82SiouxGuy

It's funny, you've been a member for 6 months. Are you saying that you have been telling us for a whole 6 months now? Or were you banned with another name and now you are here to try and say "I told you so"? A troll by any other name is still a troll. I'm not quite sure why you are attacking people that are trying to accomplish something that it seems you have wanted for a long time. That seems counterproductive, and maybe the sign of a bitter person.

The NCAA told the delegation from North Dakota last August that they were going to follow the settlement and that they don't care if Standing Rock changes their position. Contracts and legal settlements have deadlines, and they are meaningless if the deadlines aren't followed. The NCAA wants to get rid of as many Native American nicknames as possible. Why would they let UND have one back if they don't have to? As far as the NCAA is concerned it is a done deal.

There are more people being alienated by this issue being dragged on forever. And even more fans will be alienated if UND develops a losing tradition like the wonderful role model you seem to support at Alcorn State.

The NCAA has repeatedly said that they plan to follow the settlement agreement with UND and the state of North Dakota. That agreement said that UND had until November 30, 2010 to get tribal approval from Spirit Lake and Standing Rock. Anything after that date would not be considered. We are 18 months past the deadline. So the NCAA will not consider a change in position at Standing Rock now because it is after the deadline. This vote does not matter to the NCAA in any way. If UND continues to use the nickname they will remain on sanctions. If UND retires the nickname they will be removed from the sanctions list.

The NCAA wanted to hear from the Standing Rock Government by November 30, 2010. They don't care if they ever hear from Standing Rock or Spirit Lake again at this point, the deadline is past.

The University seems to be fighting very hard to retire the nickname and remove the sanctions. They just aren't fighting for what you want.

The Tribal Council and Tribal Chairman are the official voices of the Standing Rock Tribe, just as the US Congress and President are the official voices of the United States. They make the official policy. The popularity of something doesn't matter if the official voice says the opposite. The Tribal Council does not want UND to use the nickname. They have had that policy for 20 years. UND couldn't even a conversation with them about the issue, so it was impossible to get them to change their mind. UND didn't have a chance to succeed with this issue.

There are facts that you and others continue to ignore. You throw out comments like you "hope that the NCAA will back down some day" or something like that. Many of us realize that there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that the NCAA will back down. And the whole time that UND would be waiting, and on sanctions, it would slowly be worn down by the sanctions. That is not acceptable to those of us that realize the school and the athletic department are much more important than a simple college sports nickname. This has become a very serious issue to many of us. Keeping the nickname is potentially very dangerous to the school because of the sanctions and we don't want to even take that chance. This isn't a game. This is serious business. And you don't understand why we don't just let you keep saying the same thing over and over again without ever really saying anything other than you really, really like the name.

No. They realized they had a problem and they made a minor adjustment to eliminate the problem. The policy has now been in place for more than 6 years. They accomplished most of what they wanted. They only have 2 outliers. Alcorn State is meaningless to them and doesn't cause them any problems. UND has been a thorn in their side. But they have UND where they want. They have the entire legal system on their side. They hold all the cards with UND. They can leave the sanctions on for the rest of time and it wouldn't hurt the NCAA in any way. Letting UND off the hook would cause huge problems with every school that was forced to change their name or lose their NA imagery. The NCAA isn't going to let that happen. Anyone that can't see that is blind.

And what does that have to do with the nickname issue? Getting around in the Twin Cities is simple and probably a shorter drive than getting around Los Angeles. Does that factor in the conversation?

And yet you doubt almost everything I write.

Always. The basketball teams used to get 3,000 to 4,000 or more on a pretty regular basis when they were good. Now they get 1,500 to 1,800 for almost all games. The hockey teams sold out the old arena when they were good. Half the building was empty at times when they weren't good. They have had sell out crowds for most of the past 10 years, but they have only had 1 bad year, and that was the 2nd year the building was open. Football averaged somewhere in the 8,000 to 10,000 when the teams were good in the old building, about half that or less some times during the bad stretch. And I already talked about football attendance in recent years where crowds averaged over 10,000 in the last years of DII and were close to 7,000 the last couple of years. I have probably been attending games longer than you have been alive and I have seen the crowds fluctuate a great deal.

Attendance is down 3,000 per game for football during the transition. The team has had mixed success during that time, not all bad. There have been some decent opponents and some weak opponents. Prices for adults start at $15. These attendance numbers will continue to go down if the team loses most of its games. The numbers will go back up, plus more, with good opponents and if the team is successful. People will pay for good entertainment and if the team is winning. They won't go no matter what the price is if they don't think it's good entertainment or if the team is losing. If UND had a losing record like Alcorn State every year attendance will go down another 3,000+ per game. If the hockey team starts losing then attendance will also go down. Just look at hockey attendance in the early 1990s. The price isn't the factor. This is a fickle audience that won't support teams that aren't winning.

People go to high school games because they go to the school, their kids go to the school or they know a kid playing in the game. And tickets to high school games are usually pretty cheap. College games are different. Most people don't know anyone that plays in the game. They go to support the program or the school; or because they are fans of the program or school. Most people don't go because of a nickname. They want the program and the teams to be successful at the highest level possible. Most people don't go to games if the teams are constantly losing. Attendance goes way down for teams that lose every year. That alone proves that people don't go to games for the nickname, because the nickname doesn't change from year to year like the winning record might. If UND had a regular losing record like Alcorn State then attendance would be a lot worse than it has been lately. People aren't going to pay $15 or more for a ticket to a game just so they can yell Go Sioux. And people aren't interested in paying those dollars to see UND play Mayville or Crookston. They want to see comparable schools. That is how the athletic department will lose major dollars if they are forced to keep the nickname.

If the nickname is retired this year the amendment would have very little chance of passing. A sports nickname is not worthy of being put into a state constitution.

The other thing is that the NCAA can't back down to UND at this point because it would cause huge problems with every school that was forced to make a change. Can you imagine the reactions at the dozen plus schools that changed their nickname because of this issue if UND didn't have to follow the rules? Or the 15-20 more that made a change before that because they realized something was coming? THE NCAA IS NOT GOING TO BACK DOWN AND THE SANCTIONS ARE NOT GOING AWAY AS LONG AS UND KEEPS THE NICKNAME. The NCAA has the law on its side and they are not going to go backwards.

I have asked before, why do you believe tha the NCAA will eventually change their mind and let UND off the hook? What do you base this on? Do you have any evidence of this? The NCAA has a history of making decisions on issues like this and following through on these issues. As we have said before, look into the Confederate flag issue in South Carolina and Mississippi. The NCAA has a policy in place, and have sanctions on those states. They have been in place for 10 years and there is no evidence that they are going to stop the sanctions or change the policy. The NCAA is not going to give UND special treatment by changing the policy. And schools like Floriday State having approval is not the same as UND's situation. Those schools got approval within a specific and required time period. UND did not. The situations are not the same, which means that it is too late to get required approvals from the tribes, which means that UND will be on sanctions until the name is changed. The rose lensed glasses that you're wearing aren't going to change the truth that UND is on sanctions as long as it keeps the nickname and logo, and the sanctions are going to cause serious damage.

It sounds like you may have a problem with tinnitus. You might want to get that checked.

That would be a waste of taxpayer money. Keeping the nickname is going to cost the University money. And it could force another election which would cost more taxpayer money. Vote YES to save taxpayer dollars, and allow UND to move on.

As I pointed out on the last page he won the 2002 Under 18's and the 2004 Under 20's.

Zach Parise TEAM USA EXPERIENCE: 2007-08: Appeared in all seven games for Team USA at the 2008 IIHF World Men’s Championship … Tallied five goals and three assists … Second on team in goals (5). 2006-07: Appeared in one game with the U.S. Men’s National Team at the 2007 IIHF World Men’s Championship. 2004-05: Recorded two assists in three games for the U.S. Men’s National Team at the 2005 IIHF World Men’s Championship. 2003-04: Led the U.S. National Junior Team to its first-ever gold medal at the 2004 IIHF World Junior Championship with 11 points (5-6) … Named Most Valuable Player of the tournament … Earned directorate award as the tournament’s best forward … Selected to the Media All-Star Team. 2002-03: Skated in all seven games for the U.S. National Junior Team at the 2003 IIHF World Junior Championship … Led Team USA with eight points (4-4). 2001-02: Helped the U.S. National Under-18 Team capture its first-ever gold medal at the 2002 IIHF World Men’s Under-18 Championship … Ranked fourth on the team with 10 points (7-3) … Appeared in 12 games with the U.S. National Under-18 Team within USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program … Recorded seven goals and seven assists.

If you actually wanted to have a conversation we could try to do that. But so far all you do is launch attacks. That isn't a way to actually have a conversation. You obviously aren't interested in what is best for UND. You have your own agenda and you are just looking for a fight. UND is losing no matter what happens with this issue. If they keep the nickname they suffer the sanctions, which will slowly destroy the athletic department. If they retire the name they give up a great nickname with a lot of history. Giving up the nickname is the lesser of the 2 evils. Thousands of people have examined the issue over the years and no one has come up with a solution that allows UND to keep the nickname without suffering the penalties of the sanctions. And as far as the tribes are concerned, they had opportunities to make this work out, and any damages they might suffer would be superficial. So I'm not buying that keeping the nickname is somehow for the good of the tribes.

The NCAA doesn't control names of states. They also don't control the nicknames of professional sports teams or a bunch of other Native American names or images that people keep throwing out to somehow justify keeping the nickname. The NCAA controls much of college sports. If you want to compete in their sports you have to follow their rules. It really isn't hard to understand. What's the benefit to SDSU of playing UND? That's a simple question. UND is a quality (similar level) out of conference opponent that is close. Home and home series are easy to arrange and not very expensive. Travel costs can be kept to a minimum, driving rather than flying. And there is a history of the schools playing going back decades. Quality non-conference games that are close can be hard to find in this part of the country. Even though UND is in a different conference, it makes sense for them to play NDSU, SDSU and USD on a regular basis in almost all sports. Much better than playing the Mayvilles, Jamestowns and South Dakota Mines of the world for both UND and SDSU. And it is because of the nickname, SDSU admitted it and said that they will not schedule any more games until the nickname issue is gone. They will honor the contract for a football game in a couple of years but nothing more.

I'm not an attorney, but I see some very large differences between Scott's comment and the case you mentioned. Scott made a comment that inferred something about an anonymous poster named Fetch. No actual accusations or statements. Fetch remained anonymous to most on the board. No one actually believed that there was an accusation. It could be considered a rude comment, but Fetch is the one that has brought farm animals into the conversation on many occasions. That fact alone would lend itself to believing that he has some kind of interest or affinity for them. But that is as far as it goes. No one saw an actual accusation. In the case you mention you have someone making actual accusations, on 4 or 5 different news stories, using someone's real name, and that person wasn't involved in the conversation. So you have a single, rude, not believable comment about an anonymous poster versus multiple, real, accusations using the persons real name. Not similar situations at all as far as I can tell.

Just think what he could do if he got promoted to real reporter.