The Sicatoka

The '15 team was a bunch of guys who'd gelled into a team. This group is a bunch of guys still. Bring on the gelatin!

I've said before and stand by it: If there must be college athletics* it should be team sports only. Real team sports. Want to go for a swim or a run** or bowling? Knock yourself out. Have at it. Ask your roommate to play tennis with you.*** A team sport is one where you need multiple players working in conjunction to participate. If you can do what you do as a single competitor, that's not a team sport. Examples of team sports in my narrow-minded**** view? Basketball, volleyball, football, hockey, soccer, baseball, softball, lacrosse. Wrestling is not. Participants act individually. Tennis is not. You say "doubles". I say "singles". Swimming? No. And don't say relays. See "tennis". Same for T&F. That's my opinion. Rip away. *I'm still the curmudgeon that would like all sports out of educational institutions, but that's not the world we live in. **I just PO'd siouxrunner. ***That was for you Brad. I know you're reading. ****Yup. I admit that.

We've heard about Illinois state budget issues and normally WIU is brought up. Well, there's this place called Southern Illinois ... Southern Illinois University announces cost-cutting measures in Athletics

It's the NCAA.

Cut both sets. Go to 16 total sports. Fund those at championship levels. Next question.

UND women's hockey started in the 2002-03 season. Mr. Engelstad died in November of 2002. No point; just throwing out random facts.

So you have to reach back to 2001 to prove your point?

Great ambassador for hockey. Terrible form of cancer. That one is unforgivingly evil. RIP Jeff.

#1 seeds (in order of PWR): UMD, DU, WMU, BU #4 seeds (random order): blah, blah, blah, UND UND as host must be in Fargo. They can easily avoid a first-round all-NCHC match-up by sending BU to Fargo.

It's the NCAA.

So which Johnson is Grant Johnson related to?

Big donors want it? OK. Then ....

If you believe that I still have this bridge from my time living in NY that I'd sell you really cheap.

Q: How do you know if a politician is lying? A: Their lips are moving.

The "Moo U" thread. http://forum.siouxsports.com/topic/23247-moo-u-diaries/?page=59

It was, and then Dalrymple showed up with his State budget, and then Bergum to a chainsaw to that.

OK, serious answer? Kennedy is a former R politico. So is Schafer. And Kennedy just seems like a reach-across-the-aisle consensus builder based on his political and academic resume. Ed did the ax man work. Kennedy needed to make nice-nice with faculty after that. What better way to do that than to allow them to "control" one of their bogeymen (Athletics) and take their recommendations so it seems that he respects and values them and their opinions. Instant bridge building. However, going in, we all know what academics do best: Nothing. Their recommendation was cut nothing == do nothing. Between Schafer and Kennedy I suspect they knew that outcome was quite likely. (Worst case: they say "Cut X" and Kennedy is just doing what they told him. Win-win.) So now Kennedy has built that bridge and he's not the man in the black hood (that's now Doug Bergum) doing what should've been done four months ago. Better for Kennedy? He gets to cry "I'm a victim of Bismarck too!" to the faculty ... and they'll buy it. I should've bought popcorn before this one. Then again, I should be selling popcorn in Fargo watching them try to figure out where to find 12.2% ($18M) to cut.

Clean living. Definitely clean living.

Based on Jim Dahl's updated http://collegehockeyranked.com/forecast/pwrbywins/ Who's out (32): Niagara, UAA, UAH, RPI, UMass, Brown, NMU, AIU, FSU, Alaska, RIT, Mich St, Sacred Heart, ASU, Colgate, LSS, Mercyhurst, Bentley, Holy Cross, BGSU, Maine, Princeton, Dartmouth, UNH, Merrimack, CC, Army, MSUM, Canisius, Clarkson, BSU, MTU Who's effectively out, meaning they have to win all (or lose just one) of their remaining games, seven or more, just to have any shot (6): Michigan, UConn, Yale, Northeastern, Quinnipiac, RMU Who's really on the bubble, meaning have to win 2/3 or more of games just to make PWR15 (6): Miami, Notre Dame, USAFA, Cornell, Ohio State, St. Lawrence The above is 44 of 60 NCAA DI teams. Who's got some work, meaning have to win half or more of their remaining games just to be PWR15 (6): UNO, Wisconsin, SCSU, UMLowell, Vermont, Providence, The above is now 50 of 60 NCAA DI teams. Who's pretty safe, meaning can't lose out, but can go under 0.500 and still get to PWR15 (8)? BC, UND, Harvard, Minnesota, Union, PSU, WMU, BU Who's in, meaning they can lose out and get in (2)? UMD and DU. And there's 60. DISCLAIMER: Yes, I know PWR 15 is not safe as it can be stolen via a surprise autobid but I had to use some cut line.

I get what you're saying, but I'm pretty sure there's a better ROI on WBB and WVB than WIH. If we have to have some womens sports that are guaranteed fiscal losers we need to pick the smallest fiscal losers. That's the "objective" I'm looking for. Now, if WH, because it has facilities (see: MH) is a better fiscal option than < insert sport here > show me the number and I'll gladly listen.

Is Kennedy this smart about UND and ND politics walking in the door? No. Now, if Kennedy maybe had a good job mentor for a few days, say his predecessor, and then maybe a guy who maybe knows his way around ND politics to maybe clue Kennedy in about what's on the horizon in Bismarck. Maybe Kennedy could be advised put together a long game something like this. But alas, all Kennedy had for a predecessor was ... Ed Schafer. Oh ... wait ... didn't Ed get inside all the details of UND and have some kinda experience in Bismarck?

We're all good.

You know what I think of sacred cows? They're fabulous with South American sauce on the grill. Quite sincerely, women's hockey must be evaluated objectively.