FARGO – Green is the color of money. Gold is the color of the riches. The 1,500 Bison fans who showed up at the Fargodome late Saturday night let their returning championship football team know they were priceless.
The 1,500 Bison fans who showed up at the Fargodome late Saturday night let their returning championship football team know they were priceless.
North Dakota State University football players were given a warm and deafening welcome home about six hours after they captured the school’s first Division I trophy after beating Sam Houston State University in Frisco, Texas.
“I said all week we were going to kick some ass,” NDSU Athletic Director Gene Taylor told the crowd. “And guess what: We kicked some ass.”
Taylor’s comments were just one of several to fire up the audience, which numbered in the hundreds even an hour before the team was slated to arrive.
Lindsay Kauffman was with five friends waiting for the team to show. The NDSU sophomore from Minnetonka, Minn., went to high school with NDSU defensive back Marcus Williams at Hopkins and has been friends with him since.
She and her friends watched the afternoon game and then grabbed some ice cream before coming to the rally.
So Lindsay, what was sweeter? The ice cream or the Bison winning a national title?
“Winning a national championship,” she said. “That was a lot sweeter.”
Many fans chanted “We’re No. 1” or ‘Let’s Go Bison.” Some fans even added "Sioux suck," a slur aimed at NDSU rival University of North Dakota and their recently retired "Fighting Sioux" nickname.
The team arrived at the Fargodome at 9:50 p.m.
As team members stepped off the bus and toward a stage that had been set up, the cheering grew so loud it was hard to hear anything else.
Cameraphone lights illuminated the sky as the football team walked on the stage, the majority of them wearing cowboy hats.
North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple led the crowd in a cheer of "Here we go Bison! Here we go!"
“It’s amazing, and nothing I have ever experienced in my life,” said Bison football player Brandon Pierre. “It was great going to Frisco and winning the national championship. There is nothing like it. We just want to keep repeating it.”
Pierre said he and his teammates were anxious when they got on the bus from Hector International Airport to make the barely mile drive to the Fargodome.
He said everyone on the bus was excited to get home and celebrate with fans.
“This is why I love being here,” Pierre said. “This is Bison Nation. This is why we give back to the community. These are the best fans in the world.”
The entire team at one point was on the stage or spilling off it. Many players talked about how much the win meant to the school and North Dakota.
When it was Williams' turn to speak, he kept it simple:
“All I want to say is this: It's Bison Nation, and Sioux suck!”
Readers can reach Forum reporter
Ryan S. Clark at (701) 241-5548.
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