Make Your Case For The Vote

[TBR]

 What percent of people think of a comdom when they first hear "Roughrider" anyway?

 

Anyone with a dirty mind. IOW, 100 % of the population.

[siouxforcefans]

Yes, and I believe if your option of Nodaks is selected, I think that should be part of that nickname as well, as it would break it up a bit from just being the University of North Dakota Nodaks. 

I find that to be far and away the most awkward sounding of the choices.

1st choice Rough Riders - unique to the NCAA and ties to ND.  I am bored by this choice, however, since it is used by so many teams in other leagues.

2nd choice Fighting Hawks - true, it's typical of the consultant's formula, but like others have mentioned, it has good logo possibilities. The safe pick.

3rd choice is North Stars - I think this is actually the best of the nicknames, but there's the whole former MN NHL team and trademark hindrances hanging out there.

4th choice is Nodaks - I really find this one awkward, but it's still a step above Sundogs.

Last is Sundogs - I can't find a quality about this name that I like.  It just sucks in every way, IMHO.

 

 

 

[wxman91]

I'm a little confused, what do people currently think a Nodak is?

http://www.undsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPID=9672&SPSID=81944

 

NoDak Nation is the official student-athletic booster organization at the University of North Dakota. 

Lets try it out for some other states:

Univ. of New Hampshire Newhamps

Univ. of North Carolina Nocars

Univ. of New Mexico Newmexes

Univ. of South Carolina Socars

Univ. of Rhode Island Rhodisls

 

Sounds stupid, doesn't it.

 

Edited September 25, 2015 by wxman91

[darell1976]

Lets try it out for some other states:

Univ. of New Hampshire Newhamps

Univ. of North Carolina Nocars

Univ. of New Mexico Newmexes

Univ. of South Carolina Socars

Univ. of Rhode Island Rhodisls

 

Sounds stupid, doesn't it.

 

Fighting Nodaks sounds a little better, but UND Nodaks just doesn't have a good ring to it. The only people picking that name will be the no-nickname crowd.

[Siouxperfan7]

University of North Dakota Roughriders

University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks

University of North Dakota Sundogs

University of North Dakota Nodaks

University of North Dakota North Stars

 

Those last two just seen awkward when putting it all together.  Agreed?

 

 

 

[darell1976]

University of North Dakota Roughriders

University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks

University of North Dakota Sundogs

University of North Dakota Fighting Nodaks

University of North Dakota  Stars

 

Those last two just seen awkward when putting it all together.  Agreed?

 

 

 

How about that? Still bad but a little better.

[fightingsioux4life]

1. NoDaks

2. Sundogs

The rest are awful and one is a blatant ripoff of the local high school.

You have just illustrated why the voting is limited to UND stakeholders and is not open to Bison rubes who will stop at nothing to destroy UND.

[zonadub]

I’d like to try something.

My challenge for this topic is this: 

• Addressing nickname voters, state your case in fewer than 200 words.
• Do not post on this topic more than once.
• I obviously can’t police these rules, but I'm curious to see whether this can work.

(Hint: The shorter your message, the greater odds that your intended audience will not skip over it.)

There are thousands of alumni that have only loosely followed the nickname-choosing epic. They are now getting postcards from the Alumni Office, asking them to confirm their contact information for an October vote.

Many of these alumni will find their way to these message boards, but they won’t want to read hundreds of pages of arguing.

Valiant effort, Kirk.  It actually lasted a few pages before the same people with the same arguments took over.  ;)

[SiouxFan100]

Doesn't matter what we pick, they will come up with something terrible. 

very true.

[Cratter]

Some people like Fighting Hawks, because the Fighting part is like Fighting Sioux.

I like the Sioux part more than the Fighting part. And that's why I like Roughriders. Replaces one group of people with another group of people.

The Native American people were the original roughriders of this country. And there's already a statue of one in front of the Engelstad Arena.

[Fetch]

[Cratter]

[jimdahl]

So, trying to summarize the arguments for and against each name (I'm going to try to put together a blog post on the topic), here's what I see going through this thread. What did I miss?

Roughriders

State unofficial motto (Rough Rider state, Rough Rider award)
Used by local (GF) high school
Is a person/human
Strong logo possibilities
Concerns about sexual connotation/condom brand
Unique in NCAA, though used in other leagues

Nodaks

Variation on "just North Dakota"
Has been used in the past
Concerns about it in full name "University of North Dakota Nodaks"
Phonetically awkward ("no ring to it", "sounds a bit hick", etc...)
Doesn't add a marketable brand

Fighting Hawks

Non-unique; ______-hawks is a frequent choice of school's changing names
Tough, fierce animal
Strong logo possibilities
"Fighting" retains some "Fighting Sioux" heritage

North Stars

Unique in NCAA
Tied to region
Minnesota state motto
Former Minnesota pro hockey team

SunDogs

Unique in NCAA
Weather phenomenon related to North Dakota's unique climate
Originally proposed by anti-Sioux groups (BRIDGES) as a name sure to offend no-one
Not seen as tough/fierce
Questions as to logo (will we make it a dog, or a weather phenomenon?)

Edited September 28, 2015 by jimdahl

[The Sicatoka]

Is that an original plains Roughrider on a Nokota horse? 

[fight on sioux]

Is that an original plains Roughrider on a Nokota horse? 

Good call. I like it.

[MafiaMan]

I've said this before and I'll say it again:  The locals in SW North Dakota laugh at the myth of the Nokota horse.  It's about as true as grabbing a bunch of rabbits or prairie dogs out of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and claiming they are descendants of Native American pets.    

[skateshattrick]

I am a RRHS alum and up until about 4 months ago a lifelong GF resident.  I will be voting for Roughriders.  I am not the only one either.  So you need to talk to more people.  Now you know at least one!! 

I am also a GF Red River alum and born and raised in GF. I prefer Roughriders as well. Nodaks absolutely sucks as a name. It is even worse than Sundogs which ranks very high on the sucks scale.

[bigskyvikes]

Nodaks is still growing on me....

 

http://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/letters/3851032-letter-espn-may-not-recognize-nodaks-now-it-will

Doom and gloom people start in 1-2-3...

[Siouxphan27]

I've said this before and I'll say it again:  The locals in SW North Dakota laugh at the myth of the Nokota horse.  It's about as true as grabbing a bunch of rabbits or prairie dogs out of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and claiming they are descendants of Native American pets.    

Yup.  but then again, accuracy hasn't been important during this nickname process.  If we went with a guy on a Nokota horse as the mascot for Roughriders, we would have a mythical North Dakotan riding a mythical horse.   Seems fitting, in a total cluster kind of way.

[dagies]

I know everyone has been waiting for me to finally speak my peace on this topic, but life seems to get in the way of taking the time to do so.  Ok, to honor the origination of the thread, in least preferred order:

6. WRITE IN BALLOT:   Bombers - it wasn't my submission, but I loved this nickname proposal and really wish it would have gotten the attention it deserved.  That said........

5.  Sundogs - Just can't get behind this one (no pun intended by the way.  Wrote that without thinking.....).  I think a cool logo could actually come out of this, but I just don't feel much affinity for the name...not much to identify with that's all the fun or exciting.   Plus, I can't stand the idea that it would morph into some sort of canine reference.   Just can't accept this one.

4. Fighting Hawks - I could actually support this one if some version of "hawks" wasn't already used by every other sports team not named "Huskies".    The "hawks" identification is just too overused to consider this.

3.  North Stars - I could live with this.  I DON'T support this however, as it is a nickname of the state of MN.  So just seems wrong to use.   But other than that, I think it's a good nickname and a decent option.

1b.  Nodaks - I actually like this option.  Quite a bit.   I grew up close to North Dakota, and went to school at UND.  I never have perceived "Nodak" as a negative term.  Marney Gellner has it on her Twitter profile.   It's good enough for electric co-ops and insurance companies but it's a negative term?   I don't get it.   It's unique, it's a state identifier....it might be a little weird, but what's wrong with that?    I'd actually be ok with this one.  I don't know what the logo would be but just using the state of ND as a logo could be very workable. 

1a. Roughriders - This is my preferred option.  I like the image, I like the connotation.  I think of the options it gives UND the best chance of adopting a nickname that provides the same sort of characteristics for identification that Fighting Sioux offered.   It's not quite as unique as I'd prefer, but it's a pretty darn good choice.    I don't agree with Brad Schlossman that Teddy's antipathy toward Native Americans should make it a disqualifier.  I do understand someone having that point of view, I just don't share that it has to be that important.    All of those opinions need to be considered, but also taken within the context of the times in which they were made.  It doesn't make those sentiments right, but we are also a much more evolved society now than we were before.   If we turned our back on honoring men of our history with less than desirable traits, opinions or behavior we'd have to disassociate ourselves with most of our founding fathers and probably half of the men who grace our currency.   Where I differ is that I don't believe selecting Roughriders is to honor Teddy's opinions about Native Americans, but is adopting one of our state nicknames (The Roughrider State).    Selecting Roughriders would be about honoring the state's heritage.

 

By the time the vote comes out I might even switch my 1a and 1b, but for now that's where I land.  You can all stop holding your breath now.

[Hayduke]

I know everyone has been waiting for me to finally speak my peace on this topic, but life seems to get in the way of taking the time to do so.  Ok, to honor the origination of the thread, in least preferred order:

6. WRITE IN BALLOT:   Bombers - it wasn't my submission, but I loved this nickname proposal and really wish it would have gotten the attention it deserved.  That said........

5.  Sundogs - Just can't get behind this one (no pun intended by the way.  Wrote that without thinking.....).  I think a cool logo could actually come out of this, but I just don't feel much affinity for the name...not much to identify with that's all the fun or exciting.   Plus, I can't stand the idea that it would morph into some sort of canine reference.   Just can't accept this one.

4. Fighting Hawks - I could actually support this one if some version of "hawks" wasn't already used by every other sports team not named "Huskies".    The "hawks" identification is just too overused to consider this.

3.  North Stars - I could live with this.  I DON'T support this however, as it is a nickname of the state of MN.  So just seems wrong to use.   But other than that, I think it's a good nickname and a decent option.

1b.  Nodaks - I actually like this option.  Quite a bit.   I grew up close to North Dakota, and went to school at UND.  I never have perceived "Nodak" as a negative term.  Marney Gellner has it on her Twitter profile.   It's good enough for electric co-ops and insurance companies but it's a negative term?   I don't get it.   It's unique, it's a state identifier....it might be a little weird, but what's wrong with that?    I'd actually be ok with this one.  I don't know what the logo would be but just using the state of ND as a logo could be very workable.

1a. Roughriders - This is my preferred option.  I like the image, I like the connotation.  I think of the options it gives UND the best chance of adopting a nickname that provides the same sort of characteristics for identification that Fighting Sioux offered.   It's not quite as unique as I'd prefer, but it's a pretty darn good choice.    I don't agree with Brad Schlossman that Teddy's antipathy toward Native Americans should make it a disqualifier.  I do understand someone having that point of view, I just don't share that it has to be that important.    All of those opinions need to be considered, but also taken within the context of the times in which they were made.  It doesn't make those sentiments right, but we are also a much more evolved society now than we were before.   If we turned our back on honoring men of our history with less than desirable traits, opinions or behavior we'd have to disassociate ourselves with most of our founding fathers and probably half of the men who grace our currency.   Where I differ is that I don't believe selecting Roughriders is to honor Teddy's opinions about Native Americans, but is adopting one of our state nicknames (The Roughrider State).    Selecting Roughriders would be about honoring the state's heritage.

 

By the time the vote comes out I might even switch my 1a and 1b, but for now that's where I land.  You can all stop holding your breath now.

It doesn't even have to be attached to Teddy Roosevelt.  Although, it could.  A lot of options.  Even the Wikipedia on Teddy's Roughriders states:

"That term was familiar in 1898, from Buffalo Bill who called his famous western show "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World.""

North Dakota is a tough environment to live in, the winters and summers are harsh.  It's barren, and tough people, like my great grandfather,  homesteaded in that harsh environment.   I like the toughness that the word "roughrider" conjurs up...

 

[SIOUXFAN97]

the herald is for nodaks...no

the pc police is for sundogs...no

geographically clueless people are for north stars...no

the pr firm we paid 1 BILLION DOLLARS came up with ______ hawks....no

roughriders...yes

[Taz Boy]

I hope "Fighting Sioux" wins, but if not, then I hope it's just "North Dakota".

What?  What did I say?

 

[Shawn-O]

I hope "Fighting Sioux" wins, but if not, then I hope it's just "North Dakota".

What?  What did I say?

 

I am guessing you'll be abstaining.  And skipping the nickname vote also.  

[Siouxperfan7]

the herald is for nodaks...no

the pc police is for sundogs...no

geographically clueless people are for north stars...no

the pr firm we paid 1 BILLION DOLLARS came up with ______ hawks....no

roughriders...yes

Probably the best case for what to vote for that I have seen!!