NFL Draft

With the first pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the St. Louis Rams select Sam Bradford, quarterback from Oklahoma. For the first time ever the NFL decided to go prime time on Thursday night with the first round only broadcast with the second and third rounds on Friday in primetime and Saturday featuring the other 4 rounds starting in the morning. The gamble seemed to have paved off with the draft increasing its audience by 30%.

Within the first 5 picks there were no surprises as Sam Bradford, Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy, Trent Williams and Eric Berry went flying off the board. The biggest surprise in the first round was the Denver Broncos selecting Tim Tebow with the 25^th pick in the first round. This was by far what some call the biggest reach in the first round. Tebow a quarterback out of Florida was not even projected for some as a quarter back in the NFL. He will be a project for head coach Josh McDaniel to work on for a few years before he sees the field.

Another surprise in the draft was the actual excellent drafts by the two teams that usually draft the poorest. The Oakland Raiders and the Detroit Lions have both received an A for a draft grade from ESPN NFL analyst for their picks. The Lions took Suh with their first pick and traded back into the first with the Vikings to take Jahvid Best a running back out of California, with what they believe is the next Barry Sanders. The Raiders drafted for best player available and that was Rolando McClain a linebacker from Alabama. Then traded a future draft pick for former Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell. Oakland will now have a chance to actually participate in the AFC West instead of being a tackling dummy.

The one thing that scared me about this draft is how scary fast the Baltimore Ravens defense is going to be next year. They took Sergio Kindle, a projected mid first rounder with their second round pick. They have also improved overall after taking 2 tight ends as well, Dennis Pita from BYU and Ed Dickson from Oregon. Oh they also got the 2 biggest players in this year’s draft as well. Terrance “Mt” Cody and Ramon Harewood, those two together and their present DT Haloti Ngata should not be allowed in the same buffet hall. They will be my super bowl team for next year.

This year’s draft will be known as the year of the Tight End. The TE position is starting to evolve in the league and everyone is looking for the next Tony Gonzalez and Dallas Clark.

GO SIOUX!!!

The news is out and students, faculty, athletes and fans do not like the decision. The University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux will be no more. On Thursday the past week the Board of Higher Education for North Dakota decided to nix the Sioux logo for good. The board had voted in a May 2009 meeting in Dickinson, N.D., to retire the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo starting Oct. 1, a deadline later extended to Nov. 30, unless the university could win approval and a 30-year commitment from the two namesake tribes. Spirit Lake voters had OK’d continued use of the symbols in April 2009, but Standing Rock tribal officials have thus far refused to hold a referendum.

However in good news about this ordeal, the Sioux will be allowed to use the nickname for 1 year to come. In Saturday’s edition of The Forum, readers were asked to send in their ideas for possibly future nicknames. Some possible ideas thrown out there was, the Roughriders, Flickertails, Eagles and Oilers. However one idea was chimed in multiple times, this being the University of North Dakota Aviators. One reader even took the idea a step farther stating this, “I’ve been saying that the UND Aviators should be the name for years,” one reader wrote. “Picture it: the whole student body wearing mirrored aviator sunglasses to games, a guy in an old-time bomber suit as the mascot, the logo could be a WWII fighter plane ... it would be amazing.”

Current and former Sioux athletes also gave the words on this idea. Former Sioux standout basketball player and now Lakers coach Phil Jackson is happy to see the decision has finally come. Jackson is actually one of the few who were in support of nickname change. Current standout Sioux hockey player Chay Genoway was in disbelief and couldn’t believe it came down like this.

However there is one problem that looms larger than the nickname change and that is what happens to the Ralph. There is over 2,200 Sioux logos in the arena which was built in 2006, and are located in everything from seats, tile images to flags throughout the arena. What are they suppose to do now since the logo and name will be changing? There is a myth around that many believe that the Ralph will be torn down since the name and logo is changing. If that is the case it looks like the state of North Dakota just threw 104 million dollars out the door. Just remember that the Sioux name is just a name, but the fighting spirit of the Sioux will live on. GO SIOUX!!!