One of the most successful DI hockey programs in the United States finally threw in the towel a couple of weeks ago. Frankly, it is a relief. The Rebel yell has been silenced once again -- this time by the almighty NCAA.
You might ask at this point who I am talking about. Contrary to what you might be thinking, I am not referencing the University of Notre Dame, but, instead, I am talking about the University of North Dakota. Back in 2005 the NCAA ruled that team logos and nicknames must be cleansed of racial identities and offensive stereotypes. Evidently, the "Fighting Sioux" of UND didn't get the message. And if they did, they fought the edict until the bitter end.
Since the 1930's, UND, with the blessing of Sioux indigenous peoples of that state, have used the questionable moniker, and built their identity around the image of a proud warrior. A successful hockey player there named Ralph Englestadt even gave the school $100 million dollars to build the finest hockey barn in the nation. And he embedded the logo into the very structure of the building, making it damnably difficult to alter or adjust the nickname.
As with all political contests, however, the entity with the most power always ends up victorious. The vise simply kept tightening, in spite of intervention by the governor of the great state of North Dakota, as well as by the lack of a required response by the presumably offended aboriginals.
The UND hockey team is a perennial powerhouse in the WCHA: it has won seven national titles and more than a dozen conference championships. They are a team to be reckoned with EVERY year. Playing UND is like a sentence uncommuted. If one gets past this team, the cojones-rating skyrockets.
All of this is incidental to local Clarkson University's defeat at the hands of UND last evening in Winnipeg, Canada. I, of course, was reminded of the on-going controversy in today's local newspaper where it was mentioned that UND played its first game without the "Fighting Sioux" icon, even though a little investigation shows that UND will continue to wear its present uniforms until next year. Evidently, the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, was transitioning into the Big Sky Conference by UND, as well as sanctions imposed by the NCAA that UND could ill-afford to flaunt. Who said it's about pride and not money?
The end has not come peaceably. Ill-will and bad feelings will linger for years. Sports identities are like that, especially when you have a well-oiled program.
My prognostication? UND will survive. I can only wonder, however, what they will now be called. Will the nickname become the official state flower of North Dakota -- the wild prairie rose? How about the state bird -- the Western Meadowlark? Will they eventually learn the NCAA waltz? It's going to take some time to settle such unsettling emotions. I would perhaps suggest a Pleistocene Age reptile -- something like the UND Champsosauruses, or Mastodons, or Brontotheriums.
Big time sports legends engage delicate emotions and instill strong feelings about winners and losers. Wins and losses hinge on playing in a comfort zone. One can only hope that UND will find a new equilibrium. Meanwhile Clarkson is finally home again after a horrible road schedule. Somehow the innocuous Clarkson Golden Knights need to find Excalibur, while unidentifable UND is currently on a 7-1-1 streak.
At any rate, I continue to be embarrassed by my high school nickname, the Southwestern Trojans. And who would ever name a college team originating in western Pennsylvania, the Gators? No wonder my undergraduate institution has won only one D-III national championship in football.
Carry on,
Paul in Potsdam
<http://www2.potsdam.edu/loucksap>
<http://smugmug.loucksap>
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