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

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):



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 Fighting Irish

Roughriders should be it.

Never knew you were from Grand Forks. That's where I was born.

This

Wow. Holy shit. Were you an air base kid?

That I was.

I think Wichita State should have to change their name, too. Shockers? Every time I see that name I feel like finger banging a drunk college chick and then ramming my pinky up her meemaw hole!

How is this a bad thing?

cuz every time i watch the shockers i can't stand up without having a boner

it's EMBARRASSING

I got a buddy from Grafton

All of those are bad.
If this university has an ounce of sense, they pick an animal that can be made into as many novelty items as possible.
Something quirky but cool, that people will want to wear on t-shirts and hats.

North Dakota is pretty much known as "the Dakota without Mt Rushmore", but aren't there any cool animals there, even if extinct?

My mom came up with this one:

Prairie Panthers.

It's alliterative and kind of catchy. It sounds kind of old and traditional (good), and while the choice of a panther isn't that original, it at least separates itself from Northern Iowa's panthers. I'm also pretty sure a Prairie Panther (whatever that is... a mountain lion presumably) would be a predator to bison, the mascot of North Dakota State. It's also a lot more fierce than a meadowlark or a flickertail.

Something like 40% of the wooly mammoth skeletons in natural history museums across the world were excavated in western North Dakota. Does that count?

Seriously though, how is Fighting Sioux against the rules and Fighting Irish isn't?

because we didn't force the Irish onto reservations and pillage their women, damnit!

Why are Orca never used as the mascot for sports teams? I think Killer Whales have to be the most underused animal mascot.

Also gorillas. And ocelots.

That could work.

I did some research, and it appears to be slim pickings up there for interesting animals.
I think your only options are going to be the North Dakota Mammoths (the ladies teams will love that one) or the North Dakota Eared Grebes.

Sorry, those are your only choices.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...alstaucher.jpg
It's not a duck--it is a grebe.

Da Nort Dakota Sucmakakawillas

North Dakota Complacent Sioux?

Fighting Frackers

or

Firey Frackers

Mascots are overwhelmingly mammals - usually predatory ones. Birds are probably second, followed by amphibians and reptiles. Predation is preferred for the implication that they will consume the opponent.
Vegetative ones like Stanford and Wichita State are very rare.

Still there are a lot of life forms that are not represented, some very predatory ones. Some that I would have thought ThaVirus would have listed.

The school was afraid of being Siouxed.

Fighting Sue

Perhaps they should be the Adult Undergarments in honor of the bedwetting liberals who plied them to change the name in the first place.

Far less painful than being Irished.

c'mon. The virulent Pox should inspire fear.

Just make it simple. The North Dakota Plague.

Ooh, thats a good idea. If they had a wooly mammoth mascot, they'd probably sell lots of mammoth toys and trinkets with their name on it.

yeah but then when that team gets knocked out we open a whole new can of worms with this domestic violence b.s.

The North Dakota AIDS. Have the mascot be a guy wearing a big fuzzy HIV virus costume.

And headgear with tusks and 70's shag carpet.

Also, the obligatory "Mammoths will be offended. They were wiped out by humans."

North Dakota Small Pox Blankets

Technically "Sioux" isn't the name of the tribe. If you went on a reservation and asked somebody if they were a member of the Sioux tribe, they would all say "no." Sioux was a shortened version of some Algonquin word that French fur traders in the 18th/19th century used as a derogatory term. I'm not sure if it actually means "snake" like the rumor is, but it's not good.

It's kind of a different situation from the Illini or the Seminoles, which are actual tribe names. The Fighting Lakota would have been the better comparison if UND had the hope of getting the reservations' approval to use the name.

The Vancouver Canucks have an orca as a mascot.

That settles it. The North Dakota Fighting Fur Traders

I like Mammoths too. It's a rare unique mascot name. I think there might be a NLL team with that name, but it's still fairly unique. Lots of merchandising opportunity there too. Lots of opportunities for jokes about the size of women in Nodak. Everybody wins.

The North Dakota Orcas would be pretty cool.

Land locked state doesn't seem to fit the aquatic theme.

The North Dakota Oil Barons

I thought this was interesting:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2...o_replace.html

The North Dakota Tortugas

http://images.sodahead.com/polls/002...sc_xlarge.jpeg

Sports teams that have relevant mascots certainly deserve praise, but there are tons that don't make any sense whatsoever.

Detroit Lions? Pitt State Gorillas?

Now that I think about it, there are tons of fierce and dangerous animals that never seem to be used as mascots. Elephants, hippos, any type of shark, any type of snake, any type of arthropod, etc.

You see bears a lot but they're generally depicted as brown or Grizzly. How about polar bears?

Leopards and cheetahs are woefully underrepresented as big cats. Lions, tigers and Jaguars get all the love.

THIS IS BULLSHIT.

The Tennessee Volunteers? When have them lazy ****ers ever volunteered for anything?

The Smallpox Blankets?

The Fighting ICBMs? :shrug:

Q

The Fighting Politically Correct Pussies

The Wounded Knees



Shit, never mind. Wrong one. Seriously, North Dakota makes South Dakota seem spectacular and exciting.

There's a river in North Dakota. Maybe they could be the river Orcas.

Actually, there's a huge opportunity here. Think about this: the Ermines.

First off, ermines are really tough little critters, and they are paradoxically soft and furry.

But the big win here is that the university would be the UNDErmines. Now you have a mascot that's not just fierce and furry, but also one that has Machiavellian undertones.

The ermine is also a cold-weather mammal. It may not quite reach North Dakota, but hey, there are no lions in Detroit and no bears in Chicago.

http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/taiga/animals/erminer.gif

Guys, we have to go ermine here. Join with me and let's flood them with suggestions for it.

Okay, I submitted ermine with this justification. Help me out here, folks. This is my Ferguson. This is where I make my stand.

The ermine is fierce, it thrives in cold weather, and it's cute and furry. Plus, UND Ermines (undermines) is delightfully Machivellian.

Please submit some variation of this language in your own words. If they adopt the ermine, I'll rep everyone who helped.

<img src="http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/79/797e630732df3fc8710e0a68ff7abeb36348d9bb6467510db1fa7747873b0518.jpg" height=400>

<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md13h3vcsi1rp73x6o1_500.jpg">

Cartoon TucanSamQuakerOats

I knew I could count on Rain Man to come up with the best solution.

That's why you should only ever let Chiefs Planet solve your problems.

I'm on it. I submitted for my first and second suggestions.

For the Patriots: Revolutionary WASPs!
(White Anglo Saxon Protestants)

I LIKE it!

Oh wait it's for a university....now lemme see:

Boston University—Red Jesuits

Did you vote for ermine?

http://animal-backgrounds.com/file/3...1619406720.jpg

Excellent! Let's make this ermine thing happen.

http://icons-ak.wunderground.com/dat...a/akdale/4.jpg

Ermine. Get on board the ermine train.

http://goeddelphotography.com/upload...ng-in-Tree.jpg

Flying Squirrels.

Perfect mascot name.

http://iliketowastemytime.com/sites/...-squirrel1.jpg

The North Dakota Snow Sadness

In and submitted.

Oh, hey. The ermine is actually native to North Dakota as well: http://gf.nd.gov/wildlife/fish-wildl...nivores/weasel.

Can someone include this in their nomination?

Errrrrrmiiiiiiiiiine!

http://www.falconphotos.com/Mammals/.../L/42489-L.jpg

Excellent work.

No but we had signs allowed saying "Irish need not apply" in job ads.

As far as my initial research shows, UND would be the only ermines in college sports. I can't even find a high school with the name, which astounds me. Ermine are fearsome predators.

https://elationcreations.files.wordp...94_600x450.jpg

Physical characteristics say ferret but the eyes say "I WILL RIP YOUR ****ING HEART OUT".

Undoubtedly. If ermine were a little bit larger, I bet mankind wouldn't have survived the Ice Age.

I've been needing a cause, and this is it. It's time to give the ermine the accolades that it deserves. I'm going to post this on my Facebook as well.

I have submitted a suggestion for a new mascot which I just thought of, independently, and without any influence from this board: the Ermine.

http://nature.ca/notebooks/images/im...ine_4893_p.jpg

The University of North Dakota River Otters: They'll **** You Up


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/01iWx4476pY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://ak-hdl.buzzfed.com/static/201...03623830-6.gif

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/...lrfm4wlhgd.gif

Ermine power!

Let's go with the full FU and go, the North Dakota

7th Cavalry.

Celebrate the frontier heritage and all.