jimdahl

Neither. We'll change so the brand stays identifiably associated with UND athletics, but I haven't bought hundreds or anything like that. UND made a pretty serious land grab on its favorite names (ie they're not going to get caught not owning [mascot]sports.com again), but I'm confident we'll find something acceptable. I've grabbed a few favorites (sundognation.com). Kidding on that one, sundogsnation.com is still available to anyone with $10 to spare

I might be able to bring myself to cheer for Oshie...

"Here come your University of North Dakota Ursae Minor!" I'll have to think about it. [in all seriousness, I still stand by North Stars as better than at least 4 of the remains 7]

I don't think that's quite right. When you look at the "top 15" poll here, of the votes for a new nickname (disregard "North Dakota" for now) North Stars was top 3 after only Roughriders and Cavalry. When it was cut to 7, eliminating Cavalry, North Stars is #2 behind only Roughriders. I'm certainly among those who think we can live with North Stars. Much as I don't think anyone outside the city of GF will know or care that Roughriders is the local high school's nickname, I don't think anyone outside of Minnesota will know or care that North Stars is Minnesota's motto. UND is like 2 miles from Minnesota, it's not surprising that each feel an affiliation with similar mottos/nicknames.

Agreed. I think that's why some people are complaining about the consultants adding minimal value, in that they just seem to be trying to minimize downside risk by recommending the safe ("fighting green", "_____ hawks") names instead of helping vet unusual names that could really give the school a unique and powerful brand.

Explorers, for example, had never even crossed my mind until it somehow made the final 15. When I gave it some thought (i.e. imagine a world in 10 years in which UND has been the explorers for 10 years), I decided it was one of those unique names that could work. Of course, the committee then dismissed it because, as you said, it didn't sound right initially. I personally came around on cavalry in the same way. The structure of the process that we can point to as the cause of that is that the first round of winnowing involved going through the whole list and advancing a name if someone on the committee gave it a "yes" vote. That precluded many truly out-of-the-box names from advancing, leaving us only with things like "spirit" and "force" as non-traditional possibilities (which then appropriately got culled in the elimination round).

Check out the shoulder patch. Another attempt at depicting a SunDog. That could be our future, people.

I imagine sundogs would turn out something like this.

So you're saying Green Stars is still possible? Ooooh, what about Green Star Hawks.

Pretty much my exact thinking. I liked the people (Riders, Cavs, X-men) as the top 3, now leaving Roughriders as a clear favorite for me. I similarly don't love North Stars because it's the wrong state, but could come to live with it (in that no one outside of Minnesota/North Dakota knows that, and once UND had coopted it for some time it would stop seeming weird).

Ok, no one else started the poll, I will A lot of the real dogs (spirit, force, pride) were eliminated, but so were a couple of people (explorers, cavalry) except RoughRiders (and perhaps a Nodak, still not sure what that is). Again, the question is which could you live with? For most people, that may be more than one.

My grip on 2nd to last was becoming tenuous, glad to see it end!

Can't believe it's been like 12 hours and no has started a stand alone "final 7" thread yet.

The "RSS feed" from Brad's blog seems to be down (if you click the "RSS Entries" link in the lower right, it never quite loads anything useful). http://undhockey.areavoices.com/?feed=rss2

I wasn't a huge fan, but I'm shocked flickertails didn't make the 15. I thought it a pretty safe bet for top 3.

Not strong, tough, intimidating, etc... Sun Dogs Pride Spirit

To summarize the last dozen posts: North Dakota - not a new nickname (may lose on marketing and other reasons all schools have nicknames), forces media to create de facto nicknames (go green!), no closure (extends life of Fighting Sioux), some worry that the previous may run afoul of the NCAA, kicking the can down the road (will students who no longer care about Sioux demand a nickname in 5-10 years?)

Cavalry = no one knows how to spell it

Non-originality Roughriders = name of local high school team Explorers = LaSalle mascot North Stars = Associated with Minnesota (both former NHL team, and state motto)

I know there's been a lot of discussion, pro and con, in the other nickname threads, but I thought it would be interesting to gather a list of drawbacks for each potential name in one place. Though every name has some drawbacks that lead some people not to like it, it seems some are much a bigger deal than others (e.g. I don't think Red River High using RoughRiders is nearly as big a deal as North Stars being associated with Minnesota). It would be great if we could keep the discussion in this thread to a minimum (I'm hoping to just gather a list of the negatives), and I suppose we have to let profanity slide a bit. What's the biggest negative you can think of about the name(s) you don't like? Blaze Cavalry Explorers Fighting Green Fighting Hawks Force Green Hawks Nodaks North Dakota North Stars Pride Roughriders Spirit Sundogs Thunderhawks

The one that was a real wildcard to me, in terms of being the least expected to make this cut, was explorers. I expected plenty that I consider bad (sundogs, pride, spirit) to make the cut, but that's the survivor that was least on my radar. After giving it some thought, it made my personal "acceptable" list because it's unique, is a person (not a feeling or weather phenomenon), is nicely affiliated with the state, and has the potential for a cool logo. However, it's horrible in chants and announcements and has no obvious short version that can be worked into chants. (Interestingly, not being able to be shortened is actually considered a positive according to the committee's criteria).

Now that we know the actual final fifteen (it will be one of the above), which could you live with? Check as many as appropriate.

My first quick and dirty attempt at a personal ranking: I think I could live with 1. Roughriders 2. Cavalry 3. Fighting Hawks 4. Thunderhawks 5. North Dakota 6. Nodaks 7. Force 8. Explorers No thanks 9. Blaze 10. Fighting Green 11. Green Hawks 12. Pride 13. Spirit 14. North Stars 15. Sundogs Who else wants to play?