GaryP

maybe a partial answer to your questions: The athletic directors said in a statement Monday that the Big Ten would work to maintain a strong schedule of non-conference competition with remaining CCHA and WCHA teams. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/hockey/news?slug=ap-bigtenhockey

The Clarett issue was not swept under the carpet. It was investigated for quite a while by the NCAA and Claret lost his scholarship and is now serving jail time (for an unrelated issue obviously). Minny had NOTHING done to them! OSU had to play the next game (2 days later I think) at Michigan with 3 or 4 of their 5 starters still banged up from the hospitality shown them at the "Barn" that night. Another issue is that back then only the champion got to play in the NCAA tourney. so OSU did not even get a chance to revive their season in the tournament. No way do they deserve to be called Champs in '72.

While watching the Ohio State Minnesota BB game today on CBS, there was a shot of one of the players from the 1982 Minnesota Big 10 BB championship team. As the camera panned back, I noted not only the '82 championship banner, but the '72 one also. It brought a bitter taste to this Buckeye fan's mouth. I was on campus at Grand Forks when this incident took place. http://tinyurl.com/32qz3k The Minnesota players (and fans) beat the crap out of some of the OSU players and NOTHING was done to them. They went on to win the Big 10 Championship. I think the NCAA should force the Gophers to take down that '72 banner and wipe that championship team out of the record books. Luke Witte, who was beaten into unconsciousness, has forgiven. But many of us older fans cannot. http://tinyurl.com/2r62y2 (Hope the links work. The Columbus paper used to be a paid site, but I think it's free now.)

I just have to put in a little something for my home state. Ohio has a few intangibles that ESPN apparently did not take into account. 1 Ohio was a pioneer in early professional football. 1904 A field goal was changed from five points to four. Ohio had at least seven pro teams, with Massillon winning the Ohio Independent Championship, that is, the pro title. Talk surfaced about forming a state-wide league to end spiraling salaries brought about by constant bidding for players and to write universal rules for the game. The feeble attempt to start the league failed. Halfback Charles Follis signed a contract with the Shelby (Ohio) AC, making him the first known black pro football player. http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1869-1910 2 Ohio is the home of the Pro Football HOF. 3. Some great coaches have roots in Ohio. Sid Gillman, Paul Brown, Woody Hayes, Jim Tressel, Urban Meyer, Bo Schembechler, and of course, Miami University, "the cradle of coaches" IMO Ohio should be ranked higher than 5th if history and tradition are factored into the criteria. Oh yeah. There SHOULD be another national championship soon.

"Abygail and Madysen have been growing in strength and size and character for weeks now," according to a Mayo video news release. The surgical team will be led by Dr. Christopher Moir, who also led the teams that separated conjoined twin girls from Fargo, N.D., in May and twin boys from Mankato in November. "Dr. Moir and the team believe there's a high likelihood of success

Smoggy- You cannot believe SOME OSU football fans. Makes me a little ashamed sometimes. To illustrate; This season, the Columbus Dispatch ran a front page sports section article about Brady Quinn, ND QB. He's from the Columbus suburb Dublin. Well you should have seen some of the letters to the sports editor! "How dare you run an srticle about Quinn. He's a traitor! Our beloved Buckeyes are playing Minnesota this week and you run an article about the NOTRE DAME qb!" That type of garbage. Now most OSU fans are a little more thoughtful, but some of these jerks are ridiculous. My theory is that the two most rabid fan bases anyplace are Kentucky BB fans and OSU FB fans. Oh and of course, UND hockey fans!

I heard Kirk Herbstreit putting down Miami's facilities. He said a new coach would have to negotiate with the U to drastically upgrade the place or he would have trouble recruiting 1st rate players. And OSU fans are obnoxious? I know a few of them. But I find it difficult to believe that the businesses in AZ dislike seeing all that Buckeye green. As a Buckeye fan, I think they have to be careful of overconfidence. Something like the '02 team when Miami was suppossed to rout them. Florida is way too good to overlook. But I think that Tressel may be the best big game coach in the US right now. If he's got several weeks to prepare, he's in good shape. OH and JFR I'm happy for you too. He seems like a great young coach. My wife and I were rooting for Rutgers because her late father went to school there way back when.

I just saw this today; [For the last three years, Fischer has rented a campground in Devils Lake from the Assemblies of God, one of the largest national churches in the Pentecostal movement. But Fischer said she was asked not to return after vandals broke windows and caused $1,500 in damage at the campground in October. Fischer said she has asked the distributors of "Jesus Camp" not to release the film in Bismarck because she fears for the safety of the 70 children who attend The Fire Center. Grady, the co-director of "Jesus Camp," said the negative reaction to the film "has weighed a little heavy on our hearts." "Not that we had anything to do with it, but [the campground] wasn't getting vandalized before the film and it was after it, and we need to acknowledge that," Grady said.] http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nati...esuscamp08.html As much as this type of evangelism scares me, I am deeply troubled by the reaction it caused. It would be interesting to know who did the vandalizing. Guess it might be just another indicator as to the strong reactions religion can cause.

If they're not going to have a playoff system, at least delay the first poll for the first ,oh maybe 5 weeks or so. Then Rutgers perhaps would not have started so low. Of course, I'm a Buckeye fan. So Michigan-OSU is always my title game.

Thanks for the nice map. I student taught at a little school in the Williston City district named Twin Lakes. It was IIRC a little north of the junction of rts. 2 and 85. Then east of rt 85. I called the school system maybe 7 years ago or so and was told that the school building was still owned by the schools but was only being used for storage. I lived at the school half the time I was there and the other half with a family named the Molines who had a farm just about right at the intersection of rt 2 and 85. This was back in fall, '71.

Where is Ray in relationship to williston?

Yes Epping!! thanks guys. Remember going to a Sons of Norway lodge and dancing the night away (butterfly dance). Such a nice wholesome feeling of community. Wonderful people.

There are bad rants and good rants ie ones that I agree with. Yours passes the good rant test.

When I took my, at the time,new wife to Grand Forks she was very impressed with the campus area. But the surrounding farmlands were too flat. (This part of Ohio is pretty hilly.) But I always thought that the plains held a certain grandeur. One of my more indelible memories is driving rt 2 from GF to Williston. And student teaching at a little 1 room school house north of williston. Beautiful country in my opinion. Oh and is anybody familiar with Eppley ND? I remember visiting some UND students who were teaching in that little town. As I recall, it was like the old west. Dirt streets and wooden sidewalks. Always wondered if it's still like that.

I think USC looks vulnerable. IMO, it looks like WV or Louisville has the best shot. Though if Rutgers is good enough to beat both of them, I don't see how a 1 loss Notre Dame team could be picked ahead of them. Why there is no Div 1 playoff is beyond me. If all other divisions can do it why can't they? The argument about missing classes makes no sense. Look at baseball. I know the OSU team goes to Florida for a week or two to play spring games. And a playoff system during the winter holidays would make them miss more classes than that?