Chewey

Minot has choked at state, that's true. It is unfair though, and shows a typical east tool bias, to say that the east teams have been "better." The 2005 team comes to mind as a good example as does the 1998 team with Quinn Fylling, John Grubb and Brian Haaland. During the years, they have beaten the east and some Minnesota teams during the regular season and then tanked at state. Maybe the east tools have never heard of the Boston Red Sox or the Chicago Cubs or the 1998 Minnesota Vikings or the Chicago White Sox, etc. The franchises described have all had teams that could have and should have won it all but consistently choked for many, many years.....until recently for some. Whether it's a mind set or coaching or some nebulous intangible, it's a fact that they've bombed at state. It has not been because the Minot teams have not been as good as the east. Last year and this year that may be true but in most years it is not true and it's been that way since Blais was in Minot. In high school our very average, Jeff Bredahl-less, Tim McIver-less, 1982 MHS team beat GFRR pretty soundly to the "shock" of the east. In high school in 1985, our MHS squad beat a Mike LaMoine-led GFRR squad at state. The point is that the west has had good teams. I think Minot needs to get a Bruce Olson/Dean Blais type of coach and Bismarck needs to get a Peluso-like coach back and Jamestown needs to get a Jim Barger-type coach back. Some of the Minot players these days sound like retards but I sure hope the ones remaining on the team read this site for motivation. Minot has had some several defections up to the SJHL too such as Ben Keup, Chris Cartier, Brian Ferguson and others. Samson used to complain about that all the time.

I would not expect 4 points from Mankato, especially given that they always play the Sioux tough. I have Mankato season tickets and they are always inconsistent except, in most cases, when they play the Sioux. Then, they are consistently pretty tough. Travis Morin is one of the top 3 players in the WCHA, in my opinion. Zacharias is a good goalie. As I am from Western ND, I have an ND bias but I like Mankato too and it is always tough. I hope ND makes a strong push but they will need to be on their "A" game to sweep Mankato, especially since Jutting's job status is very precarious. Jutting is a pretty good coach and he is really a pretty nice guy too, despite his recent antics, but I do see Blais coming here next year. All of the stars are aligned properly. Jutting is at the end of his contract, Blais wants to come back to college hockey, MSUM would be a good challenge for him as it is a fairly nascent program in need of some sound recruiting to establish a more solid foot hold in the league.

I don't see anything racist by using hyperbole and overstatement to drive home points. While it's ironic that the PC bastion of Princeton is being accused of racism, I do have some sympathy for them. Poets and writers of fiction watch out!!!!! Unless you write about PC subjects, you're at risk of being a "racist." I just experienced racism and hostility and abuse from two indian women last Saturday at the Gopher/Denver hockey game. I was wearing my favourite jacket, a Fort Berthold Community College jacket. My dad, a white man (OMFG!!!!!), taught there for a few years. As I was walking up the steps at the end of the game, the two women had apparently taken "offense" at a white guy wearing a wind-breaker like jacket with a beautiful design of an indian on the back and "FBCC" on the front. I was called a "racist bigot" and an "idiot". I promptly told them that they were the racists, that I was pleased that they enjoyed my jacket and that I was going to wear it even more now. The point is that many of the so-called "victims" are themselves the racists, including these two radicals. The radicals don't want anyone to have anything indian whether it's a coat displaying a tribal college or a bolo tie made of indian bead work (I have several of these). Another point is that bending over and giving in to these loons just perpetuates the racism that they themselves promote and emboldens them to continue their antics. The self-proclaimed arbiters of "racism" don't like to be called for the racists that they are.

I did not do any of these horrors to anyone and the nickname is not something that perpetrates old horrors on new generations. Every ethnic group can claim to be victim of horrors at some point in history. Even the ancestors of the big bad Euro-Americans (otherwise known as "whites" in sane vernacular) experienced persecution by the Romans and, later, the Muslims. The Jews have endured it since the dawn of time and they have succeeded throughout history because their culture focuses on education, hard work and community enhancement. If they had an insatiable fixation on negative energy like a lot of minority groups and PC radicals, things would be a lot different for them. I find terms such as "african-american," "mexican-american," "native american," "euro-american," etc. ad nauseam absurd and insulting. I am a native american because I was born in this country. An "african-american" is someone who has emigrated from Africa to someplace else. Such terms make others "feel better" about themselves, as if admitting to themselves that being black is something to be ashamed of. One of my late friends, was a Benedictine monk and was black and he hated to be called "african american" because it did not correctly describe him; he was an "american of African descent." Use of such terms, as is customary of the PC'ers, only serves to mentally and emotionally balkanize society. While PCer's are not alone in employing such terms, PCer's and certain groups use language in an entirely twisted way to concoct racism where none exists and to reinforce stereotypes that they have themselves. The term "fighting sioux' is only the latest bit of language being twisted. Why is it racist for me, a white person, to use the term and not someone of aboriginal origin? The answer: It's not...(enter retort consisting of equivocal baloney). Much good would be wrought if the self-proclaimed do-gooders would stop obsessing about terms and start focusing postive energy on issues that require creativity to solve.

Great example of yellow journalism. It's not surprising that the Forum lets this go as it is hardly and objective news source. I thought the job of reporters and newspapers was to report FACTS not portray a political viewpoint based upon a twisted version of the facts. Even opinion based reporters must investigate the facts before they write articles. I hope that there is plenty of feedback to the paper (if the paper will print it) making this person look like the fool she is. So, private dollars are being used to pay for the lawsuit. Where's the almighty conspiracy?

How typical for this fool. Let's hope the Minot program can regain the discipline it had in the Blais/Bruce Olson years. Man, what a bunch of knobs. Typical for the Bush league champions of the Bush league consolation round at State. How do these guys get their cocky attitudes when they have not even done anything at state? Having such attitudes is never acceptable but the fact that the Minot players have exhibited themselves in classless idiocy is made even more weird by the fact that they have not even won anything to be cocky about. Losers.

I have one last name for you: Shegos. Try the CCHA officials, especially Shegos. Brutal. Absolutely brutal.

I live in Mankato and am familiar with the program, although I am a Sioux fan. Jutting is not a goon. He's actually a really nice guy. He's intense for sure. However, what happened, if it did, was totally inappropriate.

You must remember that he is ivy league castle dweller and probably does not fully appreciate or understand the lawsuit. And you have to remember that he has to present a certain amount of resolve to the media to keep in the good graces of the PC hack allies. There is a certain poker faced attribute that all litigants have and must retain to benefit their cases. While I am a lawyer, I have not read all of the pleadings and I do not profess to be proficient in this particular legal area. That said, what pleadings I have read indicate that UND is not only challenging the procedure but also the policy itself. Brand evidently does not even have complete knowledge of the pleadings. UND is challenging the unfair and unequal application of the policy as well as the procedure and it is challenging the policy's infringement of its trademark rights, as far as I can tell. I think ScottM and others on this site are attorneys but PCM is not (although he could certainly be one in this case with his knowledge) and they are a lot more knowledgable on the pleadings than I am. I'll stick to bankruptcy law but, as far as I can tell, both the policy and procedure are being challenged. In fact, it seems that they are, or could be construed to be, the same. If UND wins, perhaps the NCAA would do what it should have done initially -- present the idea for a vote. I am not convinced that they would have the votes necessary anyway. If UND wins on all counts, I do not think such a vote even matters because such a policy would not be capable of being enforced as it would infringe upon UND's legal rights vis-a-vis use of the nickname. Perhaps PCM, Scott M and others can comment further to give a clearer picture but that is my take.

Yes, the 1998 and 1999 and, in my opinion, the 2001 teams choked big time and we must remember that. I think Blais had an intensity level that Hakstol does not match and I think Blais somehow got the best out of the players. I think he did this by not ensuring playing time for any player. If you worked hard and produced, then you got to play. If you stunk up the place, you sat the pine. I like Hakstol and I think he is a good coach. I think Eades is a great coach too and a great recruiter. The defense has suffered this year without Berry and I wish Steve Johnson would have gotten that job. I think Hakstol deserves some leniency and some faith from the fans. With the talent that the Sioux have, they should lose very few games if their intensity and focus are where they should be. The key is getting them to that level mentally. Hakstol and Eades are smart guys and they'll get it turned around.

First, I think that UND didn't really give a damn whether the name mocked the Sioux or not. Second, are you actually suggesting that Native American objections to UND's nickname are some sort of cynical linguistic trick? That "Sioux" doesn't really refer to the Dakota people?

According to many NA's at UND, it means that the vocal support for the nickname must be squelched and disregarded.

They have every direct application to the points that you raised, although you apparently raised them nebulously. You indicated that the lawsuit was a "waste." In that you have now clarified your previous message, I still do not agree with your position that it is a "waste." As has been pointed out on numerous occasions, the only scientific polls conducted on the issue indicate that a majority of native americans either don't care or are not bothered by indian nicknames. As far as "altruistic" motivations are concerned, I have no doubt that the NCAA and its star chamber of PC do-gooders must be reigned in but that is not the complete picture. Demanding that the NCAA follow its own by-laws and constitution, arguing that the NCAA treat all of its members equally, protecting legal rights are only a few of the points that are the reasons for the lawsuits. These points and others may be a collective "Non-Sequitur" to name change advocates who myopically focus on "insults" and "degradation" concocted in the recesses of the minds of some PC'ers that have nothing better to do. It's not time to change the name. If you think that changing the name is the almighty panacea of the "problems" with the tribes (there are only problems with the name vis-a-vis the tribes as per a vocal and itinerant minority that gets bused around the country/region to address "outrages") see Dartmouth. It is beyond time to do just what UND is doing and it is time for the NCAA executive committe to stop being an habitue to the PC demimonde and focus on scheduling games, preventing fights between football teams, educating athletes beyond a fourth grade level, preventing athletes and coaches from engaging with prostitutes, reign in coaches' salaries, etc. The hurt feelings of a small group of PC hacks that are used to getting their way once they not only throw around mundane and inapplicable accusations of institutional racism but also ghost "victimization" upon groups of people is the collective Non-Sequitur here. If such things do exist, the proper remedy is to go through the legislative process or through the alumni organizations rather than grease the palms of fellow PC hacks that occupy powerful positions in a monopolistic organization. One of the most shocking examples of mis-placed priorities and flawed logic is the minimizing and/or lack of acknowledgment by the NCAA and the PC hacks of their own "hostile and abusive" conduct and of their own use of racist tactics (see accusing an institution of racism where no civil rights group has discovered such racism) to further their PC agenda. The logic employed is completely sophomoric and that is a very generous adjective for it. Pseudo-altruism is a tactic that the NCAA is good at employing when it comes to this issue.

They certainly have the legal trademark right to use the name and the "policy" of the NCAA is interfering with that right. This is most likely one of the reasons the lawsuit was brought (i.e. to enforce/protect contract and trademark rights). While this is not the whole basis for the lawsuit, the lawsuit itself is certainly not a "waste." To label it a "waste" indicates that it has no basis in fact or law which is not correct. This is the same trite line of reasoning that the name change advocates are so wont to employ. The whole "wast" and "irresponsible employment of resources" argument is very tired indeed. What really is wasteful is the employment of resources and time and money (including UND's money) by the NCAA to ramrod social engineering policy ad hoc fiats it has no business conceiving let alone "enforcing."

I like that one. Very applicable.

Too bad for that kid. From what little I have heard, he sounds bi-polar. I hope he has at least a stable life from here on. Hopefully, they'll find the right meds and it can be nipped in the bud before it gets any worse. Of course, sometimes it gets worse regardless. I remember the day after that crashing into the net episode happened when SCCC (I believe) was playing someone and some of the Goofer parents almost lynched an SCCC fan for comparing Hirsh with Jeffrey Dahmer (I believe)..... at least in terms of psychoses. Pretty tacky but the guy got really ripped for it. I thought that a couple of beer belly dads were going to punch him, or at least were going to try to do so. I didn't look like they'd be able to do anything without having a heart attack risk but they were sure pissed.

It's more east bias. The west has not done anything at state for several years so some of it is grounded but I agree that the west has produced some very good players. Jordan Willert is going to play for Nebraska Omaha next year. Layne Sedevie plays for Bemidji. Andy Dittus will play somewhere as will Rody Selk. There is a defenseman from Williston that is in juniors in the USHL that will play somewhere. There have been a few players from Bismarck and Jamestown that have done some good things in DI too. Tom Philion, Jeff Bredahl, Matt MOrrelli, Quinn Fylling, Mitch Vig, Jeremy Asheim, Justin Theel, Mike Peluso, Ben Keup (from Minot but played at Notre Dame in SK and then played for Lake Superior State, Danny Hanson (Lake State), Jim Kropp. These are only a few from years past. I think that Schmidt kid and Stremick from Minot will go somewhere as will Hillman from Bismarck. I think Herbel is the real deal and could go somewhere too. To have more respect, the west is going to have to get its act together and do something at state.

What we

God! Can't they just stop? Please make it stop! Are we becoming the Goofers who have new jersies everytime someone sneezes? Just stop it! Get one jersey for home and away and maybe one "special" and leave it alone! Get rid of the stupid arm stripes. Get rid of the stupid "V" down the sides. Bring back the green bar with black borders around the waist and the "ND" on the sleeves and leave them alone.

"White Lucifers" ... a name that Myles and the anti-nickname crowd would be totally comfortable with?

Yet, again, I've yet to determine a single connection between the high school graduation rates, the "plight" of the Native American, and the connection therein to collegiate nicknames for the negative OR positive. The argument of "Native American imagery establish a hostile and racist atmosphere that prohibits or endangers Native Americans and prevents them from achieving success" is rather weak. It is not a weak connection. It's a non-existent one. All the educational opportunities are there and the nickname does not at all impair success in accessing those opportunities.

Especially since the alumni would kill the present hs team. The alumni for Jamestown has some talented players like Jim Kropp, Page Klostreich, Spiedel, etc. The present JHS team sucks anyway.