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!

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

There's an undocumented rumor emerging on the North Dakota forum that the list of semi-finalists through the G's is as follows. The number is the number of votes by a six-person committee. At least one vote was required to move to the semi-finals.

This has to just be a rumor. That's pretty much the worst set of names that could be picked. For North Dakota's sake, I hope this isn't true.

Aeronauts, 1-- Dumb
Aeros, 1-- Even worse
Arctic Blaze, 2-- Yeah, nothing says tradition and representable mascots like something that's not even definable like an "arctic blaze"
Arctic Force, 1-- Holy ****, this is even dumber
Aurora, 2-- I assume a riff on the Aurora Borealis. Not clear enough.
Aviators, 1-- Not original
Badlanders, 1-- SOUTH DAKOTA HAS THE ****ING NATIONAL PARK. WE HAVE THE STATE PARK. IT'S LESSER
Big Green, 4-- **** YOU
Bison Slayers, 1-- Love the enthusiasm, but come on. This isn't even ****ing serious
Blackhawks, 3-- WHAT THE **** DID WE JUST SAY ABOUT NATIVE AMERICAN NAMES, DUMBASSES?
Blaze, 1-- Dumb.
Blazing Stars, 1-- Is there any other kind of star? It's a ball of hot gas. Dumb.
Blizzard, 1-- reeruned.
Blizzard Dogs, 1-- So... St. Bernards? What is it?
Bombardiers, 1-- Not a good college mascot
Bombers, 1-- Same
Cavalry, 2-- Same as the previous two. Also dumb. Really dumb.
Charging Nokota, 1-- People are obsessed with using Nokota. ****ing stupid. Nobody will know it's a dog.
Drillers, 1-- Too pornographic
Energy, 1-- THE MOST reerunED ONE. WHY DON'T YOU JUST NAME THEM THE ****ING NORTH DAKOTA EXCITEMENT
Explorers, 1-- Explorers... as in... people who explored Indian lands and forced tribes to relocate?
Fighting Green, 3-- **** YOU
Fighting Green Hawks, 2-- No.
Fighting Hawks, 2-- No.
Fire, 2-- Dumb. Too non-traditional and boring.
Flame, 1-- Same as above
Flames, 4-- Unoriginal, but at least it's not dumb
Flickertails, 3-- NO. THIS WOULD BE THE ULTIMATE IN DUMBASSERY if you gathered together this committee and shit just to pick out your old name from before 1930.
Fliers, 2-- NO. THE AVIATION SCHOOL DOES NOT RUN THE CAMPUS
Force, 6-- ****ING reerunED. I'M GOING TO ****ING MURDER EVERYBODY
Force of North, 2-- GAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
Global Hawks, 1-- Uhhhhh.... WHAT?
Green Bombers, 1-- Your corpse is going to turn green in about 3 months.
Green Hawks, 2-- No.
Green Pride 1--- ****. NO. JESUS CHRIST WHO THE **** IS VOTING THESE SHITTY NAMES IN? **** YOU! **** YOU!
Grey Hawks, 1-- At least it's not green

These are my comments.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Never nudes has it fellas

[RealSNR]

I'm not going to Grand Forks to sit in on this May 18th meeting. Not anymore. I'd prefer if my parents move away from that shithole and never return.

This is an abortion. To lose out to some of these?

**** UND. I hope the NCAA continues raping them for little things.

[Chief_For_Life58]

the nd blackfaces. they can have white guys paint their faces black and dance around. thats a good mascot right? ok ill see myself out

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Chief_For_Life58

the nd blackfaces. they can have white guys paint their faces black and dance around. thats a good mascot right? ok ill see myself out

I think you are on to something. Or maybe I should say you are on something.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by SNR

These are my comments.

I pretty much agree with all of your takes, but I like "Force" less than you do.

I say this with respect to the hard work of the committee, but I would be hard-pressed to identify an alternate set of names that I like less. It was as if all logic and thoughtfulness flew out the window.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I pretty much agree with all of your takes, but I like "Force" less than you do.

I say this with respect to the hard work of the committee, but I would be hard-pressed to identify an alternate set of names that I like less. It was as if all logic and thoughtfulness flew out the window.

Those mother****ers even got rid of Frost Giants.

I could handle losing Ermines if UND actually became the Frost Giants. But anything less than that makes me want to key the cars of everybody on that committee.

And from looking at the level of imagination and creativity of the people on the committee, the new nickname will be a LOT less.

I'm now 100% expecting the worst. It's going to be Green Force of the North. I know it ****ing is.

I haven't been this ****ing furious with a group of decision makers since the Alex Smith trade.

[Rain Man]

I saw the Frost Giants thing, too, which was my #2 choice.

Your only hope of respectability is Homesteaders or Pronghorns, but they seem to despise animal mascots and I doubt they'll pick anything that requires a human mascot of defined race or gender.

[TimBone]

I commented on Facebook. Is there anything else we can do as of now? There's got to still be hope.

[Aries Walker]

Yep, I'm out. The "Force" is leading the votes, followed by the uber-bland "Flames" and the ambiguous "Big Green". Those disastrous names don't even fit their own original set of standards.

Their only hope for redemption is that once they get down to the S's, they retain 'Sun Dogs', and cast aside any other silly notions on that list. Other than that, f'em, they deserve to lose every game they every play in every sport before a zero attendance.

[Dave Lane]

Frost Giants would have been ****ing awesome.

[Rain Man]

They're released a list of the semi-finalists: http://www.grandforksherald.com/site...ull%20list.pdf

If they're not savvy enough to go with Ermines, I guess I have no choice but to switch my voting support to "Misspelled Woolly Mammoths".

Aeronauts y-1
Aeros y-1
Arctic Blaze y-2
Arctic Force y-1
Aurora y-2
Aviators y-1
Badlanders y-1
Big Green y-4
Bison Slayers y-1
Blackhawks y-3
BLAZE y-1
BLAZING STARS y-1
BLIZZARD y-1
Blizzard Dogs y-1
Bombardiers y-1
Bombers y-1
Cavalry y-2
Charging Nokota y-1
Drillers y-1
ENERGY y-1
Explorers y-1
Fighting Green y-3
Fighting Green Hawks y-2
Fighting Hawks y-2
Fire y-2
Flame y-1
Flames y-4
Flickertails y-3
Fliers y-2
Force y-6
Force of North y-2
Global Hawks y-1
Green Bombers y-1
GREEN HAWKS y-2
GREEN PRIDE y-1
'Grey Hawks' y-1
Night Hawks y-1
Night Riders y-1
Nighthawks y-1
Nodak y-1
Nodaks y-7
North Dakota y-2
North Force y-3
North Stars y-6
Northern Lights y-2
Prarie Hawks y-1
Pride y-5
Riders y-3
roughhriders y-4
SNOW DOGS y-1
Snow Leopards y-1
Spirit y-5
STORM y-3
Sundog y-4
Sundogs y-4
Thunder Hawks y-1
Warhawks y-1
Warriors y-2
Warriors of the North y-1
Wings y-1
Wooly Mammoth y-1
fighting greens y-1

[The Franchise]

How the **** does North Dakota make it through into the semi-finals?

The University of North Dakota North Dakotas?

[RealSNR]

No ****ing Sodbusters, either?!

**** this university to hell

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by SNR

No ****ing Sodbusters, either?!

**** this university to hell

It appears that one committee member will not rest until the word 'hawk' appears in the name. The list includes:

Blackhawks y-3
Fighting Green Hawks y-2
Fighting Hawks y-2
Global Hawks y-1
GREEN HAWKS y-2
'Grey Hawks' y-1
Night Hawks y-1
Nighthawks y-1
Prarie Hawks y-1
Thunder Hawks y-1
Warhawks y-1