Work Trip: Fighting Sioux

(If you're wondering why I haven't updated the rest of Ireland yet, it's because I'm back in North Dakota and next week I'm in Vermont. Running on fumes...)

But anyway... this week, the customer's project management office arranged for our work team to have a tour of the nearby Ralph Engelstad Arena, AKA "The Ralph." Apparently Ralph, a self-made millionaire (he built the Imperial Palace casino resorts in Las Vegas & Biloxi) and former hockey goalie for UND, gave $110 million to build a luxury hockey arena in Grand Forks, ND.

All of those chairs are made of cherry wood and covered in leather upholstery. You can rent the ice for $250 an hour, skates not included.
Our tour guide, Grace, who I think had a crush on Ralph. That's an organ in the background, behind the longest bar in North Dakota.

The tour never mentioned the Nazi controversy.

Nevada gaming regulators fined $1.5 million against Engelstad in 1989 for housing a secret Nazi memorabilia room at the Imperial Palace.

Or...

Midway in its construction, Engelstad threatened to withdraw funding if the long standing nickname, the Fight Sioux, were to be changed. The logo was placed in thousands of instances in the arena, including three 15-foot logos in the granite flooring, making the prospect of removing the logos prohibitively costly .