The Sicatoka

I'm public service minded.

I hereby volunteer my time to see the cheerleaders through this (below) process that I've defined. You can do the same with the band and with Jayson Hajdu and the athletics admins.

Hotel? I'd have the equipment manager pack a "racially cleansed NCAA approved" bag for each guy and have them walk from the REA locker room onto the bus to St. Paul naked. (Thank goodness the bus can pull into REA and they don't have to step outside. ) They can dress from their "racially cleansed NCAA approved" bag on the bus on I-29. And someone make sure Hak takes the lapel pin off.

It'd be foolish to bet against that.

I think Coach Hakstol would be wise to call a press conference today or tomorrow and simply have a mannequin with the helmet, jersey, pants, and socks they'll be wearing this weekend. Being the 1-seed it's easy because they only have to show the white jersey. Show them, then point blank say, "We, the team, will not be taking questions about this uniform. All questions may be directed to Bernard Franklin and Walter Harrison at the NCAA. Thank you." And then walk out. Let the media buzz but get the distraction out of the way well before Saturday.

You know who most wants UND to show up with the logo and the word "Sioux" this weekend? Western Michigan, Boston University, and Minnesota. Why? Because if we show up with it it is immediate game forfeiture and we're put onto a bus home.

I'll predict pure bracket integrity save for one swap: Worcester 1 BC v 15 Mich St 7 UMD v 10 Maine St. Paul 2 Mich v 16 USAFA 8 Minn v 9 BU Bridgeport 3 Union v 14 Western Mich 6 Ferris v 11 Denver Green Bay 4 UND v 13 Cornell 5 Miami v UM-Lowell The only swap from pure bracket integrity is to swap 1 and 2 and make sure 1 is in the east.

Lose tonight. Get sent as a #2 (5-8 PWR) to Michigan's regional Then resolve what happened last year in St. Paul against the ugly hats.

And now UMD taking more dumb penalties.

Peyton Manning wants to be a pilot ...

Glad to see someone finally figured out what I'd said.

Just hair.

And the AG handled those fairly well. He pointed out that just because harm wasn't challenged before (in numerous other situations) doesn't mean it can' be challenged now. He pointed out that the SBoHE has tried to work outside the Court (politically) but was left no choice at this time. He did a nice job of pointing to current harm -- the unconstitutionality of Carlson's Folly. The weakest answer the AG gave was to the "how do we know you won't be back" question from the NDSC. That hurt him.

Again, pure speculation by me, if the law is unconstitutional it stops the June vote, but the November petitions could keep going. SL not getting its way with the NDSC makes it easier for the NCAA to claim that SL has no part in the settlement between the State and the NCAA.

I've covered this already: Thu: better seed, white jersey Fri: all business, business suits, black jerseys Sat: St. Patrick's Day, green jersey

What does the bolded part even mean? All the colleges are to be the same? That no college can go on its own calendar or offer a unique approach (ala Colorado College's "one class at a time" block plan approach)? I don't understand the intent of the bold statement.

Anyone with RealPlayer can listen to yesterday's oral arguments at: http://www.ndcourts.gov/Court/Calendar/20120112.htm

I'm not a lawyer. I've only quickly read through the documents online. I listened online to the oral arguments. My opinion is that of a lay-person, nothing more. Saying that ... The NDSC was asking the AG about "why now" and such. They really didn't attack why he was there (the constitutionality claim). They wanted to know why the SBoHE hadn't chosen to question constitutionality of other issues in the past (that the Legislature pointed to to claim their position and power). The AG came back with a reasonable response in that to this point they've tried to work things out outside the court but in this situation remedy is needed from the NDSC to prevent further harm. The Legislature attorney got hammered on things like if you want to control nicknames, will you be controlling team colors and scheduling next? The NDSC wanted to know where the Legislature thought their power ended in light of the SBoHE's defined "full" (they were big on that word) control over the ND University System. Reed Soderstrom (for SL CUR) really got beat up. It felt like one of the justices wanted to ask, "What is your standing here? Why are you here? This is an ND state gov't matter and you don't represent a state gov't entity." They brought up the Federal case and all but told him, "Why aren't you fighting that instead of wasting our time here?" The Court asking the SecState attorney what day ballots would go to the printer to me was a "tell". Honestly, I expect a narrowly focused ruling that the SBoHE has "full" control over the universities and that the Legislature needs to stay out of the details of operations and administration.

I wouldn't be happy losing to the Gophers tonight, but with only 17 healthy skaters I wouldn't be upset about not playing three games in three days.

I'd say SCSU's primary downfall was failing to do what Bemidji did the weekend before, namely, keep UND's first line off the scoring sheet. All four UND goals came from the first line. I suspect Lucia and his crew took note of that and will be paying special attention to Knight, Kristo, and Nelson tonight. Did you hear that Misters Rowney, Parks, MacMillan ...

Did you lose a bet?

I listened to the whole thing online. The Board's attorney got some tough questions, but he handled them well. Soderstrom and Durick were taken to task much harder at times just by the tone of voice in the questions they got.

The NCAA is a private entity, not a state actor. Only state actors are required to abide by the Constitution's First Amendement.

Zucker. DU advances.

The specifically asked for the date June ballots would be printed. I'll say before that.