DS View: NoDak Pride

SPORTS: North Dakota continues to be recognized on a national level

We live in a state where the snow is white and many of the people, with their Scandinavian heritage, are even whiter.

Most people in most of the rest of the country think North Dakota is a piece of Canada, a subsection of South Dakota or simply non-existent.

North Dakota is a place where the towns are small, the people work hard and the pride runs deep.

It’s pride that has permeated conversations about North Dakota State football for the past several years — ever since the first time a national championship was  spotted on the distant prairie horizon.

The bottom line is this, whether you’re a UND alumni, a current student at Minot State or a North Dakota resident living abroad, you can’t help but be proud of North Dakota teams, especially the ones that go far.

Let’s face it, when North Dakota teams do well — even if it’s technically a Bison team — it’s a source of pride for all of us. Seeing representatives from the humble small town beginnings and midwestern values storm across television screens nationwide and win is kind of like seeing someone you know on the Kisscam of a major ball game. It’s a claim to fame that the world just can’t deny.

And North Dakota has a lot going for it.

Not only has NDSU football been making the news of late, but UND’s hockey team is gearing up to continue its tradition of excellence along with the help of its dedicated fan base.

The strength of North Dakota athletic pride was recently validated by the Denver Univesrity hockey program’s attempt to silence UND fan presence at its home games. It seems like North Dakotans are determined to show up and support their teams regardless if the game is taking place on the familiar flat North Dakota landscape or not.

North Dakota is a place where the people just keep living despite the weather. Where the work gets done because it has to and where people are awful proud of everything we’ve accomplished. And we, The Dakota Student editorial board, are awful proud of that pride.

It takes a special kind of people to know their worth even if others are blind to their value. It takes an even more special kind of people to continue as they always have even when their value is on full display in a national arena.

And North Dakotans certainly have displayed their value.