The Sicatoka

For the record

Just when you thought this was the ugliest thing in Wisconsin.

You raise an issue. I point out the problem with your issue. You find something in mine to quibble about and raise a new issue. I counter-punch that. You decline the opportunity to refute my point. You exhibit poor behaviour, behaviour that you've been asked to cease. I point it out. You attack ad hominem. Strangely, you claim my observation of it is an attack. Sadly, what you are yet to determine in all of this is that I am following your very own tactics, "counter-punching" your moves if you will. Additionally, you've learned another valuable lesson. Never trust data put in front of you. I made it easy. I put it in complete source, date, factual context. You found a way to refute it, and, I admitted that even I don't trust the data source and methods after that, and offered to end the entire conversation more than once. And apparently you don't understand the concepts of slander and liable. Stating source, date, context with statements is the essense of information. Yes, information may be old, but it makes it no less factual in proper context. I slandered nor liabled no one. Can that be said of all? I've never trusted any data put in front of me and checked it to the appropriate levels, and I'll stop the statement there without an "especially data from." It's a wise way to proceed in all things. You've learned now also. I'm trying to get you to have some level of decorum, "gentlemen's rules," whilest we play here. Apparently I'm failing. At least I've made the effort. You seem testy, edgy today, JBB. Anxious? Something else important on your mind and unsure of the outcome?

FargoDome may be just a bit oversized, today. But, Fargo is growing into it. NDSU FB attendance may have slid last year and may slide for a few with growing pains, but the stadium is not dramatically oversized. They easily fill it for other key revenue events. I don't know if I agree with the 'fans' extrapolation number however. As a city grows, as new people move in, not as many have ties to the school. There will be new fans, but I question the fan ratio tossed out there.

I wondered where "Red Menace of the West" jersey 12 was when I caught snippets of Goldie/Bucky on the tube last weekend. Obviously not a good situation.

I had the date of the release on there. It should be obvious that annual data more than a year old could be out of date. The numbers remain the numbers and are indeed fact when properly placed in context of date, as I did. I spoke (wrote) no untruth. You found newer numbers. Good for you. But, by following your tactic, I took your dislike of UND hockey and turned it against you by pointing out that NDSU wrestling is no better. You still avoid that "Other" numbers conversation. I used accurate, contextual facts to make a case. You refuted it and make a counter argument. I, in return, showed that the case you made was a facade at best because the claim also applies to your 'client.' And I didn't have to resort to ad hominem attacks. And I can find the shift key.

Uh, 'rock', at the gate general admission tickets are $18.50. Season tickets work out to be about $16 per game.

Not that I'm going to lose any sleep over them, but what happened to the NDSU men? They were 6 last week and they're not in the top 10 now.

There's a big difference in losing 15 pounds between someone with less than 10% body fat versus someone with, well, .... let's just say, over. PS - I'm guilty as well.

No, I'm saying I'll take the easy data when it's to my advantage, but, I'll play fair by leaving a source where someone, if they choose to do the grunt work, can dig out a refuting case. Please note I dug for the "Other" numbers when you chose numbers that "worked" for you. (Sense the fair play there?) Either way, (a) you avoided the "Other" numbers, and (b) neither should be tootin' horns about them. Avoiding the "Other" numbers conversation, and your past ineffectiveness with the shift key, states volumes about character as well.

First, when you say "your town" you assume incorrectly about location. Next, I agree that a 10k stadium in Fargo would have made no sense. It's already there and called Dakotah Field. Somebody correct me here if I'm wrong, but I believe Alerus Center was built such that if the need arose in the future, endzone seating could be added by moving the north and south walls out. I believe it's always better to have a stadium that looks full.

How exactly could FargoDome be expanded to 30,000 seats? I don't see the space because there's four-sides seating already, plus, isn't the sidelines to seats gap too narrow already? We've covered this already, but Alerus Center is larger than a significant number of IAA football stadiums, so get over yourself. PS - Glad to see those Griz fans calibrated you on geography.

Like I said, if you followed the link you'd easily see that '2002' could be retrieved with a few simple keystrokes. I wasn't going to dig out all of that data. I, quite simply, let some other person do a menial task like that. (I won't comment as to who that was. ) The "Other" category contains the other sports (beyond baseball, football, and basketball which are listed individually). Since you want to talk "Other," which must contain wrestling because that's not listed separately, let's look at .... 2001 and 2002 "Other" Men sports 4-class rates (as reported at the previous link): School Year Rate NDSU 2001 33% UND 2001 44% NDSU 2002 46% UND 2002 38% Those Bison wrestlers have nothing on Sioux hockey players. (But I don't think any Bison wrestlers went professional either. ) Bottom line: Neither UND nor NDSU should be tootin' the horn here.

I learned by observation of the best "unseemly extrapolator."

YaneA: WDAZ doesn't help folks outside of their tower's range. Some have to watch FSSN on Midcontinent Cable. OK, if not 'psweeney@wdaz.com' or 'bkerr@wdaz.com,' how about 'mccomm@midco.net' because they are the backbone of the system. Maybe 'semrau@ralphengelstadarena.com' or 'ronh@ralphengelstadarena.com'? They're REA's marketing and media relations people and REA is a part of FSSN too. I'm not sure who at UND Athletics would be the person to talk to. PS - All of those email addresses are available on public websites so I'm giving away anything that's not already out there.

I'd say the chances are not good at this point. http://www.fightingsioux.com/sports/mhocke...ey/schedule.asp I don't think the series is on TV down in Mankato. The reason the CC series was put on was because WDAZ/FSSN could buy the feed (what there was of it, oh the bad camera work) from the Colorado Springs station that was showing the game there. If nobody's covering it down there there's no feed to buy and I doubt WDAZ would send a live truck and crew down to Mankato at this point. The home Duluth series will be on (as are all home series). The Wisconsin series should be on at least Direct TV Channel 642 (Fox Wisconsin). Maybe we all should spam WDAZ and ask them to get the Wisconsin series on the Fighting Sioux Sports Network! psweeney@wdaz.com

No, JBB. I gave the link to the source. Anyone could take the logical extention of that link to the 2002 data and put up numbers like those you provided. (As a matter of fact, I looked at UND's and NDSU's 2002 numbers back then and wondered how long it would take you to find them.) There's no omission. I over-provided data and, thus, provided your (long awaited) rebuttal. All that and I get no "thank you." Regarding the stats for hockey graduation: I don't see "hockey" as a specific line-item on that NCAA site. How do you come about such data? Did "someone tell you"? Do you believe everything you hear? I'd try to provide the names of recruits and graduations or early departures (or transfers as the case may be) if you'd like, but it may lead directly to a conversation about how, similarly, Bison football recruits of late don't seem to hang around for the full four/five years. (I don't think they're going to the pro ranks early either. I'm sure that's unfairly killing NDSU's numbers with the NCAA, just as circumstances at other places are doing the same.) It's a knife that has blades on both sides. You decide. Like I said initially: Are you sure you want this conversation?

Don't flatter yourself JBB. I'd take Lennon over any of those three right now. My point was this: TeamMakers and other Bison FB fans would go off the deep end if it's not Rocky, Gus (Casey), or Terry Allen. Geez, 'Bisonguy' already has the bright yellow "Gus Bus" parked in front of Gene Taylor's house. What more can you say?

Ah, but do those wildly fluctuating graduation rates (because of calculational anomalies, that you admit to, and I will too) allow for players who leave school early to play in the professional ranks? Last I checked, no, they don't. In the past two years UND has lost three players to early departures to the pros (Bryan Lundbohm, Travis Roche, Ryan Bayda). When a hockey recruiting class is a handful of players that is hugely significant. That's why I asked if you really wanted to talk about this. The numbers are so inconsistent because of the (lack of) methodology of the NCAA.

Is that like football should be played outside? Oh, that's right. On the Montana Grizzlies board football should be played indoors is what you said. Then why not hockey indoors? Hey, JBB, by the way, where is the U of Montana located?

Lennon over Rocky Hagar? Lennon over Terry Allen? Lennon over Casey Bradley? Come on, even you must have trouble believing that. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Be careful Jim. If fans of a certain other school read that link it may cause a meltdown.

Marc Ranfranz battles last year's All-American (who has a 92% save percentage) to a 1-1 tie for all but two seconds of a game. A screened shot finds its way in and they lose 2-1, and team defense is the problem? Where's that team that was averaging 4+ goals a game? The mirrors in the Sioux locker room need some serious use this week for soul-searching.

I'm sure others will agree with me that we're spending too high a percentage of our time chewing the fat about a player who left, a player whose commitment to Sioux hockey was well known, and a player who stepped up to the table on many occasions. Chris has moved on. We still miss him, even though he was not very good at checking and he got quite a few bad bounces. I'm sure his current Seawolves teammates think he's just aces. It was certainly good of Coach Hill to take a gamble on him. And I'm sure he

They try to balance the power across the regions. They do the same thing in hoops.