Teeder11

Funny, when I was growing up in western North Dakota in the 1970s/80s, we would have born and raised red, white and blue Americans walk into our business right off the ranch -- grease-stained caps, scoria-scuffed boots and all -- demand the exact same kind of service. I guess because they were white American good ol' boys, it never struck me as a stereotypical thing when I was a kid. I just thought they were a-holes. Things never change, it would seem, no matter who you are, when you were born or where you are from. Everyone's got an anecdote.

There's some merit to this. It would seem that our ability to develop local projects has been lacking in recent years, whereas others (not naming names) have cracked the code. The last local project that I can remember remotely developing into an effective contributor at UND was Warroad's 6-11 center Mitch Wilmer, and that took all the way until his senior year.

You are not wrong. That is correct. Kelley threw out 3 as an arbitrary number early on, and that "Burleson girl" from the Herald, as she is known by some on here, awkwardly reported it as the number that the final list would comprise.

Still better than an effin' rodent. LOL! They made fun of us when we were the "Fighting Suesies," too. Who cares?

Absolutely.

I remember when this story came out in 2011.

A little more than a month away, boys and girls!

We're all ears -- what have you got for an idea?

I don't think that anyone who is truly invested in this change to a new nickname ever honestly thought that in the end that we would not be settling, regardless of the final outcome. Fighting Sioux was just too damn perfect of a nickname for UND. EVERYTHING ELSE pales in comparison. But we need a true concrete nickname to latch onto or we will be doing this all over again in the future, whether that's because the NCAA, in its infinite wisdom forces us to do it, or because future UND students in the year 20?? decide that they'd like to have a true athletic nickname just like everyone else.

I would pretty much have the same opinion of this whole process as yours if the final selection turns out to be just "North Dakota." What a monumental waste of time this will have been.

Funny thing is that he quietly changed the headline after a few commenters called him on it. At first, it read: "North Dakotans overwhelmingly Oppose New UND Nickname" As usual in everything he does, he's just trying to click-bait as much as he can to justify advertising on his site.

You beat me to it. Somehow they think an unscientific newspaper poll is going to be a saving grace.

Totally agree with this, Sic! Russ is the king of the PC Thought Police -- or its most loyal lieutenant.

Trivial off season stuff: Looks like new FBS transfer Daquan Baker will sport #10 this year for UND. WR Brandon Walker, the former owner of that number, will be #2.

Yeah, but there are actually people out there that like those names (not saying I'm one of them) and were disappointed to see them eliminated. You see, opinions are like (insert body part here); everybody's got one -- even bad ones.

Iwarri Smith is set to arrive June 25.

Probably as many as the "What Would Tom Do?" threads -- as in Clifford.

He was a smart businessman who knew when to cut his losses. So, I would think that he would have done exactly what his daughter, Kris, is doing now. Ralph taught her well.

They had a blast defaming our former Fighting Sioux nickname and somehow we were able to sleep at night. The big difference was we were proud of that nickname so it did not matter as much. We fear the unknown and the possibility that we might have to defend something that hasn't been fully bought into yet. Believe me, if any fan base can buy into a nickname like Gophers or Banana Slugs, any name eventually would be accepted given enough time.

Fair enough. But I still contend that Russ would be just as fervently against NA nicknames and logos if he was white or black or whatever. Race and cultural background informs his reasoning but does not dictate it. The same goes for the white people on the panel.

I never said he was put on the committee because of his political ideology. I said the reasons he believes what he believes has nothing to do with race. He believes what he believes because he has a politcally correct mindset that is pervasive across the UND faculty and other higher education institutions. He considers it an enlightened way of thinking when in fact it is just hypersensitivity and political correctness run amok. I would say the same thing about Lowell and the others: they're reasonings are not being dictated by their race. To suggest as much is quite naive (I know you didn't but the poster I was replying to did).

I appreciate your point. But anyone on the committee could say something like that and it would carry the same weight. Some are just more influential at articulating their points. I think the race card reference is an insult to McDonald and his ability to transcend race when it comes to his own reasoning. McDonald does not believe what he believes because he is American Indian; he believes what he does because it is part of is his personal political ideology. Granted his cultural background gives him a more informed perspective, but I would wager that Russ would feel the same way as he does about NA nicknames if he were white. The fact that feelings surrounding NA nicknames are less about race than they are about politically correct ideology plays out in the American Indian communities across the country as the feelings are extremely mixed.

I swear to God I will never abandon UND athletics and its athletes no matter what nickname they wear. My passion for the school and its sports programs is much deeper than that. I'm all in.

Actually, having sat through a lot of these committee meetings, I would say that McDonald is one of the least vocal and influential in the room (actually, he's seldom in the room.... he attends via teleconference). It would be a close race between him and the staff representative on the panel. Lowell Schweigert always seems to be the most vocal and engaged... him and Bridewell.

Denny Elbert?