North Dakota Nickname: UND Fans Are NOT HAPPY You Guys...

A fire is building. What used to be an undercurrent of displeasure has bubbled to the surface. You can see the signs everywhere you look. Rallies are being planned. Angry missives have appeared throughout the blogosphere and on Twitter. People are upset that their leaders have abandoned them to listen to the dictated terms of outsiders and shadowy overlord groups. There's no question that the status quo cannot hold. The only question is how bad are things going to get when the angry mob explodes.

Greece is a powder-keg and the sparks are flying in from all sides. Wait...no...that's not right. I'm not talking about Greece. I'm talking about North Dakota.

Not the semi-charming hamlet of Fargo, whose populace is already gearing up for another season of the FX show that is in no way filmed in their little backwater. I'm talking about the barren wastes of Grand Forks, where UND is certainly at NICKNAME DEFCON 2 right about now.

I expect that the university's PR flacks are on high alert, waiting for the order to stand outside and be pelted by tomatoes or sugar beets or some horrible food-stuff the locals will bring from their hovels. What has created this imminent schadenfreude explosion? The never ending clown show that is the UND Nickname Search!

Here's the latest:

Playing as UND/North Dakota is no longer an option for the University of North Dakota.

There's more to the story, but in all honesty you could TL;DR the post here. The ability to go nickname-less is gone and people are PISSED. So pissed that even Yahoo's Puck Daddy has taken notice thanks to the Twitter rants of folks like Mario Lamoureux.

I wish the higher ups at UND would listen to the people who support UND athletics. Why not let The people decide on a final nickname #sioux

— Mario Lamoureux (@MarioLamoureux9) July 22, 2015

I'll take a wild stab it's because there were 182 pages of "Sioux" entries into the nickname contest. And judging by the hashtag, Mario was probably one of the winners who wasted energy on a pointless entry. I mean, perhaps it's just a former player who is upset. Everyone else is probably handling this with restraint and dignity.

What's that? Not a chance? Color me shocked...

In response to actions taken by UND's nickname committee Tuesday night, a group is planning a rally in protest, hoping to bring back the option of playing as UND/North Dakota.

The Sioux Were Silenced campaign, which supports of UND's former Fighting Sioux nickname, said in an statement via Facebook message they are planning a protest the weekend of Aug. 22.

"We don't have a lot of details now, but we are confident that an event of this nature will garner large interest from the stakeholders of UND," said the message from the owners of the group's Facebook page.

The protest itself will be in support of retaining UND/North Dakota as an option and isn’t a rally for the old moniker.

Ah yes, protests. I await the entertaining photographs. With luck, all the angrily written signs will even include accurate spelling.

But that's not the best part. The best part is that opposition is already lining up to keep UND from selecting the 2nd most popular nickname to the UND [REDACTED], the Roughriders:

In 1904, Teddy Roosevelt opened up those reservations to white settlers through a presidential proclamation, in violation of existing treaties. He stole what was under treaty American Indian lands.

The name "Roughriders" always will be connected to Teddy Roosevelt, and always will be a reminder to American Indians that causes pain and anger.

UND, being noted for their deft touch on these matters, has hired folks to help them in this process who were able to put out the fire quickly throw gasoline on everything and giggle while they lit a match:

After noting "Roughriders" received the most points during a recent round of nickname discussion, consultants from PadillaCRT -- a company lending aid to the committee -- said the nickname has an inappropriate double meaning.

"This crosses the line and could be embarrassing and problematic," said Kelly O'Keefe, one of the consultants.

/pauses

There's no other way to put it. UND is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO screwed. There is no way to salvage this mess.

When you realize that the final five candidates for your university's new mascot have gone horribly wrong: pic.twitter.com/1Zojob3H48

— Matthew Krier (@matthewkrier) July 22, 2015

Backtracking might salvage things for some folks like UND Goon (@goon48):

In my opinion, the UND Nickname Committee should go back to the nickname suggestions that didn't make the list and find some better choices. There are many nicknames on that list that are better than five remaining choices. Without looking at the list, Aeros, Aviators and Nokota come to mind. Sad that they didn't make the list.

I have had a few people tweet me that UND has already picked a new nickname and this is nothing but a side show or a farce. It almost looks like this becoming evident. It's a matter of if UND is the North Stars or Sundogs. North Stars is better than Sundogs.

But backtracking alone isn't a solution, especially if we're talking about reconsidering the no-nickname idea.

There're many people from the politically correct crowd chirping in their ear and telling the UND Nickname Committee how they've got to pick something, just not North Dakota.

Moving forward with simply "North Dakota" can't be an option. Just ask the anti-Fighting Sioux nickname crowd (obviously, there's other fans that don't like the no nickname option, I realize that, they're just not as vocal). Their reason, remaining UND or North Dakota is a pseudo way of keeping the Fighting Sioux nickname alive. Whatever.

Meanwhile, I'm stockpiling popcorn for the inevitable FULL MELTDOWN event that will erupt once the final choice is announced.

When the national anthem is played at UND sporting events, they're still going to have fans yelling "Sioux." No matter how hard the handwringers try, it's not going away. Not anytime soon. The anti-Fighting Sioux nickname people can scream and write all of the letters to the editors that they want, but it won't change anything.

I want to caution President Robert O. Kelly, if he decides to go ahead and disregard the will the people (Alumni, former student-athletes, current athletes and current UND students) and picks the wrong nickname, i.e. Sundogs, he's going to set off a firestorm.

I'm fearful that there isn't enough popcorn in Northern Kentucky to keep me supplied during this difficult and trying wonderful and uplifting time.

TL;DR Summary

1) UND fans are apoplectic right now. This is providing the rest of us free Twitter entertainment.

2) It is extremely unlikely that anything that happens from this point forward will make UND fans happy, or even reduce the level of freakout they are currently undergoing.

3) If Sundogs is the nickname, I'm confident that the anger will reach all time highs. This pretty much guarantees really dumb quotes (and I mean REALLY dumb quotes) in the Grand Forks Herald. I will read any of these quotes with glee.

4) There is no downside in any of this if you hate UND. No downside whatsoever. SCHADENFREUDE FOR ALL!