This is the lede for Katie's column for tomorrow, November 13th:
Imagine being a fan of a football team known as the Flickertails -- named for a small, wide-eyed ground squirrel. That's what the University of North Dakota sports teams were called back in the 1920s. "It must have been hard to rally people around the Flickertails," says Peter Johnson, UND's associate director of university relations. UND's archrival was the North Dakota State University Bison. A bison, of course, is a hulking creature that can squash a ground squirrel in one step.
In 1930, UND adopted a more formidable name -- the Sioux -- and its teams later became the Fighting Sioux. In 1968, says Johnson, the Grand Forks Herald reported that a delegation from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation traveled to UND to "adopt" its president into the tribe and to give UND the right to use the name for its athletic teams.
Katie's column goes on to explain how the "Fighting Sioux" nickname really isn't so bad after all. Whatever.
Spot has been saying for years that the University of Minnesota was at the back of the line when the rodent names were handed out in the Big Ten. But that was no reason to add the name of a saving and loan to the team name.
Update: Added TCF Goldy image. Image by Avidor.
Tag: Katherine Kersten, Fighting Sioux
Source: Those fighting Sioux nickname lose sight of most Indian views
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