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!!!
This has been going on for so long now I am glad they finally made a decision. I was not really for the name change but it looks like that is what is happening. You are right that it is just a name and I do not see how it became such a huge controversy. The Indian tribes involved in this could probably shed a little light on the subject but I do not hear/read about them very much. All I hear about the tribes is that some are for it and some are against the name change.
ReplyDeleteAs for the arena, I think it is a shame that such a wonderful place is going to have to change. I have also heard that it would be torn down since it was built for the ‘Fighting Sioux’ and would only be standing as long as the name was there. I think it would be ridiculous to tear the building down because of so much time and money spent on the project. The changes that need to be made are going to cost a lot of money though but in the end I think it would be worth it, let it stand.
I am actually very disappointed that the Sioux have to change their nickname and logo. I have always thought that that is one of the nicest sports logos around. UND will definitely have to figure out what is going on with the Ralph because that is one of the nicest arenas around. I don’t understand why the Sioux have to change their nickname, when teams like the Cleveland Indians do not. Hopefully this situation can be resolved so everyone is happy.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic, because so many people are disaappointed that the name Souix is going to change. I have always liked the Souix itself and I too am disappointed it's going to change. I never thought about all the equipment that has to be torn down just because of the logo. For the Souix, that is like wasting money. Hopefully, in the future everything will work out for the best, and the Souix will always be with us no matter what happens.
ReplyDeleteThis is always a bad thing when someone is forced to change their team name. It has been going on a for a while but I think the nickname will still be there. I have heard that they are going to go back to the flickertails, which is still a good name for them. That was the name before they changed it to the Sioux. Hopefully, it will all work out and that things will stay the same around there.
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