mksioux

Trademark would be the cited reason, not the actual reason. I have no idea if Roughriders will make it to the actual vote. I'm just saying that if Kelley is not going to allow that nickname, he'd be an utter fool to wait until after it's won the popular vote before eliminating it. I can't even imagine the outcry if that were to happen.

If Kelley wants to get rid of Roughriders, he'll do it BEFORE the public vote and cite trademark issues as the reason.

And Kelley was unavailable for comment because he was in Bismarck. Because we all know that in 2015, it's nearly impossible to communicate with someone who is out of town.

I agree that Roughriders is the only option left that even comes close to meeting the criteria they originally set out. But as someone mentioned earlier, it's entirely possible, maybe even probable, that if the list was narrowed down to less than 5, Roughriders would have been eliminated. I believe it scored the worst of the 5 finalists. If you think the sh!tstorm that's going on right now is bad, can you imagine if they had eliminated no-nickname and Roughriders at the same time? Yikes. At least Roughriders is still alive.

I'm concerned about the momentum for Fighting Hawks. Fighting Hawks is an okay nickname for a small liberal arts school or a directional school. Or a minor league baseball or hockey team. It is not a good nickname for a state flagship university. I think most of us agree that Sundogs is the worst nickname remaining. I'd hate to see Sundogs be the new new nickname because Roughriders and Fighting Hawks split the vote. Sundogs needs to be crushed in this vote. It can't be close. My hope is that people eventually rally around one non-Sundog nickname, preferably Roughriders.

Once the decision was made to put this to a public vote, they have an obligation to make sure only UND stakeholders are allowed to vote. This is the one area where they definitely should be "drawing out" the process and make sure they get it right.

It would be much easier to kill off "North Dakota" now than it would be to reject it after winning a popular vote. It may be mildly controversial to kill it off now, but people would move on. If Kelley rejects the "will of the people" after a public vote, it would be extremely controversial. My prediction is that "North Dakota" doesn't make it to a vote and Kelley will adopt whatever option wins the public vote. If he doesn't, people will consider the whole process to be a sham and the new nickname will not have legitimacy. If the end goal is finality, that would be a disaster.

Just as I believe it was a waste for REA to build the Betty. They should have saved that money and used it to build UND a real DI basketball facility later down the road. (I know I know...they needed it for the World Juniors. It was still very short-sighted in my opinion.)

I think as we approach the final-cut, opposition to "North Dakota" will intensify and we might start seeing a committee member or two bring up the NCAA question. Maybe that will force someone on the committee to seek a straight answer from the NCAA and hopefully end this debate once and for all. If I'm wrong and the NCAA says no-nickname is not okay, I'd be fine with it. At least we'd have clarity.

I don't generally comment when there is a discussion about whether or not you can market "no-nickname." Your point is well taken. Not having a nickname is not ideal. As flawed as Roughriders is, I prefer it to no nickname. My only point on the merits is that while a good nickname is better than no nickname, no nickname is better than some of the awful nicknames on the list. For me, "no-nickname" is not a yes or no question. It all depends on what your'e comparing it to. When "Arrows" and "Nokota" were removed from the list, the committee cited the fact that they might run afoul with the NCAA policy. They didn't ask the NCAA for a ruling. All it took was a suggestion that they might violate the policy and the committee removed them. Yet they kept "North Dakota" on the list and haven't said anything with respect to the NCAA. If anyone on the committee believes there may be an NCAA problem with "North Dakota," they are doing an incredible disservice by keeping quiet about it.

Not a bad hiring process........for a chemistry professor. But it has no place in the world of Division I athletics.

I don't. I just think you all are wrong on this issue. "North Dakota" should rise or fall on its own merits, not on misinformation about it running afoul with the NCAA.

We're talking about a committee that is so paranoid about running afoul with the NCAA that they dropped harmless names like "Arrows" and "Nokota" because of the slightest possibility they might cause problems with the NCAA. Yet, not one of them has cited the NCAA as a reason not to go with "North Dakota" despite the fact that many committee members really dislike that option. And President Kelley has publicly stated that no-nickname is an option. But I guess the committee members and President Kelley are just slow to understand. We, the geniuses on siouxsports, clearly know more about the issue than they do. After all, we read a sentence in the settlement agreement!

So each team in the athletic department would come up with its own logo every year? I'm pretty sure that would be cost-prohibitive.

I should have had said "some" casual observers think it's okay. Yes, there are still plenty of casual observers that laugh at it. I guess my point was that if you haven't been following this mess and don't have strong ties to UND, and someone reads the final 7 to you, you might think Sun Dogs is okay. But among die-hard Sioux fans that have been following it, there is a visceral hatred for that nickname. Make no mistake, I'm not advocating for Sun Dogs. I detest it. It's just something I've noticed in talking with people with no ties to UND.

What I'm finding is that the further removed from the nickname controversy one is, the more Sun Dogs is acceptable. I don't know of anyone who has been following this process closely that likes Sun Dogs, but casual observers seem to think it's okay.

I prefer the Interstate Batteries logo over the Sundogs.

It's amazing what an utterly atrocious list of finalists will do to people.

All of these schools, with the exception of Miami, strike me as schools that don't really care what their nickname is. So something safe and generic like _____ Hawks was probably easier to pass off on those schools. But UND is a state flagship with a fan base with a history of caring deeply about their school's nickname. ______ Hawks was never going to cut it for UND. The consultants should have been smart enough to know that going in. (and yet 2 of the final 7 are ______ Hawks, which is mystifying to me)

Yep, that's me as well.

North Stars - The support on this committee for North Stars is baffling. If it weren't for the fact that it's Minnesota's motto and on their flag, I could see it being an okay nickname. I might even be able to get past the fact that the North Stars used to be an NHL team (the younger and next generations won't know or care about that). But it's Minnesota's nickname and there's no changing that. As such, it should be disqualified. Not only is it not unique to North Dakota, it doesn't even belong to North Dakota. And it doesn't sound good when you say "North Dakota North Stars". I'm not sure what the committee members are thinking by giving North Stars such high marks. Sun Dogs - if the goal of this process it begin the healing from the nickname ordeal, they couldn't pick a worse replacement than Sun Dogs. It's not even a good nickname even it hadn't be the choice of the anti-Sioux activists. It's a stupid weather phenomenon that nobody has heard about. People think a Sun Dog is some sort of prairie dog. _____________ Hawks - Unimaginative "safe" nicknames by stupid consultants that are playing way too active of a role in this process. They are meaningless nicknames. NoDaks - NoDaks is similar to no nickname, but is a little different because there is a branding opportunity to turn NoDaks into an actual nickname. But without knowing what the logo or mascot would be for NoDaks, there's no telling if this is a good or bad idea. North Dakota - The idea of having no nickname has been discussed to death on this board. Everyone has an opinion. Whatever your position, at this point, you need to compare it against the remaining alternatives. To me, of the remaining options, only Roughriders is better than not having a nickname. In sum - Roughriders.

I agree. These are the two most popular options at this point and the public vote should decide it. But....it is pretty apparent that the committee has no appetite for moving no-nickname on to the public vote. If I had to guess, the final 3 will be Roughriders, North Stars, and Sun Dogs. I think Roughriders would win in that scenario if the vote is truly limited to UND constituents. But I have concerns over this vote, particularly considering the poor nicknames still under consideration.

I've bee a vocal critic of Roughriders, but it seems pretty obvious, even to me, that it's the best option remaining. And I generally agree that a new nickname is better than no nickname, but honestly, when compared to this list, no nickname is not a bad option. For me: 1) Roughriders - I don't like that we're copying the local high school team, but it's an official nickname of the state and is pretty unique 2) Cavalry - I like it in theory, but the confusion with Calvary can't be ignored. About half the people on this board spell it wrong, and probably say it wrong too. On the other hand, a lot of people spelled Sioux wrong too (but at leas it was easy to pronounce). 3) North Dakota The remaining options are all unacceptable in my opinion. What truly frightens me is that with all the really bad nicknames in the Final 15, at least one of them is sure to make the Final 3. And when that happens, look for outside interests to wreak havoc with the public voting process.

If a new President can't handle starting during the first year of a new nickname for the athletics teams, then that person has no business being President.

Huh? That's not the NCAA rule. The NCAA rule is limited to Native American nicknames.