Ever wanted to name a university's mascot? Now's your chance!

[RealSNR]

The University of North Dakota got rid of the Fighting Sioux in 2012, and since that time, they have been simply "The University of North Dakota." No mascot. Fighting Sioux was beloved by the community of Grand Forks largely because of the tradition associated with it in the university's college hockey program, which has been historically and recently one of the top college hockey programs in the NCAA.

The university has finally assembled a committee to look through suggestions and recommend a new mascot to the president of the university. They just need the suggestions. That's where you come in. Simply click the link and fill out the online form: http://und.edu/nickname/

Here are the basic guidelines to consider (from the UND announcement):

Spoiler!

Online suggestions, which must be 25 characters or less (including any spaces), will be accepted from Wednesday, April 1 at 8 a.m. CDT to Thursday, April 30 at 11:59 p.m. CDT. All mail-in submissions must be postmarked no later than April 25.

The Nickname Committee will evaluate submissions based on a list of attributes that the group has developed:

• Be unique, recognizable, inspiring, and distinctly UND’s;
• Promote a sense of pride, strength, fierceness, and passion;
• Be representative of the state and region in a way that honors the traditions and heritage of the past but also looks to the future; and
• Be a unifying and rallying symbol.

Submissions are anonymous; individuals submitting suggestions will not be asked to provide their names. All nickname submissions are subject to North Dakota open records law. Individuals submitting nickname suggestions are not entitled to compensation or anything of value in exchange for the submission, and all submissions become the property of the University of North Dakota.

The Committee will accept suggestions for nicknames only. Drawings, designs, logos, art files, special characters, etc. will not be considered.

Nickname suggestions will be sent directly to PadillaCRT, a group that has national expertise in nickname development and that has been advising the Nickname Committee. Any nickname suggestions known to be trademarked and/or subject to third-party rights or uses may not be considered by the Committee.

Since I'm originally from Grand Forks, I have connections to people who are abuzz with this process. I can tell you that there are already some favorites being championed:

--Flickertails. This was the university's mascot prior to becoming the Fighting Sioux in the 1930s. Given the university's recent goals of expanding into a tier-one research university, it makes a lot of sense to go with rodentia like their counterparts in the Big 10 (gophers, badgers). North Dakota is also known as the Flickertail State.

--Roughriders. The safest bet. Nothing says North Dakota pride like references to Teddy Roosevelt. Would also still manage to piss off a few people, since Teddy Roosevelt probably killed a few Indians when he was out in the North Dakota Badlands. It largely boils down to whether or not the university is cool with proudly stating to people, "Yeah, you might think of condoms when you hear our name, but we're still going to beat you in hockey!"

--Pilots. UND's aviation research and development program is unanimously known as the best in the country. It's odd to pick a mascot based on the strength of an academic program, but eh... weirder things have happened.

--Green Meadowlarks. This one combines creativity with tradition and old-sounding college mascot nomenclature, but it's also kind of weird. The Western Meadowlark is the state bird of North Dakota, and green and white are the school's primary colors. A problem with this is that I believe the Western Meadowlark is also the state bird of like 20 other states. It's still better than Banana Slugs.

--Keep using no mascot. The most likely option, I think. It's the last method that UND fans have to tell the NCAA to go **** itself for making the university ditch Fighting Sioux. There's a rule in place that they can't have a racial mascot, but there is no rule that says the school has to have a mascot, just a nice little memo that says, "It would be really nice if your school had a mascot so we could maintain the entire aesthetic of the neighborhood. Smiley face." It would also make the university stand out and be truly unique.

But that doesn't mean you can't play a role in creating collegiate athletic history! So get in there!

[The Franchise]

The North Dakota North Dakotas?

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

The North Dakota North Dakotas?

If you read the comments, those are people that want to keep no nickname.

[TimBone]

Ermine detroys all of those. This really is a no brainer.

[RealSNR]

Given that the non-consideration list had so many "NO NICKNAME" entries, I think it's fair to say that UND is GOING to get a new mascot. We're in the clear there, and honestly that was our biggest competition that I was afraid of.

I think you can also get rid of all the non-corporeal WNBA-style nicknames. "Force of the North" was UND's secondary moniker in the 90s/2000s that some people used, but you just can't do that. It's stupid and goes against the overwhelming "tradition" criteria. All that stuff is out.

The weather shit is out, too. How the **** are you supposed to depict that? Blizzard, Blizzards, Flood, Floods, Tsunamis (Good ****, there are 10 people in the world dumb enough to identify Tsunamis with North Dakota? It would be funny if they spelled it Siouxnami, but still...) All those are gone.

You can forget about all the vaguely tribal names. They're going to steer clear completely. Warriors, Warriors of the North, Tomahawks... all gone. They're also likely going to take away all the names that can be tied to manifest destiny. No Trailblazers, Pioneers, Settlers, or shit like that.

Get rid of the names that are already recognizable mascots from other franchises and universities. Thrashers, Raptors, North Stars are gone. Get rid of the reeruned ones like Fighting Farmers. And get rid of Flickertails, because the university isn't going to go through all this trouble just to say, "Oh hey let's just use our former nickname that we ditched before," like it was some revelatory spark of genius that only could have been revealed through a large-population search like the one they just conducted.

Here are the names I'm most frightened of:

Aviators
Badlanders
Flames
Frost Giants
Green Machine
Kodiaks
Mallards
Meadowlarks
Nighthawks
Rattlers
Reapers
Snowy Owls (or perhaps Barn Owls, which are a far more common species found in ND)
Sodbusters
Stallions
Sundogs
Trappers
Yeti

[RealSNR]

I've put in green all the names I think could pose a serious threat to ermines:

Aviators
Badlanders
Flames
Frost Giants
Green Machine
Kodiaks
Mallards
Meadowlarks
Nighthawks
Rattlers
Reapers
Snowy Owls (or perhaps Barn Owls, which are a far more common species found in ND)
Sodbusters
Stallions
Sundogs
Trappers
Yeti

Badlanders is cool, but you should give that one to Dickinson State University out on the west side of the state. Besides, the South Dakota Badlands are the ones that an overwhelming number of people recognize.

Frost Giants is a bit too quirky, and it's too easy to just shorten to "Giants."

Green Machine-- Gay.

Kodiaks? As in Kodiak bears I assume. Wrong part of the continent, dipshit.

The Western Meadowlark is the state bird of like 20 different states. It's far from a unique North Dakota thing.

Reapers-- I get the farming imagery, but it's too much like Rapists.

Snowy Owls-- Easily abbreviated, not a good identifier of the prairie

Stallions-- **** all horse mascots. Also, there has GOT to be a Stallions nickname somewhere

Trappers-- Too French, too easy to change to Crappers

Yeti-- Cute, but doesn't roll off the tongue. Pretty sure you don't want a missing link-type humanoid figure representing your scholastic pursuits as an institution.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by SNR

Given that the non-consideration list had so many "NO NICKNAME" entries, I think it's fair to say that UND is GOING to get a new mascot. We're in the clear there, and honestly that was our biggest competition that I was afraid of.

I think you can also get rid of all the non-corporeal WNBA-style nicknames. "Force of the North" was UND's secondary moniker in the 90s/2000s that some people used, but you just can't do that. It's stupid and goes against the overwhelming "tradition" criteria. All that stuff is out.

The weather shit is out, too. How the **** are you supposed to depict that? Blizzard, Blizzards, Flood, Floods, Tsunamis (Good ****, there are 10 people in the world dumb enough to identify Tsunamis with North Dakota? It would be funny if they spelled it Siouxnami, but still...) All those are gone.

You can forget about all the vaguely tribal names. They're going to steer clear completely. Warriors, Warriors of the North, Tomahawks... all gone. They're also likely going to take away all the names that can be tied to manifest destiny. No Trailblazers, Pioneers, Settlers, or shit like that.

Get rid of the names that are already recognizable mascots from other franchises and universities. Thrashers, Raptors, North Stars are gone. Get rid of the reeruned ones like Fighting Farmers. And get rid of Flickertails, because the university isn't going to go through all this trouble just to say, "Oh hey let's just use our former nickname that we ditched before," like it was some revelatory spark of genius that only could have been revealed through a large-population search like the one they just conducted.

Here are the names I'm most frightened of:

Aviators
Badlanders
Flames
Frost Giants
Green Machine
Kodiaks
Mallards
Meadowlarks
Nighthawks
Rattlers
Reapers
Snowy Owls (or perhaps Barn Owls, which are a far more common species found in ND)
Sodbusters
Stallions
Sundogs
Trappers
Yeti

I'm of very similar mind. I just put up a big post in the Siouxsports site about it.

My thoughts on your semifinalists:

Ermines - Meets every criteria by far. It's a powerhouse.
Aviators - No. Too common
Badlanders - No. Too South Dakota.
Flames - No. Too Calgary and too common.
Frost Giants - This is a very good suggestion. It meets every criterion. It's a little esoteric, but very strong.
Green Machine - I don't even understand this one. No.
Kodiaks - You'll win a lot of games when the visiting team flies to Alaska and can't find the arena. No.
Mallards - Not a bad name. Doesn't strike fear, but not bad. Meets the criteria.
Meadowlarks - See Mallard. I actually like it better than Mallards because it's more distinctive. But good point about how common the bird is in western states.
Nighthawks - Is this a real animal? I just thought it was a Hopper painting. I think it's not well known enough.
Rattlers - Good name, but way too common.
Reapers - Too Blue Oyster Cult. Too close to rapist.
Snowy Owls (or perhaps Barn Owls, which are a far more common species found in ND) - It's a good name. I think ND won't want the word 'snow', though.
Sodbusters - While I don't think it'll win because it's not going to sell well, it's a pretty good and unique name and should move to the next round.
Stallions - Too common.
Sundogs - This name is actually clever. I had to look it up, but I like it. I think it shouldn't win because it's not going to be understood at all outside the state, but it's worthy of consideration.
Trappers - The modern public doesn't like envisioning animals chewing off their paw on blood-stained snow.
Yeti - Wrong continent

What did you think about Northern Lights? It's a hard one to make a mascot for, but I kind of like it. I also like Pronghorns and Homesteaders a lot.

If I'm on the committee, the finalists are:

Ermines - Meets every criterion perfectly.
Frost Giants - Meets every criterion perfectly.
Homesteaders - Might not sell well, but meets criteria.
Northern Lights - Hard to make a mascot, but creative.

It should be an Ermine/Frost Giant battle for the championship.


Edit: You bring up a great point about shortening Frost Giants. That might kill it.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I'm of very similar mind. I just put up a big post in the Siouxsports site about it.

My thoughts on your semifinalists:

Ermines - Meets every criteria by far. It's a powerhouse.
Aviators - No. Too common
Badlanders - No. Too South Dakota.
Flames - No. Too Calgary and too common.
Frost Giants - This is a very good suggestion. It meets every criterion. It's a little esoteric, but very strong.
Green Machine - I don't even understand this one. No.
Kodiaks - You'll win a lot of games when the visiting team flies to Alaska and can't find the arena. No.
Mallards - Not a bad name. Doesn't strike fear, but not bad. Meets the criteria.
Meadowlarks - See Mallard. I actually like it better than Mallards because it's more distinctive.
Nighthawks - Is this a real animal? I just thought it was a Hopper painting? I think it's not well known enough.
Rattlers - Good name, but way too common.
Reapers - Too Blue Oyster Cult. Too close to rapist.
Snowy Owls (or perhaps Barn Owls, which are a far more common species found in ND) - It's a good name. I think ND won't want the word 'snow', though.
Sodbusters - While I don't think it'll win because it's not going to sell well, it's a pretty good and unique name and should move to the next round.
Stallions - Too common.
Sundogs - This name is actually clever. I had to look it up, but I like it. I think it shouldn't win because it's not going to be understood at all outside the state, but it's worthy of consideration.
Trappers - The modern public doesn't like envisioning animals chewing off their paw on blood-stained snow.
Yeti - Wrong continent

What did you think about Northern Lights? It's a hard one to make a mascot for, but I kind of like it. I also like Pronghorns a lot.

If I'm on the committee, the finalists are:

Ermines - Meets every criterion perfectly.
Frost Giants - Meets every criterion perfectly.
Sodbusters - Might not sell well, but meets criteria.
Northern Lights - Hard to make a mascot, but creative.

It should be an Ermine/Frost Giant battle for the championship.

Here's the thing about "Flames." Yes, it's common and generic, but I believe it's unique to most universities. I don't know any other Flames at other schools. Also, North Dakota has this thing/tradition/culture revolving around an eternal flame of knowledge. I don't know where it's from, but it's been embedded into the university's identity since pre-1900. It's even in the official UND logo-- the little flame spark in the D of UND. I don't think Flames will win, but they might try to marry color into it and become Green Flames. Ermines will beat this.

Northern Lights to me is too cumbersome. University of North Dakota Northern Lights. North north north. That's very Northy. It's also complicated, because it's a mascot that ends in an S like any reasonably good nickname should do to indicate plurality, but it sounds weird to call individual UND athletes a "Northern Light." Because the Northern Lights are a visual phenomenon-- a stretch of light. You may as well make them a non-corporeal mascot. But that's just my personal opinion. In any case, Ermines will take this out.

[RealSNR]

My final four:

Ermines (obviously)

Mallards- If I ding them for not being fear-striking, I also have to ditch Ermines. They will easily get eliminated, though, because there are too many outdoor enthusiasts on the committee who will want to avoid shootable/huntable animals. I think if a hunter saw an ermine in the North Dakota wild, he wouldn't know what to do with it or if he even had a license to shoot it.

Sodbusters- It's a strong name. Very unique. Of the words for farmers that people submitted, this is by far the best one. Gives off a persona of tradition. It's quite fearsome given the sharp cutting tools a sodbuster would be armed with. It's also fun. This is our toughest competition, I think.

Sundogs- Very cool idea. Obviously they wouldn't want to go with a prism of light for the mascot, so they'd probably combine the two and turn the logo into some sort of flying sky dog thing. It fits the originality criteria very well. Ermines is still better, though, plus it has the potential to be a massive flop just as much as it has the potential to be the best.

[TimBone]

Mallard stuck out to me for some reason. I personally don't like it, but I think it's gonna be tough competition.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by TimBone

Mallard stuck out to me for some reason. I personally don't like it, but I think it's gonna be tough competition.

It's taken by the Madison Mallards, the minor league baseball team. That's another strike against it.

[TimBone]

Originally Posted by SNR

It's taken by the Madison Mallards, the minor league baseball team. That's another strike against it.

There you go. That helps. I think you nailed the final four, though.

Granted, I had to have Sundog explained to me by a buddy at work, but it's a cool idea.

[Rain Man]

Good thinking, good thinking.


Another X-factor that we haven't considered is women's sports. That's a huge political issue, so any name has to be be gender neutral. I don't think that women's teams will accept "Lady _____s" any more or "______ettes".

Which of these names crosses the gender line easily?

Mallards doesn't because males have brighter plumage.

Sundogs just sounds male to me. I don't know why.

Northern Lights is gender-neutral, but I hadn't thought about the double use of "North", which I think could kill it.

While sodbusters may be gender-neutral, I don't think women will vote for it.

While Giants can be female, the mascot will have a gender and women probably won't like it.


And now we have the Ermine. If you ask a woman what an ermine is, she'll know. It's a mink coat (kind of). It's luxury. It's soft and warm. It's that Lexus SUV that swaddles women in comfort. Women are going to vote for the ermine.

[RealSNR]

Another problem with Northern Lights.

It makes it sound like UND sold its soul to some beer company for advertising money.

[Frosty]

Sorry Ermine people but I like Sundogs the best, though, admittedly, a logo may be difficult. People would probably think of prairie dogs.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Frosty

Sorry Ermine people but I like Sundogs the best, though, admittedly, a logo may be difficult. People would probably think of prairie dogs.

It's clever, but I don't think it'll fly nationally. People will think it's a cartoon dog on a surfboard or something. I think it's a top-ten contender, though.