Sports

North Dakota State launches “Bison Pride” flag project

By Matthew Semisch

07/29/2014

The North Dakota State University (NDSU) athletics department hasn’t been short recently on things for its fans to be proud of.
Now, the Bison are enlisting NDSU fans to spread the word of their favored school’s success.

The university announced on its athletics website on Wednesday the launch of what NDSU has coined the Bison Pride Flag Project. The aim of the project is to help the school spread its influence to all corners of North Dakota and also out into the rest of the United States.

NDSU hopes to send a custom -designed Bison flag measuring five feet long by three feet high to a fan in each city in North Dakota. Select cities in Minnesota are also being targeted.

Another aim of the project is to send a flag out to an NDSU fan in each of the 50 states in the union.

The wheels on the project have already started turning. As of Friday, the school had mailed flags to fans in 15 cities in North Dakota - although none yet in Fargo, NDSU’s home - and in 17 other states.

So far, fans from 83 North Dakota cities and 48 states have made requests for the flags.

Bison fans interested in taking part in the project will have to fill out a short application on the NDSU athletic department’s website. Fans will also be able to request the flags on NDSU Athletics’ Facebook page at www.facebook.com/NDBison.

The school will screen the requests it receives and then notify chosen recipients.

Bison fans have had a lot to shout about in recent years, with perhaps the biggest thing being their football team’s recent mastery. In each of the past three seasons, NDSU has come away national champions on the gridiron in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision.

The Bison football team also seems to be good for one upset victory per season against a team from the Football Bowl Subdivision. Since 2010, Kansas, Minnesota, Colorado State and Kansas State have all fallen to NDSU, and the Bison may be some prognosticators’ favorite when they visit Iowa State on Aug. 30.

The Bison’s men’s basketball is also a big draw, and it made shockwaves around the basketball world earlier this year. NDSU knocked off fifth-seeded Oklahoma in overtime on March 20 in the second round of the West Region portion of the 2014 NCAA tournament.

Even larger “Bison Pride” flags will be on display starting this fall in select areas of Fargo and around the rest of North Dakota.