Creator Of Fighting Sioux Parody Merchandise Says He Plans To Keep Selling

Yesterday I wrote about a website called NewSioux.com which was created by a University of North Dakota alumnus to sell parody merchandise parodying UND’s controersial and now retired “Fighting Sioux” logo and nickname.

Today I interviewed Karl Larson, the creator of the website, on WDAY AM970’s Hot Seat program. It was an interesting discussion. The audio is above. I apologize for the quality; I didn’t have my volume levels set properly.

[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]All the rabid anti-nickname activists seem to be accomplishing is transforming the logo/nickname they hate into something more than a sports team brand. It’s quickly becoming a symbol of defiance against overbearing political correctness.[/mks_pullquote]

Larson explained why he created the website, and also said he intends to keep right on selling the merchandise even though UND is pressuring him to stop.

He says that he feels his merchandise is a perfectly legal parody of the Fighting Sioux logo, which UND still owns the rights to.

(Ironically, UND has to maintain the rights to the logo and nickname per the state’s settlement with the NCAA, which also means they must use both from time to time.)

Meanwhile, you really have to wonder how UND is ever going to move on from the Fighting Sioux nickname. It’s hard to imagine that anyone is going to take whatever nickname emerges from the school’s voting process seriously, and with plenty of Fighting Sioux merchandise still available on the market (not even counting parody merchandise like Larson’s) you can bet that UND games will feature a lot of fans wearing the Fighting Sioux logo for years to come.

All the rabid anti-nickname activists seem to be accomplishing is transforming the logo/nickname they hate into something more than a sports team brand. It’s quickly becoming a symbol of defiance against overbearing political correctness.