph? No one sentence expresses it. When this
happens, you must consider the topic of the paragraph and then look at the details to try
to piece together the "missing topic sentence."

This paragraph starts talking about college nicknames. But it does not focus on common
nicknames. The signal word "however" at the beginning of Sentence 3 tells you
that the paragraph is changing directions, and will focus on "Unusual college
nicknames." This is the topic of the paragraph.

Sentences 4 - 8 are detail sentences that provide the following examples:

1. The University of California at Irvine is nicknamed "Anteaters."

2. The University of Washburn's sports teams are called the "Ichabods."

3. Richland College sports teams are called "Thunderducks."

4. The University of California at Santa Cruz team nickname is the "Banana
Slugs."