Announcement at 10 am TODAY

[dagies]

I love how so many seem to think that some original name was going to be announced today after knowing for several weeks what the two possible results would be. If it would have been the other way, I am sure we would have been seeing much the same comments from the FH crowd, lamenting how unoriginal it is to have the same nickname as a high school in Grand Forks -- again, after knowing for several weeks what the two results might be. The fiened incredulity is a bit nauseating. I guess this is just the pissing and moaning stage.

Though I would have found Roughriders to be a very acceptable option, as you said many people had legit reasons to not like either name.  Until the final name is announced, there's always "a chance" that "your" choice will prevail.   Now, Roughriders is dead and we're saddled with mediocrity.   I won't apologize for not being happy about it.   I'll get over it in time, but I don't need to be today.

I've heard variations of this argument a lot.  I think Mafia made a similar argument with regard to Kansas University Jayhawks.  Or with the Tigers in the SEC.  But the comparison doesn't stick.  If UND was the first university, or even among the first, to adopt the Hawks nickname, I think it would be a much better choice.  It's the fact that we're adopting it after dozens have already done it is what makes it such a particularly bad nickname.

bingo

Yes, there are many variations of Hawks, but I'd be willing to be for the most part they are referred to as "the Hawks".  Which means, casually, they're all the same.

[Cratter]

Like the student at the hockey game this weekend when he yelled lets go hawks. Nobody knew which team he meant.

[HopHead]

HopHead, although the #5 Iowa Football team is officially the Hawkeyes, here in Iowa they are universally referred to as the Hawks. 

Universally? That may be a bit of a stretch. I live in the Twin Cities and work with plenty of Iowa folks. I hear them say "Hawkeyes" much more often than "Hawks". But that's just my experience. They chant "Let's go Hawks" at games but other than that, it's pretty much Hawkeyes all the way.

[sioux34]

I am sitting 25 minutes from Kinnick stadium as I type.  It's Hawks.

[HopHead]

I am sitting 25 minutes from Kinnick stadium as I type.  It's Hawks.

Thanks for telling me what I experience is wrong.

[sioux34]

You are welcome.

 

Glad you could come to grips with it.

Edited November 18, 2015 by sioux34

[SWSiouxMN]

Like the student at the hockey game this weekend when he yelled lets go hawks. Nobody knew which team he meant.

and to the student that yelled: Look out Miami, there is a new hawk in town!

Response: sucking air

[The Sicatoka]

Roughriders is dead and we're saddled with mediocrity.   I won't apologize for not being happy about it.   I'll get over it in time, but I don't need to be today.

Well said.  

[90siouxfan]

Can anyone steer me to the GoFundMe account that will place a paper bag of dog poo on Bob Kelley's doorstep everynight for eternity?

[HopHead]

 

I don't doubt that in Iowa they would be called the Hawks because it's used like an abbreviation. But if you are almost anywhere else and say your favorite college team is the Hawks, you will likely be greeted with a blank stare.

Edited November 18, 2015 by HopHead

[Cratter]

Good job you figured it out.

[Feff]

Whatever happened to this? 

"The Nickname Committee will evaluate submissions based on a list of attributes that the group has developed:

• Be unique, recognizable, inspiring, and distinctly UND’s;
• Promote a sense of pride, strength, fierceness, and passion;
• Be representative of the state and region in a way that honors the traditions and heritage of the past but also looks to the future; and
• Be a unifying and rallying symbol."

[Shawn-O]

Whatever happened to this? 

"The Nickname Committee will evaluate submissions based on a list of attributes that the group has developed:

• Be unique, recognizable, inspiring, and distinctly UND’s;
• Promote a sense of pride, strength, fierceness, and passion;
• Be representative of the state and region in a way that honors the traditions and heritage of the past but also looks to the future; and
• Be a unifying and rallying symbol."

That was the first committee.  The second committee's charter:

• Be risk averse
• Be safe
• Be bland
• Be risk averse, safe, and bland

[tnt]

Whatever happened to this? 

"The Nickname Committee will evaluate submissions based on a list of attributes that the group has developed:

• Be unique, recognizable, inspiring, and distinctly UND’s;
• Promote a sense of pride, strength, fierceness, and passion;
• Be representative of the state and region in a way that honors the traditions and heritage of the past but also looks to the future; and
• Be a unifying and rallying symbol."

Kind of like the old Al Gore philosophy of do what I say, not what I do type of scenario.  We want you to follow this criteria, but we'll do what we want as far as advancing any of these. 

[Siouxphan27]

Whatever happened to this? 

"The Nickname Committee will evaluate submissions based on a list of attributes that the group has developed:

• Be unique, recognizable, inspiring, and distinctly UND’s;
• Promote a sense of pride, strength, fierceness, and passion;
• Be representative of the state and region in a way that honors the traditions and heritage of the past but also looks to the future; and
• Be a unifying and rallying symbol."

Once Nodaks was eliminated, neither of the remaining names came close to meeting those criteria.  So all bets were off. 

Not my first, second, or third choice...  but, Go Fighting Hawks!!!!!  

[jdub27]

Whatever happened to this? 

"The Nickname Committee will evaluate submissions based on a list of attributes that the group has developed:

• Be unique, recognizable, inspiring, and distinctly UND’s;
• Promote a sense of pride, strength, fierceness, and passion;
• Be representative of the state and region in a way that honors the traditions and heritage of the past but also looks to the future; and
• Be a unifying and rallying symbol."

Those characteristics create polarizing choices. You weren't going to get a committee let alone a huge group of voters to come together a "unique" option. Look at the couple that that almost met the criteria despite the committee process. They were easily the most debated, loved/hated ones.  That's how you end up with generic when a group chooses things.

[Yote 53]

If you wanted a nickname that is genuine you should have gone without a nickname for longer.  Eventually the sportswriters would have glossed you something and the name would have coem about organically.  Many examples of this as many colleges owe their nicknames to sportswriters and how the teams became to be known.  One I poitne dout already, Hawkeyes, another is Fighting Irish.

Interestingly enough I think you may have ended up being known as the Nodaks with that strategy as I heard more and more color and play by play guys using it.

[Gothmog]

Those characteristics create polarizing choices. You weren't going to get a committee let alone a huge group of voters to come together a "unique" option. Look at the couple that that almost met the criteria despite the committee process. They were easily the most debated, loved/hated ones.  That's how you end up with generic when a group chooses things.

Precisely right. The process itself virtually guaranteed a that the result would not meet the stated criteria.

That said, "Fighting Hawks" isn't really a bad nickname. It could have been much worse. Be happy you won't be cheering for the Sundogs.

Embrace "Fighting Hawks"  and, in time, it will seem natural to you.

 

Edited November 18, 2015 by Gothmog

[The Sicatoka]

Precisely right. The process itself virtually guaranteed a that the result would not meet the stated criteria.

Yup. Those of us vested in UND Athletics started infighting instead of acting and demanding. That allowed Kelley and his minions to take over the process and outcome. 

In a phrase ...

We failed to control what is ours to control. 

[SWSiouxMN]

Precisely right. The process itself virtually guaranteed a that the result would not meet the stated criteria.

That said, "Fighting Hawks" isn't really a bad nickname. It could have been much worse. Be happy you won't be cheering for the Sundogs.

 

I'll drink to that.

[The Sicatoka]

Be happy you won't be cheering for the Sundogs.

We got the hot crap sandwich minus the hershey-squirts gravy. Yay. 

GO HAWKS! 

Which? CHI (NHL)? ATL (NBA)? U of Iowa? Miami of Ohio? UM-Lowell? Dickinson State? Fargo-Moorhead (semi-pro baseball)? Maplesoft youth hockey (Ontario)? 

[sioux34]

 

I don't doubt that in Iowa they would be called the Hawks because it's used like an abbreviation. But if you are almost anywhere else and say your favorite college team is the Hawks, you will likely be greeted with a blank stare.

Which is just another example of why Fighting Hawks is a stupid name. 

[LkvlleUNDFan]

The odds of a bad process producing a good result are almost nil, and pure dumb luck when it happens. This is about as generic vanilla ice milk as you can get. Sure, over time people will move on and the resentment of the NCAA and the disgust over this whole process will fade, but in the end the University will still be stuck with a nickname that neither offends nor inspires anyone.

[dagies]

Yup. Those of us vested in UND Athletics started infighting instead of acting and demanding. That allowed Kelley and his minions to take over the process and outcome. 

In a phrase ...

We failed to control what is ours to control. 

I get your point, but I posit that it was never within our control

[The Sicatoka]

I get your point, but I posit that it was never within our control

I had an on-going dialog with Kupchella and Harmeson on this subject (and the Roughriders name for that matter). When Kelley came in that ended. What control I had disappeared.