Grand Forks Herald Letter: Few know sundogs, but everyone knows Roughriders

I have been focusing on the nickname issue because I think it's an important issue. First, I think the UND nickname committee eliminated names that are a lot better than the remaining final seven nicknames. Also, as I mentioned last week, I think we need to reject the Sundogs nickname.

Finally, I am also concerned that UND nickname committee is going to pick a very bad nickname that none of us can get behind. If the nickname committee wants to start a major firestorm, pick Sundogs.

here's one of the latest letters from the Grand Forks Herald. It was kind of long so I took the main point from the letter. You can read the whole thing by clicking on the link.

Eric Groves, BRECKENRIDGE, Colo -- Now to my main point: Sundogs. This is a weather phenomenon that does happen in North Dakota, among other cold weather states. Sure, it is kind of cool to see, but is this a name that deserves to be the nickname of the state's flagship university—UND?

Some have said this represents Grand Forks. This is not the University of Grand Forks, so let's think bigger than that.

To me, the answer is a resounding no. I do not want my university's nickname to be a weather phenomenon. I definitely do not want the logo to be some sort of rainbow.

There are many state universities that adopt their state's nickname as their nickname. Of the seven names the committee and consultants deemed "popular", there is one that does stick out. Roughriders. Which happens to be one of North Dakota's nicknames: the Roughrider State.

A common argument is that Red River High School in Grand Forks is the Roughriders. Hazen High School in Hazen, N.D., is the bison, the exact same name as another major university in the state. I can live with that.