I could live with this

[Fetch]

http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/219809/group/homepage/

[Fetch]

& to Heck with those who won't play us

Why is UND Admin. so obsessed with it going away ?

The BSC needs to let us in & see it won't be as big of a deal as the worry warts think

[PhillySioux]

The Big Sky doesn't "need" to do anything. They, like UND, can do whatever they damn well please.

[fightingsioux4life]

I knew the Nickname-At-All-Costs crowd would use this as an example of how the sanctions wouldn't hurt us at all if we keep the name. But this is pure apples and oranges. Alcorn State should in no way be considered a peer institution with the University of North Dakota. And deep down Fetch, you know that.

The NCAA sanctions are targeted at the post-season. Alcorn State isn't impacted by the sanctions simply because their teams are almost never good enough to qualify for the post-season. They are best known as the home of Steve McNair, who finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1993 and went on to a good career in the NFL with the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans. When is the last time their football team did anything in the post-season? Or their basketball teams? Or anything else? If you aren't good enough to qualify for NCAA post-season games, the sanctions won't matter. Such is the case with Alcorn State.

But at UND, our teams qualify for the post-season all the time. The sanctions WILL be used by our rivals against us in recruiting (especially by that glorified Ag College 75 miles down the road on I-29) once they are in place and permanent. Minnesota, Wisconsin and whoever else WILL stop scheduling us for regular season games. The reason the sanctions haven't hurt recruiting or scheduling yet is that they haven't been in place long enough (two and a half months). Also, Alcorn State hasn't made themselves a target of the NCAA by taking up legal arms and fighting these monopolists in court. It was the right thing to do, but the bad part is that it does lead to retaliation. And one of the consequences is that the NCAA will "encourage" other schools to not schedule us. And who can blame them for trying to protect themselves by not scheduling us? I certainly don't.

Alcorn State doesn't have to worry about conference affiliation because they are in an established conference and have been for some time. Their conference doesn't seem to be bothered by it, but our potential conference (the Big Sky) is bothered by it and has been consistent about that for some time. Alcorn State also is not prominent enough for anyone else to care if they are being sanctioned or not because they never win anything. It would be like Morningside getting sanctioned by the NCAA back when they were known as the Maroon Chiefs. Morningside was so insignificant at most sports that it really didn't matter to the rest of the NCC if they were being sanctioned.

The reason the Big Sky hasn't kicked us out yet is because they are waiting to see what happens on November 7th in Bismarck when the legislature meets for the special redistricting session and will take up this issue once again. But if "Clueless Al" Carlson and his cronies get their way, the following will happen, in this order:

-The Big Sky will revoke their offer of membership in their league (remember, our membership isn't official until July 1st, 2012).

-Minnesota and Wisconsin will announce they will no longer schedule us in any sport in which we don't share conference affiliation(including hockey). Other schools, pressured by the autocrats at the NCAA, will follow suit.

-Recruiting will become increasingly difficult for football and basketball because of the lack of conference affiliation. Coaches like Chris Mussman and Brian Jones will leave for better jobs elsewhere. Gene Roebuck will retire and get out while the getting is good.

-The athletic department will bleed red ink from the travel costs of being a Division I independent and the scheduling difficulties until it is determined that a move to NAIA will be required (both to escape the sanctions and to cut costs).

-The hockey teams will then be forced to leave the NCAA and petition the CCAA for membership. With our fan base, facilities, tradition and media exposure, they will welcome us with open arms. But it will represent a clear downgrade from what we enjoy today.

-While all this is happening, the Ag College will become a national power in FCS football, winning national title after national title and their basetball programs will become well-known in March in the NCAA tournament. They will gladly (and gleefully) fill the vaccum created by our implosion and destruction created by "Clueless Al" Carlson and the myopic viewpoint of the nickname-at-all-costs crowd.

That is our future as an athletic department and as an institution under NCAA sanctions Fetch. Maybe you can live with it. But most of us who love the University of North Dakota cannot.

End Rant.

[GeauxSioux]

Haga needs to stop stirring the pot with pieces like this. It gives the nickname armageddon crowd a rallying point.

I am a fan of UND, not just UND athletics. I don't want to blow up the whole university to keep a nickname.

[Teeder11]

Haga needs to stop stirring the pot with pieces like this. It gives the nickname armageddon crowd a rallying point.

I am a fan of UND, not just UND athletics. I don't want to blow up the whole university to keep a nickname.

Never thought I'd see the day that Fetch and the like would be using Chuck Haga and the Herald as an example for keeping the name.

[Goon]

Haga needs to stop stirring the pot with pieces like this. It gives the nickname armageddon crowd a rallying point.

I am a fan of UND, not just UND athletics. I don't want to blow up the whole university to keep a nickname.

I think that article did seem to be a bit of a pot stirring piece.

[Chewey]

The Big Sky doesn't "need" to do anything. They, like UND, can do whatever they damn well please.

Uh, no they can't. The B.S. is made up of public institutions and UND is a public institution. If the B.S. won't admit UND or if public institutions won't play UND because of what it calls its teams, that has 1983 lawsuit written all over it. The anti-nickname episcopacy can carp all it wants in the safety of its gilded ivory tower but things get a little more complicated when they step out into reality.

[The Sicatoka]

Alcorn is pathetic. NCAA playoffs are never in their sights.

The BSC could decide to not expand tomorrow because they are having a bad hair day.

And is Chuck Haga really a friend of UND athletics. I question his motivations.

[fightingsioux4life]

Uh, no they can't. The B.S. is made up of public institutions and UND is a public institution. If the B.S. won't admit UND or if public institutions won't play UND because of what it calls its teams, that has 1983 lawsuit written all over it. The anti-nickname episcopacy can carp all it wants in the safety of its gilded ivory tower but things get a little more complicated when they step out into reality.

Please tell me you are kidding. Do you really think we could sue our way into the Big Sky Conference? Do you really think we could sue teams and force them to schedule us? What law is any of this nonsense based on? The Big Sky Conference has every right to decide which teams to include or not. Unless those reasons somehow violate Civil Rights laws (laws that protect people from racial or gender discrimination), there is no way you could force them to admit us as a member. And why would we want to join a conference under those circumstances anyway?

Just keep telling yourself all this nonsense if it makes you feel better, but I think you are the one that has lost touch with reality.

[ScottM]

Great, let's use a backwater, do-nothing college as a "model" for keeping the Sioux name/logo. At this rate, these "save the nickname at any cost" clowns would have UND playing barber colleges and high school JV teams so they could cheer for their "beloved" Sioux. Never mind they don't give a damn about the school itself.

[Fetch]

I know give the Name to Spirit Lake & they can let REA buy it for a AHL team to remain the Fighting Sioux - & UND can become the Spirit or Flickertails or RoughRiders or what ever they want & we will see which one is a sell out in a few years - I'm a Win / Win kinda guy

[GeauxSioux]

I know give the Name to Spirit Lake & they can let REA buy it for a AHL team to remain the Fighting Sioux - & UND can become the Spirit or Flickertails or RoughRiders or what ever they want & we will see which one is a sell out in a few years - I'm a Win / Win kinda guy

What color is the sky in your world?

[fightingsioux4life]

I know give the Name to Spirit Lake & they can let REA buy it for a AHL team to remain the Fighting Sioux - & UND can become the Spirit or Flickertails or RoughRiders or what ever they want & we will see which one is a sell out in a few years - I'm a Win / Win kinda guy

Just keep telling yourself this nonsense if it makes you feel better, but it ain't gonna happen. I don't think an AHL team would want to come here; I don't know if we have enough people to support a minor league team full of players people know nothing about. I am also not sure if people would buy tickets for that many games year after year. This issue was decided the day the State of North Dakota signed that horrible legal agreement. I never would have signed it, but it's done and we can't go back in time to change it.

Control what you can control. This is completely out of our control.

[Fetch]

& PS .............good luck getting folks to convert to what ever you come up with - You should have a few hundred Alumni at the games in your new Garb

[Fetch]

did you see my link the Average attendance is under 6000

[Fetch]

I still say Alumni are a minority at Sioux Hockey Games - not sure about the other games

[BobIwabuchiFan]

Its the sioux for me no matter what bull-sh** name they come up with...its more than a name, its a belief of what the name stands for...some can give it away when the benefit to cost ratio is less than one, but others fight to keep it because its more than just a quick ratio or a situational awareness call...no ill will to others, just a statement of position.

BobIwabuchiFan

[Teeder11]

& PS .............good luck getting folks to convert to what ever you come up with - You should have a few hundred Alumni at the games in your new Garb

I had a hunch you despised UND and only loved the name; now it's confirmed.

[Fetch]

Not True

Like Bob said above

At the least I believe Hockey will not change for a Long Long time if ever

[fightingsioux4life]

The questions you have to ask yourselves are:

Is it worth destroying a car to save the hood ornament?

Is it worth destroying a house to save the flamingos decorating the front lawn?

The nickname armageddon crowd would say yes to those questions. The pragmatists like myself would say no. And for the sake of our entire institution, I hope the ND Legislature says no to jumping off the cliff for no real benefit.

[The Sicatoka]

Riddle me this: If hockey isn't going to change, why'd Coach Hakstol tell the Wisconsin TV broadcast guy that North Dakota could play its fast, hard-nosed style with any moniker?

And better: Have you taken a close, close look at goalie masks worn by Dell, Eidsness, and Maris yet this year? Tell me what you do see. Tell me what you don't see.

I will be a North Dakota Hockey fan until I'm gone (and probably beyond). North Dakota has seven national title. North Dakota will get more.

[ScottM]

So you're saying the Fighting Sioux nickname is the equivalent of flamingos on a front lawn? Hmmmmmm... you really do hate the nickname don't you? Is your real name Erich Longlie?

When the Sioux name and logo retire, are you still going to cheer for UND's teams? Or will you sink back into the woodwork?

[darell1976]

UND did take the ice without the words Sioux and without a logo. Remember when Kendall Baker got rid of the Blackhawk logo. UND went with the generic North Dakota on the uniforms. No logo of any kind, and no Sioux on it. Did people quit showing up? Was there massive protests? NO!!

[Fetch]

Did Baker last long ?