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GeauxSioux

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I think it's pretty cheap that the Big Sky waits until now to spring this on us. They could have easily sent a letter outlining their misgivings while the house and senate were debating the issue...oh well.

They did..............

Big Sky commissioner expresses concern over N.D. Legislature's proposal to keep Sioux nickname

But the "Save the nickname at all costs/hockey only crowd" prevailed again...............

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They did..............

Big Sky commissioner expresses concern over N.D. Legislature's proposal to keep Sioux nickname

But the "Save the nickname at all costs/hockey only crowd" prevailed again...............

That complete BS that it's a "hockey only" crowd. I know plenty of people that love the Fighting Sioux logo not because of the hockey team but because of their love for the tradition that the logo has given us over the years. This is a crappy issue. Why you or anyone want to create a divide among fans of UND regardless if they believe the name should be retired or not? It's a UND fan on UND fan crime and that's just dumb. We are all cheer for the same team and all wish this could be handled and behind us. Doesn't mean we can't have different opinions on if the name should go or stay. Just saying.

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Part of this is posturing. The question is how much. If the Big Sky was really concerned about it's schools meeting all NCAA requirements, it would kick out Idaho State now.

Idaho State has been banned from football postseason - which is worse than a ban from hosting post-season games - yet no threats are being publicly made at Idaho State for horrible academic progress or even having a football coach that has a record of cheating and NCAA probation.

Not saying that UND is in a good position, but would bylaws allow UND to be evicted without the potential for a huge lawsuit against the Big Sky?

If the ND AG does in fact sue the NCAA for anti-trust as the law states he needs to, is the Big Sky fearful about offering UND shelter?

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Posturing? You need to retract one more statement. Id say this is serious, and the clock is ticking. Unless this issue is resolved to the ncaa's liking, there is not a conf in the ncaa regardless of division that will take you. That is one statement that i have repeated, and won't retract. You need the bsc way more than any perceived benefit to hockey of the logo.

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I think it's pretty cheap that the Big Sky waits until now to spring this on us. They could have easily sent a letter outlining their misgivings while the house and senate were debating the issue...oh well.

I say this is less about the nickname and more about the other Big Sky presidents not happy about UND coming into the Big Sky alone. In a time when schools across the country are trying to cut expenses, they are not happy traveling to the Eastern Dakotas for one school. If USD had gone with UND, I don't think they would be threatening to deny UND's acceptance to the conference.

There are an awful lot of Presidents in the Big Sky that don't want UND in, and this is the perfect opportunity to get them out.

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I say this is less about the nickname and more about the other Big Sky presidents not happy about UND coming into the Big Sky alone. In a time when schools across the country are trying to cut expenses, they are not happy traveling to the Eastern Dakotas for one school. If USD had gone with UND, I don't think they would be threatening to deny UND's acceptance to the conference.

There are an awful lot of Presidents in the Big Sky that don't want UND in, and this is the perfect opportunity to get them out.

Thank you for your opinion, but allow me one question on it:

If they don't want to fly to the eastern Dakotas, why'd they take UND and USD in the first place?

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Great, now everyone can jump off the bandwagon again...Jesus people, get a freakin spine...We haven't even faced the NCAA yet on this and we have the usual candidates offerring the rationale again for surrender...No need to name you all, its pretty easy to see the rats jumpin' ship..Go ahead and when they get the NCAA to compromise you will have another opportunity to come back into the fold and tell everyone you were on our side from the beginning.

BobIwabuchiFan

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Great, now everyone can jump off the bandwagon again...Jesus people, get a freakin spine...We haven't even faced the NCAA yet on this and we have the usual candidates offerring the rationale again for surrender...No need to name you all, its pretty easy to see the rats jumpin' ship..Go ahead and when they get the NCAA to compromise you will have another opportunity to come back into the fold and tell everyone you were on our side from the beginning.

BobIwabuchiFan

I'm able to put my emotional attachment to the Fighting Sioux name the side and accept the pragmatic side of the equation that it is better for UND, both athletically and academically, to move on.

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I say this is less about the nickname and more about the other Big Sky presidents not happy about UND coming into the Big Sky alone. In a time when schools across the country are trying to cut expenses, they are not happy traveling to the Eastern Dakotas for one school. If USD had gone with UND, I don't think they would be threatening to deny UND's acceptance to the conference.

There are an awful lot of Presidents in the Big Sky that don't want UND in, and this is the perfect opportunity to get them out.

That is news to me. You must have heard some things that the rest of us haven't. I've actually heard the opposite and more Big Sky presidents have talked about how happy they were to add UND, even if it was alone. Believe it or not but I think this is exactly what the letter said, the Big Sky presidents are afraid of the push back they will get from the NCAA.

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I wouldn't be shocked if there was a president or two that is unhappy with having just UND in the Big Sky but I doubt it is any kind of consensus. This is more about not wanting to bring this controversy into the league and going against the NCAA. Hopefully your admin and the SBoHE can act quickly and get this resolved, none of your coaches or student athletes deserve this.

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Thank you for your opinion, but allow me one question on it:

If they don't want to fly to the eastern Dakotas, why'd they take UND and USD in the first place?

If USD had come in with UND, I don't believe the Big Sky presidents would be threatening the deny UND's membership. It's not necessarily that they didn't want UND, but they wanted a package deal of USD/UND. When that didn't happen, they would prefer to have neither. Just my opinion, just like most on this site seem to think UND is a dream fit for the Big Sky. The truth may lie somewhere in between, but if you took another vote of the presidents today knowing it is just UND with no USD, I don't think they get in.

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From what I understand Montana was the main reason we got an invite. They were extremely unhappy with being in a conference with institutions they had nothing in common with academically. There might be a few presidents out there unhappy with the UND invite but they would have been a lot unhappier in a BSC without Montana.

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12 teams for football (two 6 team divisions, 8 game conference schedule) and 10 teams for other sports (round robin/double round robin schedules) is a much easier scheduling model for the Big Sky than 13/11 with one team in Grand Forks, I wouldn't want to give the Big Sky an excuse to make their life easier. Hopefully the idiots who got UND into this mess (Carlson et al) had a contingency plan in case it blew up in their face (like what is happening now), but I am guessing they didn't.

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12 teams for football (two 6 team divisions, 8 game conference schedule) and 10 teams for other sports (round robin/double round robin schedules) is a much easier scheduling model for the Big Sky than 13/11 with one team in Grand Forks, I wouldn't want to give the Big Sky an excuse to make their life easier. Hopefully the idiots who got UND into this mess (Carlson et al) had a contingency plan in case it blew up in their face (like what is happening now), but I am guessing they didn't.

The SBoHE will have to clean up their mess, I'm guessing they'll challenge the state law rather quickly now that UND has been put into this position.

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What is the procedure to retract a state law? Could lawmakers call a special session and get the law repealed? I don't want UND out of the Big Sky...lets get that law off the books and start the retirement process again, and if any Bison fan comes up with legislation to save the name just kick them in the face. Thanks Al for getting our hopes up...again. :angry:

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What is the procedure to retract a state law? Could lawmakers call a special session and get the law repealed? I don't want UND out of the Big Sky...lets get that law off the books and start the retirement process again, and if any Bison fan comes up with legislation to save the name just kick them in the face. Thanks Al for getting our hopes up...again. :angry:

Maybe you should get a muzzle for your hockey coach and take his computer away. He is as much responsible for the new law as anybody.

I don't think a challenge to the law by the SBoHE is going to make the the controversy go away very soon, as there will still be a question as to how it will end up. And don't expect a special session to be called just to address the nickname issue. That would be seen as a major waste of taxpayers money.

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So, if you get rid of the law, what does that do? You would have to actually drop the nickname, and no one seems to grasp that concept.

Actually, I think they have or else they wouldn't want the law retracted. It might have been different if the law was passed 5 years ago but as a last gasp measure, well, it was bound to cause problems with the result of the lawsuit. Maybe this will be a blessing in disguise when all is said and done in that it finally starts the endgame. Ultimately, everybody lost in the nickname issue in my opinion.

I have to wonder if this was a result of the NCAA putting pressure on the Big Sky.

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We live in uncertain times at UND, with Big Sky membership in jeopardy and the negative impact that the BTHC will have on the WCHA the future seems bleak. I hate that we must sacrifice our past to secure our future but there appears to be no other alternative, my only fear is that the administration will choose a nickname that is already being used by a dozen other institutions. We are very proud of our school and our athletic programs we deserve an identity unique to only us.

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