Usual Suspects: Mike McFeely Can't Help Himself

On Wednesday, the University of North Dakota introduced the new Fighting Hawks logo. About 15 minutes after introducing the new logo social media blew up. Yeah that happened, but come on, everyone knew that was going to happen.

Never wasting an opportunity to bag on anything UND, Inforum's political columnist Mike McFeely penned this zinger. Now you have to applaud McFeely, this is very smart move, especially, if he's being paid by the page views and sessions. That article is probably good for 10,000 hits or roughly $30.00.

It was as sad as it was predictable. UND men’s hockey fans and former players trashing the new logo for the sake of trashing the new logo, because it’s not the beloved Fighting Sioux nickname and logo and by God will never be the beloved Fighting Sioux nickname and logo.

It would’ve been refreshing to hear a former player, any former player, break the cliche and say something along the lines of, “You know, none of us wanted to get rid of the Fighting Sioux nickname. We all recognize that. Even those men and women who had to guide the university through the process of finding a new nickname and logo did not necessarily want to do it, but they had to. They were forced to. So this is where we are. Reality is, UND is now the Fighting Hawks and we have a new logo. While we wish the Fighting Sioux nickname could’ve continued forever, that is not what happened. So while I’ll always identify my hockey career as being a member of the Fighting Sioux, from here on out we’ll be known as the Fighting Hawks. We already have one championship under our belt with our new nickname and hopefully there will be many more. It’s time to embrace change. #FightingHawks.”

What's even more entertaining, McFeely's blog doesn't accept comments. Not a single one. I would love to see the comments coming for this blog post. Come one Mike, if you're going to troll UND fans, at least have the common decency to accept comments on your blog. Maybe you could learn a thing or two from your co-workers Rob Port and Brad Schlossman. Both writers accept comments on their blogs.

And finally this.

Whether or not you like the new nickname and logo, and whether or not the new logo is graphically pleasing, shouldn’t matter. At some point, the #SiouxForever crowd is going to have to accept that the school has a new nickname and logo. That’s just reality. Like it or hate it, it happened.

When is Rocco Grimaldi or Cam Johnson or another hockey player going to do the difficult thing and support the institution and the people, instead of a retired nickname?

Here's what McFeely and the MoveOn crowd aren't getting. To a certain degree, I think the University has to walk on eggshells with the #FightingSiouxforever block. There's a part of the hockey fan base that isn't going to accept the new nickname. Some never may accept it. So what? That's also a very big part of the UND hockey fanbase. Do you risk alienating a very big part of your fanbase? I don't think the University can afford to. Also, if a former player never played with the new nickname, they're not going to feel any attachment to the new nickname. I don't think you can expect them to just endorse the new nickname, either. Most of them never played under the new nickname, including Roco Grimaldi. So beating on Grimaldi and others solves nothing.

Finally, there needs to be a balanced approach and a mourning period. Accepting the new Fighting Hawks nickname and logo could take generations. It's especially easy for people that have no connection to a program to say, "It's time move on and let it go." This is what McFeely and others don't get. I am not saying I endorse this line of thinking, but it's a reality that I understand. Feel free to opine.