PCM

Very true. I know that there are several other fundraising events going on in the community that should help as well. Bob and Jeri are overwhelmed by the support they've received from people they don't even know.

It can now be revealed that THETRIOUXPER melts and turns to mush in the off season. Warm weather to him is like water to the Wicked Witch of the West.

I thought that everyone who assisted the Wilcox family either through donations or words of support would like an update how this fundraising effort has gone. On Saturday, there was a benefit auction for the family in Pierre, SD. Kathy Cruse, one of my classmates from the Riggs High School Class of '73, released the following statement: This means that since the fundraising efforts of the Class of '73 began in early February, nearly $39,000 has been raised to to assist Jeri, Bob and Kirsten Wilcox. Jeri returned to her home in Fort Pierre on April 5 following six weeks in the intensive care unit of Rapid City Regional Hospital. For anyone who doesn't know how or why all this began, click here. Once again, a sincere thanks from the bottom of my heart. The support from the hockey community was simply phenomenal.

Yeah, that'll happen.

I've done that. I had dinner at the Turtle Mountain Reservation the week before last.

How much experience do you have in dealing with the tribes? I can assure you that based on my experience, gaining tribal support is not as simple as you seem to think it is.

It's not the same thing. Obviously, I have a right to determine how my name is used, and I'm quite certain that the courts would find in my favor if I sued someone for libeling or slandering me. The problem is, nobody owns the word "Sioux." It's not even a word derived from the Dakota, Lakota or Nakota language. In any event, what you describe is already being done to me. I'm of Scandinavian and Irish descent. There are schools with sports teams named the Vikings and Fighting Irish. The NCAA doesn't care if those names are offensive to me. Myles Brand doesn't care if they stereotype me. He doesn't care if such names and images cause psychological harm to my children. The NCAA says its policy on nicknames applies to all races, ethnic groups and nationalities, but then applies the policy to American Indian names only and then to a select few schools with those names.

From The Daily Illini: Editorial: Save the last fancy dance NCAA denies appeal on the Chief, leaving consequences for Unversity

Vaht?

Don't you mean O.J. Tishie?

Thanks for sticking up for me, Joseph.

If you're going to call someone an idiot, maybe you should spell his name correctly.

I can assure you that there is nothing at all odd about it. It was Standing Rock, not Spirit Lake. Nobody said the Sioux people didn't have the right to an opinion. Your analogy makes no sense. Why would an atheist school use a revered Christian symbol as its nickname or mascot? That's just silly. It would be best if UND had the support of the Sioux tribes. If the university can't gain that support and believes that keeping the Fighting Sioux nickname would do more harm than good, than it should change the name. However, as I have pointed out many times before, there are other principles involved that include the precedent set by allowing the NCAA to meddle in the internal affairs of its members, intellectual property rights and the right of free expression. UND must also decide whether to fight the false perception that it's a racist institution or allow the label that the NCAA unfairly has slapped on it to stand.

I think the problem was that UND's administration might have assumed too much. Most people don't know that there's a great deal of contact and activity between UND and the tribes on a day-to-day basis as a result of all the programs the university operates that are specifically intended for American Indians. I'd venture to say that all that activity, communincation and contact dwarfs anything that Florida State, Central Michigan and Utah do for or with American Indians in their respective states. I suspect there was an assumption that because of all those programs and all that activity, the tribal leaders would recognize and understand that UND was reaching out to their tribes and doing a great deal of very good work that actually makes a difference on the reservations. And, really, those efforts should be worth a great deal more than a cultural education course for athletes because they have a far greater impact on the everyday lives of Native Americans. I'm not saying that the cultural education course wasn't a good idea and shouldn't have been pursued, but relative to other programs, it might have seemed less important. It's also important to understand that there is a core group of people on campus who actively work against efforts such as the cultural education course, which made it very difficult to succeed.

From the Grand Forks Herald: NICKNAME CONTROVERSY: A 'very, very hard case' Lawsuit: Sports law expert says legal precedent would be in the NCAA's favor; North Dakota attorney general disagrees Hagen is the same sports law expert the Herald talked to for a previous story on this subject in which he said the same thing. There's no mention of the fact that he's testified on the NCAA's behalf in at least one anti-trust suit that was settled out of court. Nobody should think that Stenehjem's comments are based on his opinion alone. There are other excellent legal minds outside of North Dakota who agree with him.

Brad Schlossman, the Grand Forks Herald's Sioux hockey reporter, has a blog called Sioux Hockey Extra here: http://gfheraldsiouxhockey.blogspot.com/ Here's what Brad hopes to do in his blog. Currently, he's discussing the performance of former Sioux players in the pro playoffs and the Team USA roster for the 2006 World Championships. Take a look. Leave a comment. It's great to have another source of Sioux hockey news in the off-season.

Where does that get you? There were a variety of reasons cited for selecting the Fighting Sioux nickname at the time. Depending on which side of the issue people are on, they put more weight on one reason than another. That debate, in my opinion, is also a waste of time because there's no way to determine the intentions and motivation of the people who made the decision. They also operated under different values that have changed and evolved over time.

That's an interesting clip, especially in light of Friday's NCAA decison. Columnist Christie Blatchford makes a lot of sense. Let's get the Herald to import her.

I think it's a mistake to believe that all or even most Sioux people aren't honored by UND's use of the Fighting Sioux nickname. Events of the past week show that this isn't true. That attitude is insulting to many fine American Indians who have stuck by UND throughout this controversy. In any event, I think it's a waste of time to debate whether or not someone does or should feel honored. Those conferring the honor certainly know and understand their intent. They know what's in their hearts and minds. Just because some people say that they're not honored by the gesture in no way changes the intent. For example, an actor who receives an Academy Award may have some reason for not accepting the award and might even proclaim that he's not honored by it. That in no way changes the meaning or intent of the award. Nor does it change the motivation of those who chose to bestow the honor on the actor. In other words, I have no more business telling a member of a Sioux tribe that he or she should be honored than the tribal member has in telling me that my intent was to insult or demean American Indians. I can't force someone to feel honored. An unwillingess to accpet the honor does not change the intention of the giver. The issue for me has nothing to do with who is or is not honored. It's deciding whether or not I want a false, wrongfully created preception of my community and my employer to be seen as the truth by the outside world. This blog further explains why I think it's a battle worth fighting. I'm not into vindictiveness, revenge or retribution if I don't get my way. It saddens me to see that some Sioux fans are.

I'll have to check my busy schedule to make certain that I have time to conduct the interview.

The difference is that people who post on this board don't have the power to force their opinions on others by threatening them with punitive action. Myles Brand has that power and he's using it for that purpose.

In other words, if your opinion doesn't agree with Brand's, you're not a good person.

My Hot Talk blog on the issue.

And I believe the truth is that UND fans acted no differently during that game than they did in any other Sioux-Gopher game. At least, that's the way I remember it.

Context is everything.