mksioux

I'm still in a state of disbelief that so many people think Hawks is a good nickname for UND. Roughriders may not be ideal, but at least its unique to NCAA athletics. It has some meaning to ND, even if it's tenuous. Hawks is horrible, meaningless AND unoriginal. And enough with the 'maybe it won't be a bird 'garbage. Of course it will be a bird.

Shutters for the lights can't be that expensive, can it? Most modern building do not have to actually shut off the lights to darken the building. That seems like something the Alerus needs to invest in. I generally favor going back to campus. But in my opinion, unless you build an open-air stadium (or you get the pipe dream of a retractable room), I see little reason to move back to campus. Building another dome in such a small city seems like a waste of resources. Maybe once the Alerus has reached the end of its life span, the city and university may want to partnership on an on-campus dome.

I believe this was the first win against MSU in the DI era. For that reason alone, it was a good win.

This is good news. Now Dr. Kelley just needs to follow his own procedure this time. Stop tinkering, stop changing the rules as you go. Just let it play out pursuant to the process.

Yep, I went to buy a foam finger for my kid and look at jerseys, only to find there was nothing.

Honest question because I've never shopped for Bison gear - can you not find more than one color for Bison football jerseys in Fargo? If that's the case, I stand corrected...and very surprised. I realize that this is the first year under the contract with Adidas, but how long does it take REA to get new hockey jerseys when there is a modification? Again, honest question. Maybe it takes months or until the following season, but I highly doubt it. I suspect they roll those out to coincide with the start of the new season, or as shortly thereafter as possible. Again, I understand demand is much greater for UND hockey jerseys than UND football jerseys. My comment is not necessarily directed at any entity in particular, just noting the sad state of affairs right now for football merchandising.

Whichever Hawks supporter had the idea to add Fighting to it was a genius. I get the feeling that people would have voted for anything that had Fighting in it. For example, if it were Hawks vs. Fighting Nodaks, I don't think Hawks would stand a chance. It's really unfortunate that we're going to get stuck with a generic unoriginal nickname just because it has the word Fighting in front of it. It just goes to show that people really invested in this can come up with a 5-page dissertation on why they think a particular nickname should be chosen, but the average voter probably gives it about 5 seconds worth of thought.

Walking through Missoula last weekend, you couldn't walk a block without seeing Griz gear for sale. You could buy virtually anything - including any home/away/alternate football jersey you wanted. In Grand Forks, the only football jersey option I've seen for sale is a black Nike replica jersey from a few years ago (with Greg Hardin's number on it). It's pretty sad that you can't buy a football jersey that looks like the ones the team actually wears. I don't know if it's poor support from the University, or just the fact that there isn't a demand for football jerseys. Either way, it's quite pathetic for a DI program.

Very very cool. Thanks for the info.

While Dr. Kelley never should have changed the voting process after the vote took place, I could accept the instant runoff plan suggested by Tom Dennis of the Herald. It's probably the best solution we can hope for at this point. I assume Qualtrac could easily handle that on short notice, but someone can correct me if my assumption is incorrect.

My thoughts on Missoula (other than the actual game): Great set-up. With the on-campus stadium located right across the river from downtown Missoula (with hotels and copious numbers of bars and restaurants), it makes it very convenient for traveling fans. There was no need to rent a car or take taxis as everywhere you needed to go was within walking distance. Great game-day atmosphere - the bars close to campus were hopping and tailgating was great. The setting is obviously very picturesque. The stadium is very cool. I haven't been to other FCS venues, but I can't imagine anything better than Montana. Great fans - The Montana fans were very nice and personable. Many went out of their way to approach our group, thank us for coming, and talk football. Maybe I'm just too used to opposing hockey fans, but I didn't realize that opposing fans can actually be cool. I'm sure the ass-kicking on the field contributed to their good spirits, but they were nice before the game too. Nickname Curiosity - It got quite tiresome to answer the same nickname question over and over, but Montana fans' curiosity with our nickname saga is understandable. As a lifelong staunch Fighting Sioux supporter, I never thought I'd be saying I will be glad when this is over. But after this weekend, that is how I feel. Overall, if you can afford the airfare, I highly recommend going to Missoula for a game.

I agree the process of getting to the Final-5 left a lot to be desired. But the actual voting process that was announced once the Final 5 was determined was exactly right. Online voting by the proper stakeholders, top-2 in a runoff to ensure the winner had more than 50% of the final vote. Perfectly sound and logical process. All they needed to do at this point was follow it. But they didn't.

I couldn't disagree with you more. If he wanted flexibility, then he shouldn't have set forth a specific process. You can't just change the voting process after the results are in. Why is this so hard for people to understand? Sticking to the process would not have added to the problem whatsoever. NoDak supporters might have been disappointed, but their disappointment would have been limited to their fellow stakeholders for not voting for it more. Despite all the mistakes and complaints about how they got to the Final 5, if they had stuck to the process, at least people could say the voting process was fair and there would have been some level of legitimacy to the new nickname. All this decision has done is cause further division, more controversy, and eroded any legitimacy that was left.

I guess I fail to see how he's damned if he sticks to the process that was laid out in black and white prior to the vote. If he wanted wiggle room for a close vote, he didn't have to say the top-2 finalists would go into a runoff. He could have said the top 2 or 3. But when you lay out a specific process, you need to stick to that process if you want to maintain any credibility.

The process should have been followed. It's that simple. Changing the rules midway through makes it more difficult for people to accept the nickname and unite. More controversy is the last thing this process needed. I don't believe this was a conspiracy, just poor decision making and poor leadership.

UND band starting the wave. I'm glad we can entertain the Griz fans.

Fake punt down 35-10, get your punter hurt. Yep, that about sums up this team .

Embarrassing

I finally decided and voted for Roughriders tonight. It was a tough decision.

This is exactly where I am. I'm torn between Nodaks and Roughriders. I'd lean Nodaks if it was "Fighting Nodaks" and I knew the logo wouldn't be terrible. But we don't know if Fighting can/will be added and the logo possibilities are endless - both good and bad. Three days left. I don't know which way I'm going to vote yet. Anyone going to Missoula this weekend can buy my vote with beer. PM me.

This is the worst webcast since UND joined the Big Sky. Complete garbage. I turned it off. Keep the updates coming please.

My webcast is brutal today. This is why I don't pay for webcasts, always the potential to be unwatchable.

Does ROOT have any say in game times that they are not broadcasting? I would find that odd if they do. And I believe ROOT has televised only one UND home game since UND joined the Big Sky, so that's not a common occurrence.

I think more night games (except when the hockey team is town) would be helpful. It might not help with the students, who may not want to "waste" a Saturday night on a football game, but it would certainly help with adults. Lots of adults have kid activities, and other responsibilities, on Saturdays. It may not always be practical to start tailgating at 10:00 a.m. and not get home until 5:00. I could not get away with that 5 or 6 times a fall. But it appears UND likes the 1:00 start. Maybe UND perceives it as an advantage in the Big Sky where opponents are in the mountain and pacific time zones.