The Sicatoka

The conundrum is this: Given the shear and utter lunacy of a "cowboy themed" party in this climate, and still going with it , changing the UND moniker will do nothing but change the UND moniker. See: Oklahoma State, Colorado College, et al. PS - TRex, if you don't realize the moniker is gone already, you really haven't been paying attention. PPS - Didn't Ron His Horse Is Thunder recommend "Rough Riders" as a UND moniker. Think about it.

Uh, Colorado College hockey players, "black face", this season, ... ring any bells?

Dear Bob Motzko, Even if you're not scheduled to play a team, it'd be wise to look at box scores or recaps from other league games from the week before. For example: Shelast with six seconds left, to tie. Then maybe, "Howe, with 13 seconds left, to win" could've been avoided by your team. Oh well. You missed it.

Acting Co-AD Brekke is a BB guy. That's a pretty good vote of confidence.

What do I know about Sioux recruits? I know that between now and September 2009 (yes, 2009) we'll lose all of today's seniors and juniors, plus almost assuredly Chris VandeVelde. That's 9 forwards and 4 defensemen. I also know that lined up to come in between now and September 2009 (see: Wiki) they have .... 9 forwards and 4 defensemen. Plus, they have Lamoureux's replacement (Eidsness). The only question is Walski's, and what about Snider's future. If Hakstol and his staff are smart enough to have it lined up 18 months out, I'll trust them to bring the right guy in at the right time depending on the "ifs and whens" of today's juniors leaving early (i.e. 2008).

I only laughed at how much the league did to "shepherd" Minnesota through a trek to Mankato: - one in the press box/video booth - one with orange arm bands - one as a linesman Amazing indeed. With DU and CC going to St. Paul, and Easter weekend, the WCHA would have had a lot of empty seats (lost a lot of money) with no Minnesota at the Final Five (this should serve as warning/notice to SCSU Thursday). They had to still be stingin' from Todd Anderson's call (Saturday SCSU at UND) that switched the SCSU/UW series from 15000 seat Kohl Center to 5000 seat NHC.

No. No. No. No. No. Not clear enough? (bleep) NO. "Let them play" or "Let them decide it on the ice" only allows the team more willing to break the rules a greater advantage. Hockey is a game of speed and skill. Hockey games should not be won by the team better able to cheat. We were deep into "color coded calls" last night (MTU was "Code White" and UND was "Code Yellow") and it was a travesty. I want to see skating and skill. If I want to see blocking and tackling I'll go to Alerus Center.

I prefer a banana, or strawberries, on my Wheaties.

Given that and the previous story, I'd say yes. Using the provided very limited sample, I'd say of 14 UND graduates who are (Mr. Gipp's term) "First Americans" the split is 9 support and 5 don't. Aren't the folks in the minority opinion normally considered the dissenters? Wouldn't that mean Mr. Gipp is causing the ... dissension?

Heidi ... quite simply: So what. It's the smartest thing Hak can do for Michael Forney's development and career right now. Here's why ... What matters is the "five academic year to finish four competitive seasons" rule. Michael started UND in 2006-07 as Academic Year 1 (AY1). He completed Competitive Year 1 (16 games). This is AY2. Assuming he doesn't play again this year he won't complete CY2, as he has only played in 3 games (none in the 2nd half of the schedule). He'll thus have AYs 3, 4, and 5 to complete CYs 2, 3, and 4. (Three year; three seasons; it works out. No worries.) Basically, if he doesn't play another game this year he's taken a "redshirt freshman" year (like footballers do) as a sophomore. (We know he's had surgery since the end of last season. If it becomes an issue, Brad's blog means nothing. The paperwork to the NCAA will say "surgery" and three games are explained as "he tried and couldn't go; more rehab needed". Done. ) The key is not playing another game this year gets him three competitive seasons after this one. He needs those to re-establish himself as a top end player worthy of that high draft pick used on him. Knowing that, wouldn't you "healthy scratch" him rather than having him play a game and lose a whole competitive season (and season to get back to top-end form)? Why am I so sure of this? Hak played him in the Saturday UNH (an untested guy against UNH?) game: Game 17 of 35. Game 17 of 35 was the last possible game of the first half of the schedule --> Just 3 games, none in the second half of the schedule. (See: Hardship Rule) Hak used his last chance to see if Michael could go the rest of the way (and did so without costing Michael a competitive season). Of course, now that I've said I'll this Hak will dress and play him Friday and I'll look silly.

Heck, I missed one:

The Herald reported that the missing one was found in the Coulee behind the AISS building this summer.

Gee, wasn't she hand picked by JQ Paulsen to be on the president selection committee.

Considering they played the EDC tournaments there a couple weeks back I'd go with "yes". It holds about 9000 for BB. A section of the west grandstand moves east and portable sections go to the north/south ends of the court. Poke around AlerusCenter.com and I'm sure you'll find a floor plan.

Another simple way to look at this: You have five academic years to complete four competive seasons. (A competitive season is competing more than 20% of games, etc, etc. See above.) Robbie got hurt in his second year of college in his second competitive season. He had three academic years to finish two seasons. No worries. Ryan Hale? Same thing: three academic years to finish two seasons. Brandon Strouth? He'd been a "redshirt freshman". He used up an academic year doing that. Plus, another academic year ticked by when he got hurt without meeting the "competitive season" criteria. He needed to apply for the hardship waiver year (a sixth academic year to complete four competitive seasons). Michael Forney? He's in academic year two. I believe he's completed one competitive season (2006-07) but hasn't played enough (<20%, none in second half) to have this one, 2007-08, count as a competitive year. This leads me to believe he has three academic years left to complete three competitive seasons. Michael has no "clock" issues right now. Where I could be wrong is if 2006-07 did not count as a competitive season for Forney. If that's the case then he'd only have three academic years to complete four competitive seasons and would need to apply for a hardship waiver (sixth academic year to complete four competitive seasons). EDIT: Forney played in at least 16 games in 2006-07 and at SCSU on March 3, 2007 so the 2006-07 season counted as his first of four competitive seasons.

The rule is simple: Less than 20% of total games, none in the second half of the schedule. When Ryan Hale hurt his shoulder in 1999-2000 he did it in Game 8 of 40, and he'd played in every game (exactly 20%, none in second half) --> Ryan got an "extra year" (sort of, see following post). When Brandon Strouth hurt a knee it was in Game 2 of 10 (or 11): He had to apply for an extra year (again, see following post). Those injuries in the second half of a regular season schedule, or worse, your 9th game of a 40 game schedule, are the ones that sting: no (redshirt) medical hardship waiver. Michael Forney's appeared in 3 games and the last game appearance was Game 17 (v. UNH) with 35 games on the regular season (non-exhibition) schedule: Less than 20% of total games, none in the second half of the schedule. Coincidence? I think not.

Believe what you will, but ....

Dave Fennell. Schultz and Fennell are/were near cult status for CFL fans.

If ND's congressional delegation believed this issue could cost them their seats they'd have done something already. Folks, honestly, something fundamentally shifted at the highest levels. Proof? At the settlement announcement ... "We have today before us a dynamic in terms of a change in public policy that's being brought forward. This is the recognition of the tribes and how they will be given an opportunity to weigh in on this issue, as should be the case." - NDUS Chancellor Bill Goetz (NOTE: Bill Goetz was an instructor at DSU, a state legislator, and Gov. Hoeven's chief of staff, before going to NDUS.) Public policy at the state level changed. UND didn't change that. The NCAA didn't change that. Bill Goetz didn't change that. The state's highest officials did that. And they felt safe and comfortable doing it. Someone or something must have convinced them that a change in fundamental policy was politically survivable and palatable to enough people: Was it signs of "nickname fatigue" (Denny Elbert's word)? Was it Bruce Smith's president application saying he'd be strong enough to change it? (The most vocal faculty supporter, and a football alumnus, saying that? ) Was it Joel Maturi (AD at Minnesota) saying "no football" and some in the football community saying FB guarantees are more important? We'll never know. We can only speculate. But it remains: ND public policy changed at the highest level. If the people who make policy believed this change would hurt them at election time they wouldn't have done it.

The contract for UND at UNI included an option for a return game at a later date if UND went DI.

I've lived in a couple states. What I notice is people in ND maintain their property and businesses much better so the general appearance is just better.

Post #387 in here is a nice preview of where we go next from here after the NCAA Executive Committee has been handed the whip.

The AG, Mr. Stenehjem, did what he could with (what little) he had and based on this he deserves some credit: At least he got us (temporarily) off the list and some time to look for middle ground.

Ahem, what do you charge for PowerBall numbers?