Foss Nails it - yet again!

If you haven’t read this article by Virg Foss, it’s worth a look. I have always been a big fan of Foss’ work because he puts a lot of emotion into his work and he paints a nice picture with his elegant words.

That’s not a slam on anyone – because the WCHA is blessed with some awesome beat writers starting with UND’s Brad Schlossman – I just like his writing style.

I might date myself here, I can also remember when Foss covered Fighting Sioux Hockey until he retired in the mid 2000’s.

Virg Foss, Grand Forks Herald --- Officially, the days of the Fighting Sioux athletic teams are past. It will be years before another nickname may be adopted.

I’m fine with that indefinite delay. I see reporters are calling UND the “Green-and-White” on occasion in some sports stories and I guess that’s OK. When I think of Green-and-White locally, though, I think of East Grand Forks Senior High, not UND.

It does limit writers/broadcasters when a team has no nickname, I grant you that. And maybe if I covered the UND teams on a regular basis, I’d tire of typing “UND” over and over.

In times long ago, UND’s teams used be called the NoDaks and carried a nickname of the Flickertails.

I’d rather see occasional use of NoDaks than Green-and-White. The Flickertails can remain in the dusty archives, as far as I’m concerned.

Without a nickname now for the teams, I for one prefer the use of North Dakota. Plain and simple, just North Dakota. We are North Dakota.

It’s a proud name, and yes, it is who we are who live in this state.

I am not sure that I am sold on Green and White either – I have only used it once in a post – I am not sure that it rolls off of the tongue or the finger tips but like Foss said, “and maybe if I covered the UND teams on a regular basis, I’d tire of typing “UND” over and over.”

While reading his post-game report in the Herald on Friday night, I saw that Brad used Green and White in the title. Is this the beginning of something new? I don’t know; but we have a long time to be creative until UND comes up with a new name.

Whether people like it or not – Green and White does kind of fill the void by the loss of a historic nickname – although there was no memo released from the UND athletic department this time around – the writers are no longer refer to UND as the Fighting Sioux. Like it or not – most of us old school fans don’t.

No matter what the name becomes there is going to be someone that doesn’t like the new nickname. This is where I think that branding matters.

This is also the reason I am for not being in a hurry to pick something else for a nickname. I have a bad feeling we’re going to get stuck with a really bad nickname that few of us can get behind. I would rather have no nickname and use “Green and White” than to have a nickname that I will never be able to get behind. What do you think?