Friday, July 03, 2015

Mark Schuttenhelm: Tackling the nickname dilemma

My friend Mark Schuttenhelm wrote this article for today's Jamestown Sun. For those to don't know Mark, he's a great hockey mind and writes a weekly column about college hockey during the regular season. I have sat next to him in the REA press box for the last three seasons. Mark and I have had many great discussions about college hockey and about life in general.

I like what he wrote here. I think he's right, the UND nickname committee has needlessly spent a lot of money to end with these six not so great nickname choices. I don't really like any of these choices. I could tolerate one of the Hawks and Rough Riders. Like Schuttenhelm, I would rather just stay North Dakota, too.
Mark Schuttenhelmm, Jamestown Sun -- The UND nickname committee has narrowed it down to six possibilities — Green Hawks, Fighting Hawks, Nodaks, Roughriders, Sundogs, North Stars.

They're kidding us with these names, right? Unfortunately — no. Sadly, this group is said to be the cream of the crop amongst all the names submitted by the folks.

Now look, I know the nickname committee members are not being paid for this work, so I'm hesitant to rip them. And besides, they have taken on an impossible task. This is a fact I pointed out two years ago when I came out in favor of foregoing a nickname and logo and simply using North Dakota, or UND for short, and thankfully, that option does remain on the table as well.

Back in 2013, I said it was unlikely that anyone could come up with a nickname that would even approach "Fighting Sioux" on any number of levels. Likewise, creating a logo to replace the beautiful Sioux Indian head was also an impossible task.
And seriously, he's right, Sundogs sounds ridiculous, moronic and should have been removed from the nickname list a long time ago. Yet, it's still there. I hope we never have to see Home of the Sundogs.
North Dakota Hockey is succinct, dignified, and gets right to the point, namely, that we are serious about our hockey up here. Substitute any other sport at UND in place of "hockey" and the phrase works equally well. Can you imagine if the side of the Ralph said "Home of the Sundogs?"

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