William Brotherton Is 5 Years Too Late

William Brotherton has written another letter to the editor and something he said in his letter stuck out.  My question is, where was he five years ago. It's too late now? The cows are out of the barn already. There's no way UND is going to retreat from the Fighting Hawks nickname. Like it or not, it's UND's official nickname.

All UND had to do was listen to alumni and supporters when they appealed in unison that the school simply leave UND/North Dakota as its nickname. Or at a minimum, make that nickname one of the choices in the so-called nickname vote.

UND refused to do so, and now it's suffering the consequences.

What a squandered opportunity when our hockey team won the national championship, and we weren't able to capitalize on it! Just imagine how much Fighting Sioux merchandise would have been sold after the championship victory if the name was still in place. Or even if the name was simply UND/North Dakota.

Instead, we have the hated "Fighting Hawks" name that no one wants. Indeed, when I saw an advertisement for sports gear celebrating the victory, the Hawks name was in tiny print on the merchandise. That says it all.

But it's not too late to try and fix this mess and save UND.

I don't think that Brotherton realizes that UND did sell a lot of merchandise under the Dacotah Legacy Collection. The Fighting Sioux wear flew off of the shelves at the Sioux Shop.