The Sicatoka

Why do I just know that Myles Brand and the NCAA Executive Committee had a hand in forming this law?

It's one guy, and if he was seen in Grand Forks there'd stories speculating "why else?" in every paper in the region.

In a vacuum? I'm getting the impression that that is what you believe.

Here's another one for you: I know for fact that Harmeson is in frequent contact with a guy who: (a) is a DI conference commissioner, and (b) does consulting regarding the feasibility of level changes within the NCAA.

And consultants always have all of the necessary expertise and never mess up?

From NDSU's Carr Report Executive Summary:

If you already knew the answer to the "Why four months?" question why'd you ask it?

No, the better question is: Why should UND pay a consultant when it can ignore the advice of a consultant someone else paid for and ignored for free?

You don't? Let me help you. From NDSU's Carr Report Executive Summary:

The same can be said of DI-AA (and DII) football in the view of national media and national college football fans. They don't really even care about MAC or WAC football unless a team is 9-0 or better. All they want is USC, Texas, FSU, and Notre Dame. To the world the rest, all the rest, is, well, minor.

So you'd "show up" and take a banner. Really? Tell that to DI-As without National Championships. There are more without banners than with.

Did you just say that the only "true DI schools" are DI-As? You must have. There are 33 DI schools playing DI hockey, but just 13 of them are DI-A; thus, by your own statement, the DI-As are the only "true DI schools." Are you going to stand by that and go with your admission that NDSU is not a "true DI school" or would you like to retract your statement now? PS - Who wants to tell DI-AAs New Hampshire and Maine or DI-AAAs BU and Denver (not "true DI schools") that they mean less to college hockey than DI-As Army, Air Force, and Connecticut ? NCAA DI Hockey (numbers may be off by one or two schools): DI-A: 13 DI-AA: 14 (not "true DI schools", sorry NDSU, your fan defined it) DI-AAA: 6 (not "true DI schools" either) DII: 20 DIII: 5

As much as I can't stand to listen to him at times, the sports monkey, sorry, director, at KFGO (Derek Hanson?) may have this one right: There are haves and have nots at every level of football. The differences between the haves and have nots in any level are probably greater than the differences between the haves of DII and DI-AA, or the have nots of DII and DI-AA. --> DI-AA Valpariso and DII UM-Crookston (have nots) would be a pretty even game. --> DII "have" Grand Valley would give any "have" DI-AA fits.

Questions: 1. How many DIIs would love to have The Betty over what they have? 2. How many DIs would love to have The Betty over what they have? 3. How many DIs or DIIs have the option of playing at either The Ralph or The Al? Keep filling it for hoops (sorry, not a hoops guy here) and the problem will solve itself: You'll need the space of The Ralph or The Al. For the record (search and look if you like), I too wish The Betty was about one to two thousand larger, but that just didn't make economic sense when you already have the The Ralph and The Al. The Betty is a nice arena and even better practice facility. Be happy or some would say you're crying because your ice cream is cold.

Brothers have played head to head against each other. I'm sure neither got "the time of day" from the other during a game. The WJC is a two-week long game. For those two weeks Jonathan Toews was "Team Canada." Now he's "Fighting Sioux" again.

Someone ask him about the Pontiac he's driving? Or did the NCAA lawyers tell him to "put the shovel down"?

aff: Have you read UND's 35-page rebuttal? I have. It clearly lays out where UND plans to challenge the NCAA: primarily breech of contract and anti-trust, with some intellectual property issues on the side.

Not long ago Century had the most mature team in the west and it underperformed. Now they're in a youth cycle (and giving up touchdowns apparently). Moral: You have to strike when the iron is hot. Fargo South's iron is hot right now. What'll they do with it in February and March?

Lamoureux's 8 games this year: He's given up 25 goals. That's an average of 3.125 goals per game. (His GAA would be slightly higher due to "out of the net" time.) The team has scored 14 goals in front of him. Fourteen. That's an amazing average of 1.75 goals of offense per game (dare I say offensive offense. ) and a scoring margin average of -1.375 goals per game. Giving up slightly more than 3 goals per game is decent. (I'd prefer more like 2.5.) Scoring fewer than two goals per game is absolutely unacceptable unless you can play absolute clamp-down lock-down "y'all ain't gonna score" deeeee-fense, and few can. This team hasn't. Think Phil knows he's getting zip-dot-squat for goal support? Think that may cause him to grip the stick a little tighter and let in a few "yeesh" goals? Imagine standing there knowing if the second one goes by you're probably playing for a tie (and the third is most likely a loss). Back to the fundamentals boys: - team play - play 5-on-5 - team keeps puck out of its net - team puts puck into opponent's net That's everybody: Team. PS - In my world, next check from behind, good call or not, gets a healthy scratch weekend. You can't keep shortening your own bench and giving the other team five minute powerplays and think you're on a path for success. Send the message.

Haven't I said all along, "Conference. Cost." Answer those two and you have the answer.

I think you missed what I was trying to say: Assuming "in a conference" in either DI or DII, how is non-conference travel to all of those places as a DII is any cheaper than non-conference travel to similar distance places as a DI? (The key in my original statement was use of "non-conference" twice.) The shrinking NCC (fewer conference games) is causing the travel budget to balloon because of the need to travel more often and further for non-conference games. That's just as problematic as the basic DI question and the travel that comes with it.

And I see a guy who used to be #3 in TeamMakers in the South Club Room of REA frequently. So? We all know that there are "cross-overs" and each has their individual reasons.

We're even (the ox thing). But now I think I owe someone else.

Raid their cabinets. That's pretty good. I wonder if they have Mohawk carpets in the lobby in Indianapolis, Indiana. Sadly, no cabinet (or fridge) raids. We only had to look in their driveway. They have a stated policy one direction, yet they choose to take the money from Pontiac, a company with an Indian name and with an Indian-related logo (arrowhead). "Do as I say, not as I do," must be the NCAA motto, eh. I guess money talks when it comes to names and logo at the NCAA too. So much for the "righteousness" of the NCAA on this topic. Or does the NCAA tribal approval of Chief Pontiac's Ottawa tribe so they can display their official car and its Indian name and imagery at NCAA Championships?

There are bigger issues here, bigger than a moniker and logo, bigger than UND, bigger than the beloved Sioux Nations, bigger than North Dakota. Let me hit y'all with some of the issues here: - a sub-committee within an organization UND belongs to is trying to usurp its own by-laws and constitution to ramrod things down the member's throats. That's great if you're the rodder, crappy if you're the roddee. For example, GK, you wouldn't like it if all tribal policy came solely from the tribal secretary and not the chair and full council, would you? You have to stand up and fight those fights (usurped by-laws) in any organization when it happens. - "the best little monopoly in America" (BusinessWeek On-line, Dec. 9, 2002) is attempting to put illegal restraints on trade in almost sure violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. - an organization that UND belongs to, which has clearly defined process for reviews, keeps changing the process at their own whims. Let's put this into simpler terms: How frustrated would anyone be if your department or major kept changing, moving, or adding to the graduation requirements on you? An organization that does that, without following legislated process to make changes within the organization, must be stood up to and challenged. - UND was called "hostile and abusive." It's not the case and must be challenged. What else would you expect. - There's a difference between "hostile and abusive" and "offensive". Nobody has clearly set the standards within the NCAA. (See "moving target" above) By the standard that really matters (the courts) UND isn't "hostile and abusive." Personally, I think UND has been slandered by the NCAA using those words. - (quoting UND's 35 page response) "Should any group be given the exclusive right to control the image of their ancestors? ... . Giving ethnic groups a proprietary right over historical images is a principle which should be rejected outright." Like I said before, if this alleged "exclusive right" did exist soon only Democrats could tell us about Clinton and only Republicans tell us about Bush. Better yet, only Nazis and Aryans about Nazis and Aryans. I reject the "exclusive right" notion; I favor the First Amendment. - UND holds the legal rights on the moniker "Fighting Sioux" and on the Ben Brien artwork used as a logo. All of that is intellectual property. If the NCAA forces this they've devalued UND's intellectual property. That's damage. Damage is recoverable. - the NCAA is trying to justify their position using suspect (at best) data. If there is such a thing as due process anywhere, all of the data used in making a decision should be available and have been reviewed (thoroughly, by disinterested parties). This isn't the case in this matter. The NCAA is using unpublished studies (not publicly reviewed), studies that don't report process and method, key in any study, as a basis. This is wrong and most likely won't stand a test in a court room. - and finally, the NCAA created a "namesake tribe" exemption (even though the research they seem to love to cite says that shouldn't matter) but continues to refuse to accept Spirit Lake Tribe Resolution No. A05-01-041. That resolution is yet to be overridden or recinded by Spirit Lake Tribal Council (the only group that matters, as GK has told us). What we have here are some fundamental issues: - breech of contract (NCAA constitution is a contract with UND) - intellectual property rights - anti-trust (NCAA actions as a monopoly) - due process (following process, using reliable data and evidence to make decisions)