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.

Mike McFeely on UND Hockey and NDSU Football

It must be that time of year again. Checking the calendar, it's the month of April and the Bison Football vs. UND hockey comparison is again making the newspapers and blogs. Everyone's favorite Fargo Radio host Mike McFeely has this interesting blog post this morning.

Honestly, I have never really liked UND fans calling NDSU's football program JV. First, let's not forget, UND also has a JV football team and UND third-year head coach Bubba is doing a great job resurrecting a team that was left for dead after the last head coach ran the program into the ground. Now, checking the results the last five years, their JV football team is better than ours.

UND's record isn't even .500 and the Bison have won back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back NCAA FCS championships. That's pretty impressive in any league. While I don't care for the NDSU football team, I must tip my hat to them. They're a powerhouse in FCS football. I suspect that Bubba will have UND's football team playing at an elite level in the not too distant future.

During the football season, UND hockey fans derisively refer to the Bison as a junior varsity or “JV” team because they compete in the Football Championship Subdivision of NCAA Division I, not the highest level of Football Bowl Subdivision. FBS is home of big-time conferences like the Big Ten, Big 12, Southeastern Conference, etc. (McFeely)

On the flip side of the coin, we have this argument.

During the hockey season, Bison fans belittle UND hockey as a team competing in a low-profile sport relatively few Americans care about. They point to dismal attendance at NCAA regional sites, low TV ratings and the small number of Division I hockey programs and say, “Hockey is a regional niche sport that few outside passionate hockey towns care about. UND is a big fish in a really small pond.”

Let's face facts, hockey is a unique sport, it's the one sport where a division III school can beat the big boys. Rarely if ever, does this happen in FBS college football. I am not sure that NDSU would ever beat Michigan in football, but UND did so in hockey.

Two weeks ago, while wearing a Fighting Sioux jersey at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, I had many Jets fans come up and complement my jersey. I doubt that few Canadians know who the NDSU Bison are. I wonder if we should just go to our corners and agree to disagree? I don't think we will ever move on until we do.

McFeely on the Travis Beck incident.

(cont.) As officers yelled at pair to stop, suspects ran inside apartment building. Police later caught one suspect (Beck) leaving building.
— Mike McFeely (@MikeMcFeelyKFGO) September 10, 2012

It's too easy... This is a snap shot of KFGO 790 A.M. radio talk show host Mike McFeely and his twitter feed today. You can see that McFeely broke down the Travis Beck incident pretty well. As most of you know NDSU's Football team has had a few of their players get into trouble with the law. If you have been reading the Fargo and Grand Forks newspapers or watching the local news you will see that the NDSU Football players are making the news on and off of the football field.

More on Travis Beck sitch: Beck and another person were walking near NDSU campus at 3 a.m. on July 21. One was carrying parking sign (more)
— Mike McFeely (@MikeMcFeelyKFGO) September 10, 2012

For the UND football fans that went to school during the 1990's you probably can still remember - this is kind of reminiscent of the Rocky Hagler days when he has the head coach of the NDSU Bison and they too had fair number of players that got in trouble with the law - just like Craig Bohl's players have this past year and into the summer. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming days and weeks. I am sure that Craig Bohl will probably say that this is a whole lot to do about nothing.

(cont.) Police say Beck had been drinking when they tried to stop him near campus July 20, but he ran. He was MVP of title game.
— Mike McFeely (@MikeMcFeelyKFGO) September 10, 2012

(cont.) Beck pleaded not guilty to Class B misdemeanor charges in August, but will attend a change of plea hearing tomorrow.
— Mike McFeely (@MikeMcFeelyKFGO) September 10, 2012

People can say why does it matter - here is the problem - Craig Bohl knew that the petition fraud charges were coming down on 10 his players and the could have ended all of this with simply suspending his players for their game against RMU and this would have been over. Instead head coach Craig Bohl and the Athletic director choose to say this.

NDSU starting linebacker Travis Beck will have 2nd court appearance tomorrow for minor consumption and resisting arrest. (more)
— Mike McFeely (@MikeMcFeelyKFGO) September 10, 2012

“There are not going to be any suspensions,” Taylor emphatically said after the game. “These kids don’t deserve a suspension. I’m not going to suspend them and neither is Craig (head coach Craig Bohl). As far as we are concerned, it is over.”

By making comments like this Bohl is actually putting his program under the scope - so just when the head coach thought maybe this would pass a the Travis Beck incident just compounds what happened last weekend.