The Sicatoka

My attendance numbers were for the 2002-2003 academic year. That would be for the 2002 football season. Sorry. Didn't Montana State have the home game with Montana in 2003? It'll be interesting to see how the numbers come out this year (meaning do they oscillate based on whether or not they host Montana).

Here's a revelation for you folks: Writers write the articles. Editors write the headlines. PCM didn't write "Bochenski to Bolt". PCM wrote what U2Bad1 showed.

The "conference average" rule went away on 08/01/04 when the new 15000 average went into effect. The rule in place now does allow use of a "neutral" field for one game a year by a school and calling it a home game for attendance counting purposes (ala Wyoming playing Tennessee in Nashville and counting it as a home game for attendance). PS - In 2003, Montana averaged over 19000. Everyone else in the BSC was under 10000. BSC #2 in attendance Montana State averaged 48 more fans per home game than North Dakota. (Data from the NCAA stats site.) We're talking a 50% increase in attendence for almost the whole league to be DI-A.

I grabbed the wrong city off the NCAA list I have. Apologies. However, Moscow, Pocatello, I'm sure that radically changes the geographic center of the Big Sky and definitely moves Bozeman closer than 700 miles away.

If the BSC is only looking at those remaining four, let's see how they fit into the BSC: School - City, State Lat Lon Montana - Missoula, MT 46.86 114.01 Montana State - Bozeman, MT 45.68 111.04 Weber State - Ogden, UT 41.23 111.97 Idaho State - Moscow, ID 46.73 117.00 E. Washington - Cheney. WA 47.49 117.59 Portand State - Portland, OR 45.52 122.68 N. Arizona - Flagstaff, AZ 35.19 111.65 Sacramento St. - Sacramento, CA 38.58 121.49 Big Sky Conference Average 43.41 115.93 Max 47.49 122.68 Min 35.19 111.04 Possible expansion cities: NDSU - Fargo, ND 46.88 96.79 SDSU - Brookings, SD 44.31 96.79 UNC - Greeley, CO 40.42 104.69 SUU - Cedar City, UT 37.79 113.07 I only see one that is within the existing footprint (max-mins): Cedar City, UT (SUU). I see one that is fairly close to being in the footprint (and it offers a United Airlines hub airport a short drive away plus a major western media market, namely Denver, nearby): Greeley, CO (UNC). The other two are 15 degrees of longitude east of the eastern-most point of the footprint. That works out to be about 700 miles east of the eastern-most point, and about 1000 miles to the BSC "geographic average" point. Geography just doesn't bode well for a couple of those remaining four.

Has another anonymous source spoken to the Grand Forks Herald?

airmail's link goes to the 2003 list. You can find the DII portion of the 2004 list here. You can find the whole 2004 list here.

Same could almost be said for Gonzaga (WCC vs WAC).

DU ended up in the Sun Belt because there was really no other home for them at the time. Now, with NMSU and a couple others leaving the Sun Belt it's even less attractive. From chatting with some folks more familiar with DU athletics, back when they went DI DU's preference would have been the WCC. DU already has teams playing in other conferences while they're in the Sun Belt today (hockey, lacrosse, independent gymnastics, skiing, and others). So the BSC wouldn't support all their athletic programs: That's nothing new to DU.

I think you may need to re-read Fullerton's statement: It doesn't say those they are evaluating have to play DI-AA football. It says they'll be looking at the schools that are going to be playing DI-AA, however, it does not say that will happen at the exclusion of others (those who don't play DI-AA football). The more important words are "... of every school that is available." The Sun Belt is coming apart. Who is available? Gamble (Montana State, where NDSU's Chapman came from) is interested, but even he reiterates the past hurdle:

Because the SF Argus-Leader story will disappear over the weekend, I'll post it here. This is a quote of a SF Argus-Leader story. Credit them.

Free sushi for me! http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/players.html

Come on people! Sometimes you have to take the good (Sioux hockey information) with the bad (no comment).

I was told that Pat Sweeney had the list of applicants for the job on the WDAZ sports last night. How come no one has posted it here yet?

WYOBISONMAN said, "It is incredible the amount of conference turmoil. Makes me wonder when it will find an equilibrium point." -- I agree. Isn't the point of this conference shell-game trying to move up? Would Gonzaga rather be in the WCC or the WAC? Would DU rather be in the Sun Belt or the Big Sky or WCC*? The flip side is: Which schools fit into which conference's demographics and desires? Who does the WAC want? Gonzaga? DU? Who would the WCC want if they were looking? * DU wanted into the WCC when it went DI a while back. The WCC didn't want them (geography) and DU was left to go with the Sun Belt.

Let me guess: You heard it from .... an anonymous source.

The closing date for applications was 07/28/04. http://www.UND.nodak.edu/org/hr/professnl.htm

But the only discussion that really matters is the one between Ottawa and Brandon.

The posturing being done by Bochenski with Ottawa seems very similar to what Vanek is doing with Buffalo.

- To get out of playing games in a building in need of repair? - To get badly needed additional training space for all the athletes? - To get the recruiting advantages of both a new building and The Ralph? - To have television-ready facilities? - To be able to sell adult beverages? - To give people something to second-guess on an internet board?

Crazy, out of the blue thought: Isn't Gonzaga in Spokane, WA? Gonzaga would go from the far north outpost of the West Coast Conference (nearest conference foe: U of Portland in Portland, OR) to near the middle of the Big Sky. However, Gonzaga would lose all the California exposure that comes with WCC basketball. If there's even a remote thought of taking a "no football" Denver, wouldn't that (a "no football" Gonzaga) make some sense too? This speculating IS fun.

Wasn't it just recently that the Portland State Vikings begged the BSC for permission to drop mens and womens tennis, normally required for Big Sky membership, and the conference reluctantly agreed? That shows a recent willingness to move from the "all sport" philosophy, yes? Plus, only one BSC school currently meets the DI-A football attendance requirements that go into effect in August. I'm not sure which others would consider it (considering they don't meet the minimums). But like you say, who knows.

The BSC as a ten-team conference with nine playing football? That wouldn't make bad scheduling in the BSC revenue sports: Football: Nine teams would mean eight conference games (four home, four road) and room for each team to have three non-conference games in an 11-game schedule. Basketball: Ten teams would mean two games (home/road) against nine other conference opponents for an 18-game confernence schedule leaving room for 10 to 12 non-conference games.

First, cfn567b27 is correct. Until the Ottawa puts out the press release the deal isn't done: Very similar to the Vanek situation. (Let's face it, in terms of "cheap" Ottawa's in Buffalo's realm.) Then again sagard said, "Seems as though my favorite team is not likely done losing players either." Hey, what exactly do you mean when you say players. Is there someone beyond Vanek?

What are you talking about? On the system in MidCo I'm on it is blank with a simple "MidCo" logo, no ads, other than during games. That channel is owned by Midcontinent Cable, not anyone else.