homer

This is what I was mentioning in earlier posts. The university has remained pretty quiet during most of this. Not after yesterday. Its time to get the word out and if this even makes until June, we have 4 months to get the story of the entire athletic department out. This is why it is not a certainty this thing passes if it makes it to ballot.

I'm not so sure it will pass. I know a few on here think it is a lock but there is 70%-80% of the ND voting population that doesn't have their mind made up one way or the other on this issue. The leadership of the university is now becoming more vocal and you are going to see alumni, both athletic and academic become more and more vocal in this. I also believe if, and it may be a big if, you can get Coach Hakstol to come out and admit there will be ramifications against the hockey team if the name stays, this will be put to bed right now. That man has earned a lot of respect from former players and current fans and it won't take long for word to spread if he does this. Like i said however, that is a big if. I still hold firm that if the vote was tomorrow, it would be very close. The extra time until June will only help the University who has stayed pretty quiet during this time, spread their word. The actions of the past few days have gotten the ball rolling and more and more people are going to speak up.

Tom Clifford was never in the same situation as President Kelly. It was much easier at that time to tell the nickname opponents to pound sand cause there were no reprecussions to the NCAA. Tom Clifford had a love for UND, students and athletics but he was never in this same situation as president.

The hockey only crowd will not believe Faison but they would believe Hakstol in a second.

I hope you are just trying to stir the pot.

There doesn't have to be a HUGE change in public perception. If the vote was tomorrow it would be a close vote that could go either way. There is a long time between now and June, and a lot can happen but I truely believe that the crowd who supports the University of North Dakota has been silent and the Fighting Sioux crowd has been making all the noise cause they have had to draw attention to themselves and their cause. So your 50 or so UND friends on facebook aren't an accurate representation of the entire fanbase or the state of ND. Just as this forum or Bville aren't always an accurate description of the entire fanbases of each school. There is an entire group of alumni of the athletic dept who are ready to go spread the word and hopefully be a voice that is just as loud for the University if the state legislature and the SBoHE fail us once again.

I sometimes sit back and wonder how Hakstol and Roebuck feel about the situation we are in now? If everyone thinks back to the day the nickname change was announced, it was pretty obvious how those two felt. I'd like to hear them now. Both are held to a higher standard in the eyes of the fans and rightfully so. Having them share their thoughts now could really sway a crowd one way or the other. I'd like to know if Roebuck still holds the same feeling that he would "rather have the nickname than be in a college conference" or if that feeling has now changed.

You do understand there will be a lot of cost associated to having UND in the conference? Also, when they voted us in as Fighting Sioux we had a travel partner that was within bus trip distance away. In case you haven't been following that travel partner isn't there anymore. They are willing to work with it but its a long way and a nice chunk of change from a lot of those locations to Grand Forks.

Don't forget he's a UND student. Which is obvious by his posts in this thread.

So where does the crowd fall that is using the nickname and your Native American friends to try and stick it to the man. They have no interest what so ever in the nickname or UND, this is being used for political positioning. If Al Carlson really felt that strongly that the nickname was honoring the NA's and was doing so much good for the NA community, don't you think he would have set some form of punishment for breaking his law? And what are your thoughts on him basically recommending to UND they break the law if this passes? Does that sound like a guy who has the backs of the Native Americans working so hard or a guy who actually met with the NCAA and knows their stance and knows whats best for UND?

They won't listen to facts, they only discredit their stories.

And the same day the student body president comes out and says UND students are tired of the whole thing and the time and energy spent on the nickname flip flopping could be better spent somewhere else. Maybe like attracting even more students.

The most frustrating thing about some of the nickname supporters posting on here is you can't tell the difference between their posts and the posts of the bison fans who troll this board pretending to be Sioux fans. That says a lot about both parties.

That is what you call winning with class.

If your basing the entire fanbase on 3 or 4 people posting on this forum you may want to go back and police your own fan board. I mean, getting invited to the Big12?

So UND athletics should pay the price so they can "stick it to the man"?

I agree with this completely. Guy remains quiet during this whole process and his only comment is essentially, there is no penalty for breaking the law. Basically saying as I fucked up, don't screw yourselves over my mistake.

This is why I said a few days ago that if this goes to vote, either by the voters of North Dakota or the Big Sky presidents, it is than out of the hands of anyone with an interest in UND and its athletics. One does not have to look any further than the success the petitions had in Fargo, the postings of fans on the bisonville fan board, or the number of signitures gathered at the ndsu playoff games. I am not saying they are in any way responsible for this but obviously the people gathering signitures knew that they would have success gathering signitures because of what you mentioned above. I doubt their whole fanbase feels that way but there are definately some.

I think Fullerton pretty much answered your question in the article. He has no reason to lie about this. Basically, yes they can with a unanimous vote.

The earlier quote from Carlson pretty well sums up what these people's thoughts are. A man has realized his mistake, still won't answer calls from a resident in his district about the issue and comes out and basically tells UND it is ok to break a law he put into place. He started this mess but is now trying to distance himself from it. After Fullerton's comments from today get out, hopefully most of the folks who signed a petition go through the same thought process.

Take away the Great West teams on the schedule and that is a good looking non conference schedule. I want to give the baseball coaches credit as they keep plugging away despite lack of conference. I think if someone in the athletics dept. would just make a phone call to the Summit league we could be accepted for baseball only. That conference is hanging on by a thread and needs members dearly. We would be an instant contender in that league, especially after Oral Roberts leaves after the year.

This year maybe, but two years ago did the last team in not deserve to be there?

Final petitions are getting ready to be turned in and according to Eunice Davidson more than 16,000 signitures have been gathered. Looks like tomorrow we are back to the Fighting Sioux. http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/349986/group/homepage/ Question- Does anyone know if after all this is done, petitions are made public record? I'm guessing not but am curious.

Who cares?

Just making sure. Secondary is a concern. We brought in a good looking prospect in Ryan Cain who had offers from a couple other schools. We had two guys who redshirted last year, was 3 until Butler was inelgible. With Mersereau and Carr back along with the 2 RFr. from last year someone will need to step up at safety or Cain may have to step in and play. Or as 92,96 mentioned, we may have to look for a late transfer to help if possible. I think the problem was more than that though. Watkins got beat a lot last year and Mackey missed some time early. We had 3 corners who reshirted and there was talk about pulling some redshirts but why not save a year for when it matters. Also, our offense continually going 3 and out last year killed our defense. Didn't matter the opponent. If our offense is able to move the ball next year that will help tremendously.