LITTLE ROCK — This wasn’t banner day for NCAA
North Dakota State won the 2011 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision title, but its banner arrived at its rival school instead.
Earlier this week, North Dakota State’s banner ended up at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. The package was addressed to Mr. Brian Faison, Athletics Director, North Dakota State University, Hyslop Sports Center, Grand Forks, N.D.
North Dakota State is in Fargo.
North Dakota athletic department officials were amused by the mixup.
“I’ll call [North Dakota State Athletic Director] Gene Taylor and tell him it’s here,” Faison told The Forum of Fargo.
The letter that accompanied the banner read: “Dear Mr.
Faison: Enclosed find your 2011 championship banner that hung in the NCAA Hall of Champions.
I hope your team, faculty, staffand students can now enjoy it as much as our visitors did.”
The letter was signed by Kelly Dodds, the assistant director of the Hall of Champions Conference Center.
“Suffice it to say that I have learned my lesson about the dangers of reading address-book columns horizontally rather than vertically!” Dodds said in an email. “After 12 years of sending nearly 90 banners a year, I wasbound to make a mistake at some point, and this truly was an honest mistake.”
Faison said the banner had gone unnoticed, with his school focused on the controversy involving its Fighting Sioux nickname. State residents voted to dump the nickname this week, and the NCAA has deemed it to be “hostile and abusive” American Indian imagery.
“Periodically, we’ll get things from the NCAA, and it sat unopened for about a week and a half because we’ve been busy with the nickname and logo,” Faison said. “When we opened it up, we knew right away. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, just a little mixup.”
Faison said the error probably wouldn’t have “seen the light of day” if a beat writer hadn’t been in the athletic department at the time.
North Dakota State beat Sam Houston State 17-6 in January to cap a 14-1 season.
What?
Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Karl Malone was asked by Dan Patrick on his radio show Wednesday which player he would select in a draft, if he couldn’t pick former Utah Jazzteammate John Stockton.
“I would have to start my team with Scottie Pippen [Hamburg, Central Arkansas],” Malone said. “This is why I would take Scottie: Do you rememberthe time that Michael [Jordan] retired? I watched Scottie Pippen when the Chicago Bulls weren’t really good and Scottie led that team in every statistical category, and I just remembered that. Plus, he’s a guy who could care less about scoring. He wants to stop the best player on the other team. That would have been pretty cool, to see Scottie guarding Michael.” They said it
From the satirical sports website sportspickle.com:
“Golf important this week.”
“The Dream Team II: Chronicling the Olympic goldmedal run of the 1996 U.S. men’s basketball team. Not quite as fun, not quite as dominant, but Christian Laettner wasn’t on the team. So, in a way, it was much better.”Quote of the day “People just want to hang out with us for some reason. I don’t know why. They just love us.” Stony Brook center fielder Travis Jankowski on the Seawolves’ popularity leading up to the College World Series
Sports, Pages 22 on 06/15/2012