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St. Cloud State Sign ideas


MinnesotaNorthStar

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I don't know if it made it in Sat. I sent it with my nieces. forecheck, was it sittin in the office?

Yup, all rolled up on a desk. The security guy told me he already confiscated one as he rifled through my stack, so I asked what it said. He told me I could look at it, and it took some effort not to laugh when I saw what it was. I tried to make a crack about Saigo earning that jersey, but I was shut down. He was all business.

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Completely unacceptable, this crack down on our signs. I come through the main entrance and have had to have the last two batches (Gophs & Huskies) of signs approved, one by one. The officer who went through the signs with me Friday night saw no problem at all with "Fix the Huskies" and in fact chuckled, especially at the little band-aid between the pup's hind legs. He said he'd rather we not use the "Crop/Crap" sign but said to go ahead with it. I knew this would happen: if we want to continue with this new tradition we need to have one person only turning thumbs up or thumbs down on the signs.

I also would like to know where the complaints are coming from. I just can't believe that hockey fans--whatever their ages--are this "sensitive" to word play, especially when it's at the expense of our opponent. I think the signs are much less objectionable than the "who's he" and anti-ref chants, not to mention the "misspelling" series of chants coming from the student section. Any idea who we can talk to about this? Is it a marketing issue or a security issue?

Oh, yeah. P.S. "Sioux on Top & Loaded" is okay but "Fix the Huskies" isn't?? I think you can see the problem with censorship in general and the way it's being practiced at the Ralph, in particular. If we're willing to submit our signs for pre-approval in the first place, there's got to be only a single standard, enforced by a single authority.

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Who complains? Probably the same people who complain about us standing. Or perhaps the people that only come to the rink for the UM and SCSU series. Fair weather fans over die hards. Whoopee...

However, I give you this perspective. The ONLY feedback many businesses and organizations get is usually negative. They never get comments like "We need more signs at the hockey games." or "I thought the students were well behaved"

Only those who b!tch are the ones who call. That's true for corporate America. We need people to call in saying that we rule. Kupchella only hears what he is told and if that is only complaints, then that's what he reacts to.

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What is the REA afraid of? That some 8 year old will read the sign and not understand it?

No, that the older folks will have a problem with it OR one of those people in the suites may mistakenly look out at the game going on and accidentally see a sign they think is unprofessional.

NOTE: I'm not saying that all old people are like this, nor am I saying that all suiteholders don't watch the games.

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When my signs (meaning the ones I was displaying) were getting re-approved on Saturday, I was approached by an older gentlemen who told me that everyone he knew loved the signs and it was better than all the "f*ck you" stuff we have done in the past. We're trying to work with them...they do not seem to want to work with us.

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Try looking at the sign issue from this perspective. The games at the REA are televised throughout the region. Let's say that you're watching the game at home with your kids and suddenly the camera fixes on a profanity laced sign with picture on it of questionable taste.

It would make the REA look bad, UND look bad, Grand Forks look bad and North Dakota look bad. Therefore, I can understand the need to screen the signs. But I do think it should be done in a more organized manner.

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They're not. Most don't even have picture on them. I do agree that there needs to be a little bit of censorship on the signs. For example flatspin's gf's puppy love sign...there's a reason I didn't display it, though there were certainly opportunties. I agree that the security guards are just doing their job. I like when they actually laugh at the signs as we are bringing them in. It would be nice if they could tag them somehow when they get in Friday night, so it would be easier to get in on Saturday.

Either that, or maybe YaneA could bring the signs in both nights (or some other non student). I think the security guards are going to let them get more in than if a student tried.

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I don't think any of the signs are profanity laced, unless you consider crap profanity.

I didn't say they were. I was citing a hypothetical case of something that could happen.

understanding, it isn't necessarily REA who is banning signs.  It is Kupchella and the powers that be.  I think the security guards are just doing their jobs.

They haven't banned all signs, have they? As I understand it, they're screening signs to make certain that offensive ones don't get in. I don't think that's a bad idea, but it sounds as if they need to standardize how they do it.

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Yes, there definitely needs to be a single standard, consistently enforced on both nights, but I don't know that my non-student status is any kind of guarantee that I can get away with more than a student would. Forecheck, did the guard say what was wrong with "Fix the Huskies"?

Did any one of you notice the poll about profanity-laced chants that was on USCHO a while back? I voted that such cheers were okay, if clever. I give a lot of points for cleverness. But, most of the voters said that the chants were just fine, without any sort of qualification.

I don't understand why Kupchella would be in charge of setting any polcies at the Ralph. The facility hasn't been turned over to UND yet and, as far as I know, is being run as a private enterprise.

I agree with Pat that we don't want to do anything that makes UND look bad in the eyes of the viewing public but I haven't heard anything but compliments about the signs, and not just from you guys here who are, admittedly, invested in the process.

Do you think our signs would have a better chance if they were "Sioux-centered" as opposed to bashing the opponent? I'm sure we'd have to be careful about using our nickname but I'm thinking we could come up with signs about individual Sioux players instead.

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Nobody is banning signs. Nobody is demanding that the signs have to be bland, meaningless or humorless. People just have to use good judgement, which I don't think is too much to ask.

Personally, I wouldn't have had a problem with the "Fix the Huskies" sign. The "Puppy Love" sign might have been pushing the limits, however.

I don't think security guards should be making the call on which signs are allowed in. Rather than risking the anger of their boss, they'll probably choose to err on the conservative side. I don't think it's fair to put them in that position. It's not their job.

If UND is insisting that the signs be screened, then someone from University Relations or a university official with some PR sense should be the screener. Security should be told that anyone with a sign must take it to a central location where it can be approved.

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Nobody is banning signs. Nobody is demanding that the signs have to be bland, meaningless or humorless. People just have to use good judgement, which I don't think is too much to ask.

Personally, I wouldn't have had a problem with the "Fix the Huskies" sign. The "Puppy Love" sign might have been pushing the limits, however.

I don't think security guards should be making the call on which signs are allowed in. Rather than risking the anger of their boss, they'll probably choose to err on the conservative side. I don't think it's fair to put them in that position. It's not their job.

If UND is insisting that the signs be screened, then someone from University Relations or a university official with some PR sense should be the screener. Security should be told that anyone with a sign must take it to a central location where it can be approved.

If that is the case, what would stop that UND PR person from inventing reasons not to allow them in?

Things like "Oh, I can see how that could be disrespectful to the players and their fans. We'd best not let them in, but this Go Sioux sign is nice." and then, to try to smooth things over they'd say "Oh, but they were humorous. Keep trying!"

Forget it. I say we keep trying and if they confiscate it, then we just bring a big black marker into the arena and stop doing 2 sided signs. Then we can just write the sign on the back.

However, with that, I think PCM is right though, that we should use our best judgement as to what is and is not appropriate. So far, however, they have been nothing but appropriate. We are really quick, as a group, to point out which signs are not appropriate on the board so that they never make it to a poster board to begin with.

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