SJHovey

It isn't skewing the percentages. The sample sizes are just different. Do you want me to go and look to see what the winning percentage was during the first 300 games at the old Ralph, so the sample sizes are identical? I attended games as a kid in the old, old barn, the crappy quonset hut that had a lot of character but candidly I have no interest in going back to. The old REA was loud (sometimes) but that was because we were essentially sitting in a 50 gallon oil drum. I get tired of hearing about the supposed advantage we gave up when we left the old REA. Pure fiction compared to what we have now.

I think you can and should lobby for RR, or whatever name you like best. I for one have no objection to that, even though I didn't vote for RR. It did bother me a little when we who voted for Nodaks were attacked/criticized, etc..., for our perceived motives or reasons for voting for that name. That I don't think is right. It is everyone's free choice.

You do realize our record at the new REA is better than the old, don't you? At the old arena it was something like .690, while at the new arena we are over .700, at least the last time I looked. Furthermore, if you ignore the very first year at the new arena, when candidly there was zero home ice advantage because the rink was new to the players and all the fans just walked around gawking, we have something like a .720 winning percentage at the new Ralph.

I don't know. 37% of the vote just saw their choice eliminated. That alone is more than Fighting Hawks received. Plus the week before the vote leaves more time for lobbying.

Or, some people are willing to listen to all arguments for and against a particular choice, then make an informed decision, rather than simply voting for the first candidate that gives you a woody.

I do think it's kind of funny you guys are all over Brad S. and his opinion regarding the name, or opinions he heard from other interested parties, but there were no objections when a few months ago the GF Herald came out and lobbied to save Roughriders as a name when the consultants recommended against it. http://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/featured-columnists/3798248-our-opinion-roughriders-dirty-word-or-strong-choice-und

Nah. I always think it's funny when these Minnesota kids start ripping on UND and North Dakota, yet apparently had to come to Grand Forks to get their education.

Not to start an argument, but I'm not sure this is necessarily true. I think I read somewhere that the name Rough Riders, which may have even originated in the press, referenced the old Wild Bill western show at the time which incorporated the name Rough Riders into it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_West_shows#/media/File:Buffalo_bill_wild_west_show_c1899.jpg It seems to me that the unit, made up originally of a bunch of cowboys from the SW part of the country, was given the name in press stories about the group, but I don't have a specific site I can link to on that. Another possible source of the name. https://books.google.com/books?id=4Xk7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PR14&lpg=PR14&dq=ORigin+of+roughriders+name&source=bl&ots=uf450gtpis&sig=0b_A529UoKdWJ440SpWYeToGQss&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBjgKahUKEwiNz8yHg9TIAhVJiw0KHYwlA1M#v=onepage&q=ORigin of roughriders name&f=false

As I mistakenly posted in the other thread, I'll go with RR over Nodaks in a run off, 52% to 48%.

Geez, I put my prediction in the wrong thread.

I'll go with a run off between Roughriders and Nodaks, with RR winning 52% to 48%.

I don't know that there is a definitive time diary that I can point you to online. Mostly this is from what is contained in the TR biographies. This timeline is probably about as good as you'll be able to readily find access to. http://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/historyculture/theodore-roosevelt-timeline.htm

As I've said here, and other places, I'm perfectly fine having Roughriders as the name, even though I didn't vote that way. I don't consider TR a racist, because I do put him in the context of his times. But I am curious about the big TR and Roughriders fans on this board. People do realize, don't they, that there is the thinnest of thin connections (if not none at all) between TR (and more importantly, the Roughriders) and UND? Nodaks is not an ideal name, but at least it was the original name of our teams, so there is that connection. TR vacationed here. He was never here for more than about a month, and the total time he actually spent in the state was less than one year. He had a hunting camp here. At the same time he still lived in NY, ran for office and campaigned in NY, raised his family in NY. The Roosevelt family has no connection to UND, as far as I can tell. The Roughriders were formed years after TR stopped vacationing in ND, and was formed by soldiers from the southwest, and TR's Ivy League buddies out east. I don't think they ever set foot in this state. It would be like if George H.W. Bush vacationed in Maine (which he did), opened a fishing business while he was there which then failed in less than a year, causing him to return to Texas forever, and the University of Maine decides to name it's hockey team after George's military regiment. Um, ok I guess. I've always been fascinated by the way the state of North Dakota has latched onto TR. I understand it. It's not like we're Ohio or Virginia or New York or some other state where numerous Presidents have been born, raised and entered politics. But TR hunted deer and elk here, then muttered one very memorable phrase saying nice things about us, and we've suddenly adopted him as our native son, and now want to name our flagship University after his military regiment. Again, Roughriders is a fine name, and I have no problem if that's what is chosen. But I just find the connection (or really, lack thereof) kind of funny.

Nice to see the pro-RR still keeping it classy.

Maybe. I honestly don't follow twitter or similar social media, so I can't speak to that. Out of curiosity, and following your post, I did just randomly look up about a dozen or so twitter accounts by current players and found a single comment, by Cags, relating to the nickname. Again, they could be posting elsewhere, but as a bunch of college kids playing hockey and going to school, they probably have a lot more to worry about.

Honestly, I think the hockey players don't have a huge amount invested in it either way, certainly not as much as the average fan, but that's pure speculation on my part. My guess is that the players have heard about or read that a substantial majority of the fans wanted it left just as North Dakota, and then told Brad that Nodaks was as close to North Dakota as the five choices offered. More of a shout out to us fans than anything else. That's the way I read Brad's post.

Read my entire sentence, not just before the comma. There was nothing in Brad's blog regarding keeping the Sioux name alive. Your response is exactly what I am talking about. You take a sentence and then either misquote it, quote only part of it to cause it to lose it's context, or add a bunch of stuff that wasn't in the quote but you claim to have heard elsewhere.

I finally got around to reading your link, following Jim Dahl's post this morning, and candidly, this post is just a gross misrepresentation as to what Brad reported the players said about the name. The players said nothing about voting Nodaks, the closest thing to North Dakota, the best option to keep Sioux alive behind the REA locker room doors. What was actually written was that many said they liked it because it was closest to North Dakota, which a majority of their fans had preferred. Others said it was the most unique name in the group. One said it was the best way of honoring the past.

Psst! Your avatar is a picture of a guy that's been dead nearly 100 years, and you're advocating for a name taken from a horse-mounted cavalry unit that fought, not in this century, not in the last century, but in the 1800's!

So what's your point, other than they apparently don't support your choice? Are the coaches, players and even the media not entitled to express an opinion? Also, how exactly do you think the Herald benefits from any particular outcome?

Heaven forbid a blogger or journalist form an opinion, then write it down.

Background on the TR comment. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/geronimos-appeal-to-theodore-roosevelt-117859516/

There is: 1. Guessing; 2. Pulling things out of your azz and throwing them on the table for people to look at; or 3. ^^^^This post. What possible fact could you be looking at that causes you to conclude this???

I voted for Nodaks, for reasons I will explain. It ultimately came down more to a process of elimination. I simply cannot vote for Sundogs or Fighting Hawks. I am not interested in our team just being yet another "dog" or "hawk" team. North Stars is absurd. Zero connection to North Dakota, other than they share the same first word. That leaves Roughriders and Nodaks. As choices go, it really won't bother me if it's Roughriders, but it's not my first choice primarily for two reasons. First, it's not unique. There are other teams, including the local high school team, which use that name/mascot. There are also things like the Rough Rider award and the like that have been used by the State, but which have nothing to do with our University. I've also always personally felt that the State of North Dakota has clutched just a little too hard at its connections with TR. North Dakota has never really had any connection with the Rough Riders cavalry group from the Spanish-American war. I could see it if that group had been made up of primarily servicemen from North Dakota, but that connection doesn't exist. Nodaks is not ideal. It doesn't flow easily as part of cheers. It is non-descript. But it has a couple of advantages, in my opinion. First, it is unique and won't be copied by any schools, etc... It is also free from all possible offensive or derogatory connotations, so we'll be free of that nonsense once and for all. It also permits us to be creative with respect to coming up with a unique mascot/logo design.

They did. They actually went 0-5 to start the 93-94 season, and 0-7-1, before going on to lose in the National Semi's to eventual champion BU. They also started 0-3-1 with three shutouts (and a 3-3 tie with us) to start the 09-10 season, which ended much sooner for them. No doubt it's fun to see the struggles of our former conference mates, but recall that karma can really suck. Last year MN fans were taking great enjoyment out of Wisconsin's troubles. Hockey is cyclical, and we can very easily find ourselves in the same position sooner than we would like.