The Sicatoka

I'm confused. You have "Blais said ..." all over the place. That's you quoting someone other than Blais. (In court it's called hearsay evidence.) Who said what? A broadcaster (or better yet, an internet poster) said Blais said? They can say whatever just like a newspaper can print news of a verbal commitment. What's the actual quote? Where's the tape or the actual transcript?

I see paraphrasing. I see a lot of he said statements. Who said? Which he? The caller? Blais? Hennessy? Swygman? I don't see a lot of quotation marks and directly attributed statements.

I didn't say where any of that talk was, or in what context, so I got it all right. A number? That's not my dog in the fight and I don't have my random number generator nearby. PS - I'd say Title IX would do in the wrestling program before travel, but both of those relate back to dollars and how and where they are spent.

What is that? Why, according to some, that's a cupcake!

OK, you addressed me. I'll play. There is talk about dropping programs. There is talk about the Big Sky. There talk about higher student fees. There is all kinds of talk. It's cheap. Plus, this is a discussion forum. You come here to talk. If you can't handle it, don't come. If you can refute it, fire away, but don't resort to schoolyard-like challenges. We'll all get to see what all the "talk" really turns into as far as reality down the road. History keeps a great scorecard. Regarding scholarships: If an athlete gets, for example, a full-ride baseball scholarship and then walks onto the basketball team (and makes it) the full ride counts against the maximum for BOTH baseball and basketball. Why? So you don't have schools with 6'8", 350 pound "downhill skiers" who "just happen" to walk onto the football team and end up as the starting left tackle. (Yes, some schools do offer skiing scholarships.) I'm not sure where that fits in here but it does somehow. I'm done. (And I'm surprised I haven't gotten slammed by 'forecheck' for that other comment yet. )

Did I miss the big announcement about his hiring in St. Louis?

Far be it from me to get in between 'tony' and 'star2city', but I feel obliged to ask what 'star2city' said to rile up 'tony.' The only words directly stating "NDSU" were: Won't that be the case?

I'd like to nominate 'star2city' for mayor of Grand Forks (and maybe president of UND as well).

As hockey fans, we think we know strong and tough. That, ladies and gentlemen, is strong and tough.

Isn't that the job of the captain of a ship (especially when the women and children being loaded onto the lifeboats)? On the other subject: There's more than enough "poor form" in the history of each side. If each would only stick to cheering for their team (and not against the other). And I mean that to cut both ways.

Read how the selection process works. All of the fan votes in the FINAL round (this is round 2 of 3) of voting count for ONE vote amongst the "college hockey personnel, pro scouts and media." I don't mean to be a downer here, but it's not like you are selecting the Hobey Baker winner directly. Some NHL scout is going to pull out his "NCAA top scorers" list and his "NHL CSB rankings" list and fill out his ballot without a second thought. (I hope not, but I'm pretty sure it'll happen.) Their vote equals all of the fans.

Why not just use the What If tool?

Quit satisfying yourself in public. You'll get arrested.

JBB: I'm not sure how a larger conference membership will guarantee the BSC anything. Could you explain more on that front? If you are talking basketball, the tournament looks at RPIs and other analytic rankings. Adding teams guarantees nothing. Football? Don't they look at power rankings as well? More teams doesn't seem to guarantee them anything on that front. Anyone waiting for Wyoming to move down is in for a long wait. Idaho? Who knows. They're probably due to be hurt with the NCAA IA committee changing the rules on "guarantee games" and "required home games" in FB. That won't be good for their finances. At least Ogden (Weber State) has a decent airport near by being a suburb of SLC. In terms of time you both could be right. Every try to get from MSP airport to Brooklyn Park? It can be anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. A unanimous vote? Personally, I'd put the same money down on 'yea' as 'nay'. I'm thinking Portland State and Sac State aren't going to like the travel that far east. Who knows where the rest of them are on the issue. I guess that'll become apparent in a few weeks.

Sadly, I can't be there; however, seeing who will be I feel a sudden urge to warn the Colorado Springs authorities. ;)

I thought you meant radio.

Time Zones: Imagine a BSC with current members plus NDSU/SDSU: Central, Mountain, and Pacific. That's a bummer for media. West coast game endings may push midnight in the Midwest. Friday games at 7 in the Midwest start when people are still at work on the west coast (if they actually work on Friday afternoon out there ). Mentioning logistics, doesn't Brookings have the same "bummer" (hour bus ride to/from airport) that Greeley has if you have to fly in? What city is Southern Utah located in? I've only heard of the school.

Too late Handy. There's already media there and I'm sure they'll have to limit the number of press passes to the event.

Baby-faced (Gopher) assassin.

I think BSC is happy at eight, for now, unless something really changes. Honestly, I believe their first choices, if they did choose to expand, would be schools that would be easier to bring in in terms of geographics/logistics. My guesses: Idaho - they went IA recently but are drowning in red ink, would they come back UC Davis - Sacramento State's neighbor Northern Colorado - easy geography Southern Utah - easy geography also NDSU and SDSU are literally a time zone away from the nearest BSC neighbor. That's not a plus in this case. One more thought: Why are they meeting on 02/20/03 in Salt Lake City when SLC isn't a Big Sky city? Well, Spokane, Pocatello, Missoula, Boseman, Portland, and Sacramento are all direct flights on Delta to SLC, Delta's western hub. (Ogden is a short drive away. Flagstaff is the only one that's not.) Remember where I mentioned "logistics"? Delta doesn't fly to Fargo or Sioux Falls (closest to Brookings). Who loves airport connections?

I wonder if SSM won't be playing this team yet to be formed. http://www.gfparks.org/ndaha/

I kinda felt like I needed a shower after I wrote that.

JBB: How's it feel to know that you, the GF Herald, and I (because I believe in NDSBoHE control) all agree on this one?