Northcountry

There was no elevator available?

I read the article and apparently the judge in the case did not see any sign of contrition or remorse from Mitchell other than that he was "feeling sorry for himself". I agree that this is going to be a burden for him, but how about the kid who was bullied? From experience I know that even 50 years later the sense of humiliation and emotional pain do not go away - you can learn to live with it, but it will always be there and the memories will come back any time you let your guard down. This is not the way we treat people in a civilized society, nothing entitles this bully to commit the acts he did, and nothing erases the experience from the memory of the true victim.

Talk about jumping to a conclusion. You now know everything about me and what I believe based on one comment. The only Don Lemon I know used to teach in the Ed Ad graduate program and I never saie "If you grew up white .... you mist be racist". That would be stereotyping in a way just like asking if the use of "x" instead of "the traditional 'ck'" is a black thing that implies ... what? Flame on me all you like, but take just a second to ask yourself if the "x" makes a difference in the name of a white kid as much as it does in the name of a black kid.

What inference are you making about the "x" instead of a "ck"? I live way up north and know two young men of Norwegian ancestry whose first name is Jaxon. If you asked Jaxon Turner "Why "x" instead of "ck", would it be for a different reason than if you asked either of these two the same question? This is just a small example of that "institutionalized" or "inherent" racism that has been so much a part of recent discussion. Such a question seems benign but asking one person to justify the spelling of his name, but not others who have the same name, because of his physical appearance does say something about the questioner.

To quote Tim Hennessy, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? You feel threatened every day by .......... what?

My memory may be faulty after all these years, but the name that sticks in my mind is Bill Rendell doing play-by-play on KNOX. I remember an interview with Jim Cahoon after the last game in the old Winter Sports Center (barn) in which he asked if Cahoon (a Montreal draft pick) was going to sign or come back and Cahoon answered that after 3 years in the old building, there was no way he was going to pass on the opportunity to play in the new arena. Those with better memories - feel free to correct; I know how memory dysfunctions.

Are you implying that their "fan experience" is involvement in the game, rather than checking to see if they are on the video board, are supposed to shake their baby, sing along with Mitch, spontaneously kiss the person next to them, or wait for the encouragement to "get loud"?

It is a pity that UND was not able to fine that bridge between honoring its own traditions (Sioux - related) and those of the people whose name we were using (Sioux - actually). I really miss all things Sioux that came with football, basketball, and hockey, but perfect hindsight shows us that we missed an opportunity when Native American groups brought up the name issue and instead of asking how we could incorporate and make it an actual honor we reacted defensively and either ignored them, dismissed them, or derided them for being so easily offended. When it became apparent that the nickname was in jeopardy efforts were made (the Shawn Walsh tribute, the Kibble tribute, and other gestures that Coach Glas tried at basketball games), but it was too late. I still refer to UND as the Sioux, but have accepted that it is part of the past and it is the UNIVERSITY that I support, by whatever name.

"Tackle made by Dean Witkowski"

I think the quote is along the line of "The harder I work, the luckier I get."

But back then it stopped with "Who's he? He sucks!" The scatological reference was added on a Minnesota weekend by a small group of students and the group expanded. I am not in favor of vulgarity and demeaning opponents as a substitute for cheering (y)our team to perform. But I guess that now it is an element of "fan experience".

It never ceases to amaze me how important discussions of a serious topic get hijacked and deflected - maybe I am too old and this is just a sign of the times we live in, but this discussion has gone from the state of UND football to I don't know what point anyone is trying to make. I care about the state of UND football, I could care less about whether or not an offer is "commitable" or "Noncommitable". What adjustments need to made in the philosophy, systems, and culture of UND football and how do we get there? Or are we on the right track and need to allow time for all the pieces to be in place? Please try to keep the discussion linear, I really like some of the early insights, but this digression is a real buzz kill.

I hate myself for saying this because I have been a UND football fanatic since the mid 60's and have travelled far and wide to support this program, but the direction I have seen of late has been to either get blown away in big time, must win games or to find a way to lose in big time, must win games. The optimist in me hangs on to hope, but it is getting more difficult to rekindle that hope. I fear we are becoming a culture of heart broken losers and that is truly sad, but again IF ................

Be discrete about it - we don't want them to know we are on to their secrets. Others have paid the price and we may be next.

Are we sure that Soylent is made from soy beans? Has anyone checked to see if the oceans are running out of plankton? Who is in charge of manufacturing Soylent? And finally is it Green as opposed to Red or Yellow? Just wondering.

The only scoreboard change that I am interested in is the one that changes the home team score after a goal - if they fix that, all is golden.

Fast forward to winter when Friday night's hockey game gets no print until Sunday and Saturday's game gets no print until Tuesday. If the Herald went to a weekly format they would not be much farther away in the immediacy of their reporting.

I am just on a rampage because I am too old to change how I do things and I BUY the print newspaper. Hell, I delivered the print edition door-to-door in all weather when I was a kid back in the Stone Age. I am just very upset because the team I love did not even get a mention that they had played a game the previous day in their hometown paper.

I agree - Great Report! As opposed to the Grand Forks Herald which did not even mention that the UND football team played on Saturday in their Sunday edition and since there is no newspaper available from them on Monday, there will probably never be a printed report on this game. They did manage to get an article in print on the NDSU win over North Alabama and did manage to print the results of the Concordia, Moorhead, Jamestown, Dickinson, and Minot State games. Again, there was not ONE MENTION that UND had even played. It may be time for the Grand Forks (insert sarcasm here) Herald to go to a weekly or biweekly format, it would be just as current in that format and less infuriating. (Rant ends here). Again, GREAT REPORT OZZIE!

I resisted as long as I could (with props to Henny Youngman) "She offered her honor, he honored her offer, and for the rest of the night it was honor and offer". I couldn't help myself - sorry.

I'm not trying to temper expectations, what I am trying to say is that regular season and playoff season are different and neither should be regarded as "squat" in regards to the other. We are a winner-oriented society and tend to regard only the ultimate 'winner' as worthy of praise. At what level of achievement do we say "well done" to a team and program instead labeling as "choke" falling short of that ultimate goal. We sometimes forget that the other team is trying too and that they may have some talent as well.

Actually, winning a regular season conference championship is a VERY big deal as it has to be done over the course of the season and requires a level of consistency that illustrates a team's true nature. Tournament time is fun because of the "one and done" nature and requires focus and intensity over the course of each and every game, with no room for error. To say the regular season doesn't mean squat if the team fails to reach the tournament prize is a great disservice to the effort and sacrifice required to achieve a regular season title. It's hard to control a one-time effort and as IUPUI showed, a one-time top effort can be a great equalizer. Let's hope our hockey team can make up for a less than stellar regular season by putting maximum effort and intensity into the playoffs.

All-in-all the most poorly officiated college basketball game I have ever seen and I have been watching since the mid-sixties. How Brewster managed only one "T" is remarkable and a testament to his patience. SUU went with the "they can't call everything" philosophy for the final quarter and the officials obliged by calling almost nothing, both on the press and on the boards - about the only foul calls came on shots and if you are hacked and bumped all the way up the floor it is hard to hang on long enough to get off a shot. But hey, the officials looked good, had good posture, made clear and definite signals, so I guess they would pass all of the criteria needed to get a "well done" from supervisors.

This is your reaction to what happened in this game? If this had been the men's team looking so inept on the offensive end you would be demanding that Jones, Faison, and half the athletic department support staff be on the next bus to "anywhere but here". The last 6 minutes of this game were played by a team that looked totally lost and confused offensively. That happens and the team and coach can fix it without anybody having to be fired.

I agree that UND administration getting upset is, if not silly, at least not worth the energy. UND has moved past the nickname issue (officially, not yet generally) and the Fighting Sioux name no longer officially exists. UND does not use or promote it. Therefore the shirt in question cannot be in reference to a name that no longer exists and must reflect only the attitude that this individual has toward Native Americans in general or toward members of the Sioux Nation specifically. If this guy wants to show off his blatant racism at the same time that he mindlessly fawns over the NDSU football program, then that is his problem and the problem of NDSU. The University of North Dakota should not be concerned about how others approach the Sioux name because it is not connected to them. Why this guy so obviously hates Native Americans is beyond me - I'm just happy he has nothing ill to say about the University of North Dakota.