The Sicatoka

Yeah, it's one man's opinion, but look where the teams mentioned here rank on Massey's listing: 63 Florida Atlantic (highest I-AA) 74 Grand Valley State (highest II) 76 Georgia Southern 86 Cal Poly SLO 94 UC-Davis 100 Montana 123 St. Cloud 126 North Dakota 139 South Dakota State 141 Northwestern State of Louisiana 144 Montana State 145 NDSU 149 Northern Arizona 159 Nicholls State (beat by NDSU) 161 Ferris State (UND 45, FSU 0) 169 Southern Utah 177 Winona State 192 Northern Colorado 217 UNO http://www.mratings.com/rate/cf-m.htm

UC-Davis has beaten two (admittedly bottom dwelling) Big Sky teams and Northern Colorado by 10 in Greeley.

National Letter of Intent signing dates: November 10-17, 2004 and April 13-August 1, 2005.

Forget the FSU football team. Send the FSU hockey team for two games: We owe them.

Sweet. If only he'd have had a jersey.

Peer pressure? Dear Band: Keep listening to PCM and babies "y'all be wearing gold-plated diapers."

I thought he'd been tagged "Sparky" by the team. A Sioux player wearing jersey #11 leads the nation in scoring after one weekend. Who would have guessed.

OK, if you want the fairer comparison: FSU rushing versus Findlay: 472 yards FSU rushing versus North Dakota: 1 yard <--- note that is singular Now that is shrinkage. You should have been quiet and not had me look.

Didn't 'star2city' predict a larger discussion of this issue during Homecoming Week? Well, that article is the the topic starter.

From 410 yards to 36 inches. Now that's shrinkage.

Let's send out this classic hit to the Ferris rushing game.

Seriously? Sayitain'tso.

'tony', as best I could hear channel-surfing between the Twins, the Gophers vs DU on FSN, WDAY-TV, Texas Tech whuppin' Big Red, and popping on the Bose for the hockey game (UND at Maine), about half of those in Brookings were Bison fans. (That's not a dig at anyone. That's applause to those NDSU fans who went.) You're right: 30ish is one thing, "24" would be a cut to the bone. I'm sure that number surprised a lot of folks. PS (and a late edit): "I wonder if there is a chance .... UMD will look harder at DI" --- I guess I wouldn't expect that. The UM system is short on money.

Some quotes I find interesting: Could it be that the BCS schools are looking around and are tired of sharing all that TV revenue with schools that are just there for the revenue-sharing check? I'd guess that Ohio State ($80 MM athletics budget) et al view schools with $8-10 MM budgets the same way a lot of DII fans viewed the UM-Morris' and MSU-Moorheads moving into DII. I wouldn't be surprised to see the BCS-type schools push for a division of their own. Scholarship reductions in DI-AA now too? I guess as state budgets get tighter the schools have to look to balance the budgets somehow, even in the DI-AA ranks.

Say the BSC does lose Sac State --> 7 Say Portland State decides travel and exposure is better in a west coast (Big West, WCC) conference --> 6 Buh-bye BSC autobids. Like I've said, the BSC will do what it believes it has to to keep its autobids. It wouldn't be dumb of the BSC to build in a little margin (add to a total of 10 or 12 teams) in case Montana gets the notion to go DI-A down the road.

The NCAA wants money? Say it ain't so.

Please, send one guy to the blue line at the far boards from the puck and don't ever make the long pass to him. I'll keep defending the front of the net. Thanks for making it my five (plus goalie) defending the net from your four. This ain't football. You defend the goal, not the guy. Here's your consolation prize. WYO: Would having teams with staggered probation dates be beneficial to a conference in some way?

Self-contradicting argument: No long passes .... but spread out the defense on wide ice. The only way to spread the D in hockey is spread out and use the whole ice: bigger spacing = longer passes. Back to topic: So, if UND goes DI, and builds an indoor passing/training facility, (which are the topics that started the thread, see WYO, I'm trying ), which other programs have that?

Hey Bulldog, impressive signature line. But don't you wish it could say: Conference Champs 6 of the last 11 years 2003 National Runner-Up 2001 National Champions I know one that can.

David Klema is a Roseau native (and FM IceShark?) and would have been a senior for BU this fall. http://board.uscho.com/showthread.php?t=42061

(A least once per season I have to explain this. Sigh.) There is nothing worse than amateurs on wide ice. Why? Make a pass, miss the target, puck goes wa-a-a-a-ay over to the far boards, skate, skate, skate, skate, skate, skate, (no puck possession by either team), skate, skate, skate, skate, to it, control it, move with it, make another bad pass, it goes wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay over to the far boards, skate, skate, skate, skate, skate, skate, skate, skate, .... you get the point. The puck spends more time off a stick blade than on. Hockey is a game of puck possession. When the puck is sliding free (after a bad pass) or sitting uncontrolled along the boards (because no one has gotten to it yet) it is not exciting to watch. When a team is in possession making perfect, clean passes and controlling the puck there is nothing better to watch. My opinion: Amateurs should only be allowed on 85' wide (NHL) ice. Professionals, who can make long, clean passes, and who need the added space because of professional size and professional speed, should only be allowed on 100' wide (Olympic) ice. (And when I say "professionals" I mean the NHL. Even the AHL looks bad on wide ice.) Sorry for the diversion. Back to subject: I heard Doug Fullerton may have racked up some "Hilton Honors points" at the UND Hilton Garden Inn this week.

Are you sure you and Rick aren't Czechoslovakian brothers? You are "two wild and crazy guys!"

Enjoy the "good time" now. The tab is coming. --> How come The Forum hasn't done a follow-up on this story from back in May? September is here and gone. There hasn't been a progress/follow-up story to date. As Sioux Hockey announcer Tim Hennessy would say, "How's she goin'?" in terms of raising that roughly $1 MM to cover this year's budget is the question. The budget issues are the biggest DI issue for anyone as geographically remote as the Dakotas are.

Did Kupchella send them, or did Martinson? Either way, the request would be made sooner or later by some paper and it would go AP shortly thereafter. Contract negotiations (which is what deal with a conference is at its essence) are exempt from sunshine laws until a deal is done. Letter? No. Position paper? Yes. What was asked for? You have to admit, we both are assuming a lot in regard to that one position paper. (You admit you assumed it was a "thinly-disguised PR gambit". I'll admit it was too in-depth to be targeted to respond to just one legislator.)

Yup, that'd be him. Clearly recognizable in the photos in the link. PCM must be the alias he runs under now that he's dumped the "Fred Garvin" alias. Who is Fred Garvin? Should we start calling Rick "Slick" instead?