"Fighting Sioux"

Not to take too much away from World Cup goooooaaaaallll, but here's an update on a provincial university fighting the mighty NCAA.

Click here for Kupchella's Open Letter.

It was keen to make the observation (mentioned in the open letter to the NCAA) that Pontiac motors sponsers the NCAA (at least "keen" in the sense that I hadn't thought of it)... Overall, this argument over the "Fighting Sioux" emblem is an incredible waste of time and resources on both sides. UND's arena was constructed by the late Ralph Engelstad, a northern Minnesotan who played hockey for UND, and who went on to make money in Vegas by purchasing dirt, building houses on it, and reselling the said dirt with the said houses to folks who wanted to live in a desert (weird, I know). The plot thickens:

Ralph held mock "Nazi Costum Parties" but the University of North Dakota was willing to overlook that when he presented the board with a $100-million. Originally Ralph was going to donate some of the funds to academics, but after he started constructing the arena he said there were too many academics protesting the "Fighting Sioux" name. Ralph then informed UND that he was going to put all the $100 million (that buys a good deal in Dakota) into his big arena (what I refer to as the Eagle's Nest) and none into academics or funding scholarship. Thanks Ralph.

[note: I contend that Ralph's body is cryogenically frozen under center ice at his arena.]

Still, I tend to side with my Lakota friend's opinion on the matter. Seems to me that a Lakota-Sioux might know a bit more about the matter than the NCAA.