82SiouxGuy

The NCAA is controlling what is in their power to control. They can control what the schools do at NCAA events, or punish schools that resist. They can control printing and signage. They can control advertising. They can't control fans. They don't try to control what fans wear for games at other schools that have changed their nicknames. They aren't going to do anything about fans wearing Fighting Sioux clothing.

I agree with you completely. The NCAA has been very careful to spell out every detail related to this issue. If they were going to make an issue of fans wearing clothing with the logo they would spell that out also. And that would be a much bigger legal and public relations problem for them, so they are not going to do it. Wear whatever you want to the games (as long as it isn't something that could be considered obscene).

It is very doubtful that FCS would be able to get the rights. UND is not involved in arranging the rights for these games. ESPN has the rights for almost all NCAA championships. In this case they sold the rights to these few games to Fox Sports North. I doubt that they would include Fox College Sports in those rights because they are trying to control which areas have which coverage as much as possible. But I guess that anything is possible.

The NCAA has repeatedly said that the ban applies to the official school representatives, including players, cheerleaders and band. They spell things out very specifically and have from the beginning. There have also been statements from the NCAA that said they would not try to restrict what fans wear regarding clothing with nicknames or logos. Kelley has said the same thing and has said that UND would never prevent fans from wearing Fighting Sioux clothing. Kelley made the statement about pushing back after being asked what would happen if the NCAA tried to do something. But the NCAA has never indicated any inclination to do that. You may not have seen the statements from either side, but they have been out there, especially from UND. The NCAA tends to speak only when they feel it is necessary, so the statements haven't been as numerous. If the NCAA had any plans to restrict clothing by fans they would have to put it out in the public because stopping people at the game itself without notice would cause a whole lot more problems. There is no plan to do anything like this and people keep bringing it up to try to create more animosity.

UND has repeatedly said that they had no plans to prevent people from wearing Fighting Sioux clothing. The NCAA has said that they have no plans to prevent people from wearing Fighting Sioux clothing. Yet people keep throwing out this Trojan horse. It isn't an issue for anyone other than those that want to start an argument.

I believe that you are correct. Aztecs is okay for the NCAA because they are not around. No one to be insulted, so no problem.

Playing the first game is probably an advantage because the Gopher fans won't all show up for both games.

The NCAA asked for written confirmation from all tribes, including the Seminoles. The Seminoles immediately sent written approval. So did the Utes of Utah and the Chippewa tribe in Central Michigan. A few other tribes took a little time but gave written approval for some smaller schools. Standing Rock, the tribe that held a ceremony at UND in 1969, would not provide the written confirmation. As a matter of fact, the tribal council at Standing Rock has voted repeatedly to oppose UND using the nickname. And people in authority at Standing Rock have said the ceremony was not official and that the people that were involved didn't have authority to give that kind of approval. Reportedly, the Tribal Chair in 1969 was a member of the party attending the ceremony and was also a member of the Tribal Council in 1992 when he voted against UND using the logo. Ron His Horse is Thunder has used that fact as proof that the ceremony was not an official ceremony giving permanent approval for use of the name.

I think that this is what they used to do. But in recent years they have been a lot less eager to farm out the rights to local outlets. I think they are using NCAA tournaments to force cable companies to purchase the ESPN family of services. And it's working. Midcontinent didn't have ESPN3 available a year ago, now they do. ESPNU has been added to a lot of systems in the past 2 years. It's just part of the plan for ESPN to take over sports information.

Is the nickname in any way related to the Native American culture or do they use Native American imagery? The answers to my questions are no and no, so the answer to your question is yes. Dutchmen is Northern European, like Fighting Irish or Vikings, so it is fair game for the NCAA.

The report actually came through the Minnesota Wild. Russo covers the Wild and they were paying attention to make sure it wasn't serious.

Russo from the Strib seems to think it is minor. He said the reports are that it is an upper body injury. He thought that Zucker would probably play this coming weekend.

It doesn't change the fact that not a lot of people pay attention to the play-in games. It would make more sense to me to either go back to 64 or add a full round and go to 128. Having an extra 4 teams just feels like they are putting a patch on the tournament.

They just went to 4 play-in games in the last year or 2. If I remember right, they started with 1 play-in game a while back, and then went to 2 for a little while. I really don't know how much they add to the tournament, hardly anyone seems to pay attention to them. They would be better off just adding a full round than having those 4 games. Then they could eliminate all of the other post season tournaments.

I agree. Just wanted to get the correct info out there.

I thought only 60 had first round byes.

I'm not an expert like Jim, but it looks like UND will be a 1 if they win on Saturday and either a 2 or 3 if they lose.

The settlement agreement applies to any logos or nicknames visible on anyone associated with the official UND traveling party. That includes cheerleaders, band members, etc. If one of the coaches had a tie with the logo the NCAA could call a forfeit. So a logo on anything that is on the ice, including the sticks, is included under the settlement agreement. If it is visible to the public within the building it is included in the agreement.

Dave doesn't understand anything about the law or legal issues. His only basis for believing that Spirit Lake is going to win is blind hope.

The first game of the year is almost always one of the better attended games of the year. The opponent is secondary. There will be close to 10,000 at SD Mines. Attendance the past few years has been down overall because there hasn't been anything to play for that could generate some excitement. The Big Sky will generate a lot of excitement this year, and people will show up for the opening game of the season just to see the team that is going to be playing in the Big Sky. Average attendance for the year will probably be over 10,000 per game. $200,000 is an outrageous amount for a FCS team to pay to bring in another FCS team, unless it was someone like Appy State or maybe Montana. Very few schools would be able to generate enough income to make it worthwhile. You do need to spend money to make money, but you have to spend it wisely. UND spending that kind of money would be foolish. NDSU is one of the few schools that could pull it off right now, and the only reason they are doing it is because of the demand from the fans to get the 6th home game. Having 6,000 more seats available, 3 or more times the number of people in the community, being in a good football conference for a few years, and the national title in hand are all advantages that NDSU currently has over UND in football attendance. College sports, especially the money sports, are a business. Losing money on purpose is a good way to go out of business. UND will have success in football. But throwing away money because people like you think it would be better to bring in Prairieview for $200,000 rather than SD Mines for $50,000 (or whatever they are paying) is bad business.

North Dakota residents have been reluctant to make changes in the constitution regarding Higher Education. If I remember right, there was an attempt to close one or more campuses a few years ago and take them out of the constitution. That attempt was defeated easily. Carlson needed to find a way to generate anger against the SBoHE, and then use the anger to get an amendment passed. The nickname issue was a no-brainer for him. He is trying to take advantage of the situation to accomplish a totally different goal. The nickname law itself wasn't the power grab. Using the sentiment over the nickname to eliminate the SBoHE is the power grab. I agree that the SBoHE has allowed the legislature to infringe on the SB's authority on many other issues. And the SB wasn't going to push the issue this time either. That's why they didn't fight the constitutionality last year. They are probably concerned about the fight over funding that will come in 2013. But the nickname issue is very serious for UND and could do a great deal of harm. It would be irresponsible for the SB to not do everything in its power to take back control of the issue. They were finally forced to fight to take back the control that they have allowed to erode over the years.

The SBoHE definitely needs improvement. But getting the legislature more involved would be horrible for Higher Education.

UND isn't going to generate $200,000 in revenue against most DI teams. UND would have to get more than 13,300 paid attendance at $15 per ticket just to get that $200,000. Students don't pay for tickets. That doesn't take into consideration the other costs of the game, like paying for the Alerus Center plus staff plus advertising plus everything else. UND would lose a lot of money paying $200,000 to most FCS teams. Most FCS schools would lose a lot of money paying $200,000 to host another FCS school. That is a stupid way to run an athletic department when football is supposed to be one of your money making programs. That's why a lot of FCS teams play a game against lesser competition, and that's why SD School of Mines is still on the schedule.

This is a power grab by the legislature to take even more control of the SBoHE, or even eliminate the SBoHE. The legislature would like to micro manage the operation of Higher Education the way that they micro manage everything else. Carlson decided to use the nickname because it is an issue that can push emotional buttons with a lot of North Dakota citizens. He knew that he could make the SBoHE look like the enemy and he would look like a hero by taking down the bad guy. In doing so, he could push sentiment against the SBoHE into votes to get rid of the SBoHE. Remember, besides the nickname law last session he introduced legislation that would amend the constitution to replace the SBoHE with a Department of Education. He is again looking at different ways to accomplish the same thing in the next legislature. The SBoHE wasn't looking for a constitutional fight. This was something that Carlson wanted in one form or another. Now he got it. The SBoHE is challenging the constitutionality now because they want to slow, or even stop, the momentum that the issue has developed. Right now there is probably a pretty good chance the initiated measure would pass. All of the unscientific polling I've seen gives the law a better than 70% favorablility rate. The law passing in June would add momentum to the possibility of the constitutional amendment passing in November. People in North Dakota have a history of being conservative with constitutional amendments and voting no, but it would be much easier for them to vote yes if the issue was already a state law. It also buys people time to inform the public about the issues that UND faces by keeping the nickname. If the SBoHE really wanted this constitutional challenge they probably would have pushed the issue a year ago after the law passed. Instead they did everything possible to work the system and get the legislature to fix the problem themselves. That is no longer a good option, and time is much more of an issue, so the SBoHE needed to make a move at this time.

NDSU can make pretty good money on a football game even paying $200,000 for someone like Prairieview A&M. They will probably sell out most, if not all, of their games this year after winning the title. It was more important to them to get a 6th home game to keep the fans happy than the extra $100,000 or so they had to pay for the game.