North Dakota Basketball

It's game over in Grand Forks. The University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux are no more.

After years of legal wrangling both for and against the longtime nickname and iconic logo, the change was mandated for Jan. 1 by the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education.

The change was made in compliance with a settlement agreement with the NCAA, after UND couldn't get the approval of both the Standing Rock and the Spirit Lake Sioux tribes to keep using the name and image.

The NCAA had previously ruled that North Dakota had to retire both the Fighting Sioux logo and nickname if it wanted to have the ability to host any NCAA championships. All UND teams, which compete at the NCAA Division-I level, will now be known simply and solely as "North Dakota," and will feature an interlocking ND as their primary logo.

The women's ice hockey team debuted their new uniforms in a 14-0 win over Lindenwood on Jan. 4. The Sioux's last official series in men's hockey, its most successful sport, was on Dec. 30-31 against Harvard.

As part of the re-branding effort, affiliate organizations such as the Fighting Sioux Sports Network and the Fighting Sioux Club have also been renamed with "North Dakota" in their names.

Not all the Sioux logos at Ralph Engelstad Arena, however, such as those embedded in the floors, will have to be removed. There will also be no strictures against fans wearing Sioux apparel, or cheering for the Sioux, at future contests.

A new athletic nickname and identity is expected to be chosen by 2015. UND won seven men's hockey national championships and 15 Western Collegiate Hockey Association titles while it skated as the Fighting Sioux.

UND will also move to the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference in the fall of 2013.

The University of North Dakota will always be the Fighting Sioux to us, and to every other die hard UND athletics fan. Johnny Toews would agree with me. 

Recently, the President and other higher ups of UND decided they will retire the name and logo in October.

A few years back, the NCAA told UND that they had to get approval from all tribes by the end of next hockey season in order to keep the name and logo.  Well, a month ago, the first tribe voted.  They overwhelmingly voted three to one in favor of UND keeping the name.

Even with that encouraging vote, UND people still decided to drop the name.

Opponents of the name say that it's "hostile and abusive."  How?  I mean, there are some ways the name was misused, I admit.  For example, the concession stand used to have things called "Sioux-per dogs."  Ok, that is unnecessary.  They got rid of that stuff two years ago. 

As a person who has attended UND for the better part of four years and went to just about every hockey game, I can say that, without a doubt, there is nothing but pride for the nickname. 

People in this country need to stop being so high and mighty.  People just try to find things by which they can be upset and offended.  Those people represent a very small amount of the country.

The majority of the country, the ones who don't agree with these people, need to take a stand and stop giving in to these minorities. A majority of Native Americans even don't care about the name; it's just a minority among them.

I'd imagine Toews' new team will soon be fighting the same battle, as well.  Sooner or later, attacks will be mounted against the Blackhawks name and the Washington Redskins.  I just wish this country would stop letting the minority of upset people dictate what everyone else can do and how they are supposed to feel.

It's all but a lost cause at this point, so when the name goes all I and every other die hard UND fan can do is still wear all our Sioux gear to every event, even though the jerseys the players wear will say nothing more than "North Dakota."