The Sicatoka

tony, you're assuming that either path will be able to be deemed "wiser". I guess I should have stated that only time will tell if either, neither, or both paths were wise.

I believe the NCC could survive the loss of UND if a suitable replacement was found (e.g. Winona State, Concordia-St. Paul, UN-Kearney, or DII newbie U of Mary). However, I do not believe the NCC could survive the loss of both UND and UN-Omaha. I also believe that if (a) UN-Omaha leaves to replace Missouri-Rolla in the MIAA (or jumps to DI-AA) or (b) if UND makes the jump to DI-AA, it will spur the other school (UND/UNO) to move out of the NCC also. At that point expect a major reshuffling of (the remaining) NCC, NSIC, and even Dak-10 (8?) schools into probably two new large (10-14 team) conferences, one being DII and one being I'm not sure what.

Part of respect is spelling UND and NDSU appropriately. UND sees the parts of DII that are most like it: SCSU, MSU-Mankato, UM-Duluth, UN-Omaha. (I'm sure you see the theme there.) UND needs to retain strong relationships with those schools because all of those schools base their budgets around the gate of that common theme (and the other sport rivalries that come from it). UND can't just bolt away from those schools because it believes it sees something better out there. If UND does leave the NCC and DII I'd expect there to be a smooth transition plan in place for both UND and the NCC, thus helping and protecting all the schools mentioned. And it's not like UND is sitting around doing nothing while things play out. UND is controlling what it can control: - It can't control new members of DII joining the NSIC - It can't control (it has some influence) on DII football scholarship numbers - It can control its facilities (as in construction) and is doing so nicely. - It can control its athletic budget. (Remember the noteworthy UND IAC minutes where Dr. Kupchella asked for two budgets: a DII and a projected DI budget.)

People love the feel-good story of a little guy doing well. Like it or not, the State of North Dakota's stature makes it a de facto "little guy". Thus, rightly or wrongly, UND Hockey plays the role of "little guy" because of where the school is located. David. Goliath.

Twisting? "I'm in no rush to see NDSU and UND on the same field ... " How else but "don't want to face" should anyone have read that? New rivalries? Very difficult given geography. Respect and sportsmanship. Yes. Give it time.

North Dakota = North Korea? Apparently someone north of the border reads The Onion. http://www.ccmep.org/2003_articles/General...o_harboring.htm

Until non-hockey fan people from outside of the upper midwest can associate "North Dakota" with something other than "Mount Rushmore" North Dakota will be an underdog. It's that simple.

The NCC limit is 15 mens scholarships outside of basketball and football. (Not being sponsored by the NCC, WCHA mens hockey falls outside of this rule.) I believe legend334 had the specifics by sport one time.

I really don't have a problem with anything in your first two paragraphs. My speculation about NDSU: A little of two factors: (a) fewer scholarships didn't allow for as deep of a bench, and (b) the coaching that had NDSU 2, 3, or 4 -deep at key positions just wasn't producing as well as it had in the past with the talent in hand. That did puzzle me. UND has a history of controlling what it can control and not making reactionary moves to things happening around it. I'd have been forced to deem such a scenario, if it had come to pass, as reactionary. The flip side is that NDSU may have reacted to something that did not come to pass at the time. I'm sure you don't want to face UND in competition. The courtesy, however, has to meet one other key requirement: If there's a legitimate concern to the taxpayers of North Dakota it must be able to be addressed (be it at UND or NDSU). All the rest of this sports stuff comes in second to the owners of the institutions and the folks who ultimately have the fiscal responsibilities.

No, I'm serious. If NDSU is in such a different situation please explain it. It could better explain the course UND has chosen.

After re-reading I can see how 2 was meant to be a conditional case of 1. Sorry. (But my point still holds true also.)

Regarding the changes in football (NDSU's flagship sport), these DII changes so radically negatively impacted NDSU such that they decide to move to DI-AA and yet these same changes allow, in parallel, for UND's program to become dominant in DII. What I don't understand is if these recent changes in football were bad for strong DII programs, why wasn't UND negatively impacted and yet NDSU claims to be? The answers have to go beyond "flagship". I need help sorting out the other reasons.

The administrator here tells us all of the time that folks from UND read this board. However, expecting them to act because of a post on an internet board is an unrealistic expectation. A board like this is easily discounted. Direct contact by a name and a face isn't. If you believe there is a problem, directly contact folks at UND Athletics or UND in general and let them know your thoughts. It works.

In each case a random, scientific methodology was employed: polling. The use of the word "respondents" in the Indian Country Today article implies that a random polling was not done, but that those participating in the survey "self-selected" by choosing to respond to a question (like an on-line click the button "what do you think" survey) thus making the survey results unscientific and thus somewhere between suspect and untrustworthy. Harris and Annenberg followed scientific process in polling and show it. Can the Indian Country Today show the same?

A new NHL CBA will come. Roenick will still be a PR nightmare. Talk about a "Sprewell moment". [brooklyn accent] Yo Jeremy, I'z gotz usez CBA ri' he'ah, 'n' use ken kiss it too. [/brooklyn accent]

Omaha: Week-long event. Eight teams. Frozen Four: Weekend event. Four teams. World Junior Championships: Two-week long event. Ten teams. UND and Grand Forks could never host a Frozen Four much less World Juniors.

How much money really is brought in?

Football and basketball are using the colleges as a minor league system. Affects: - many kids with no interest (or abilities) in college attending college - public (public colleges) is financing professional minor leagues Baseball and hockey actually have minor leagues where an 18-year-old has a real choice: pro or amateur (aka college route). It's time for the NFL and NBA to offer the same.

"Emission"? As I was reading that story the "voice" of mental narrator became that of the goalie in "Slapshot": "The Pacifique team faces the team of the West." and the Pacifique team feels much shame.

Are you making fun of somebody? Shame on you. That's my job.

It seems that in the BSC dialect any time the word "Dakota" comes up the words "geography and travel" soon follow.

Recent (since 2001) UND Mens Hockey home non-conference games v. DIs: Niagara Canisius Boston College Yale Northeastern Harvard Recent scheduled (non-NCAA tourney) non-conference road games v. DIs: Yale Princeton Maine Boston College Northeastern Miami of Ohio Michigan State New Hampshire I see a lot of "Ivy" in that list plus a non-WCHA Big Ten-ner* and the newest member of the ACC. And that's not looking at the DI womens schedule for DIs: Quinnipiac, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Boston College. What's in it in coming to play in GF? Playing in arguably the greatest college arena in the country. * I left out M-WCHA and W-WCHA Big Tens and DIs: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Denver.

RE: Hellevang. I listened to part of the game (4th quarter) on KFYR. The announcers made the comment that "Hellevang is human. He finally made a mistake" when a kick-off went out of bounds inside the five. From what I heard and could gather in the post-game recap that was his only attempt (good from 45).