As if being named the Nanooks wasn’t already cool enough, they went and produced this intro video for home games. This alone should get them into the WCHA so they can play with their brethen at Alaska-Fairbanks. (You read that right, two teams in Alaska, in two different conferences.) In case you don’t follow college hockey, understand that college hockey leagues defy geography to some degree, because there are so few programs at the D1 level.
Just enjoy it. After all, it’s not everyday a university in Alaska becomes an internet sensation for anything. For that alone, I say, congrats and kudos. Go Nanooks.
Rather swiftly, message boards rallied to boycott the proposed logo in various ways, including chanting “Keep our logo — clap-clap — Keep our logo — clap-clap — Keep our logo — clap-clap” at upcoming home games and the obligatory Facebook group, named The Old Spartan Logo, now has more than 31,000 fans. Shortly after havoc began to wreak MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis issued a statement:
“The Spartan logo, posted on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site, is a single element of a comprehensive brand and identity project that will be unveiled in April by Michigan State athletics,” Hollis said in the statement. “As in all branding, the power of a single symbol cannot be appreciated or measured outside the context of the total presentation.”
“Of all the days, this would be the dumbest time to talk about it, except I’m so disappointed with our group of alums that are complaining about it that it’s a great time to talk about it for two minutes,” Izzo said when asked for his thoughts on the change. “It’s a lot bigger than the team; it’s a lot bigger than the program. It’s about our athletic department and our university, which is way bigger than one game or one season.
“I have been mystified out of my mind over it. Not to make it bigger than it is, but to me, it’s a small deal.”
I suppose the question worth asking is, was their a way for Michigan State to head off the “controversy” at the gulch? Or is this just a whole lot of ado about nothing? Seems to take something that’s usually a positive and turns it into a negative and that’s never a good thing.
