dakotadan

Star2City, I can't decide if you are agreeing with me or disagreeing. You said exactly what I was getting at only with ALOT more words. I believe it is only a matter of time before UND moves up. Like I said, it is Kupchella that is against the move, that has always been very public that he is the one against it at this time. However, if alumni, fans, etc. can get to him and convince him, it could happen while he is still here. All I was pointing out is that the biggest question is when it will happen. I was not saying anything bad about Kupchella.

I definately see UND moving up to I-aa. It is just a little matter of our president. Kupchella is the one that is absolutely against it. He has had a bad experience before with division changes. It is simply a matter of how long kupchella stays here or the alumni finally get to him enough, whatever comes first. It will happen, it is just a matter of when.

As far as students showing up on saturday, UND has done absolutely no advertising for this game. But simply because it is the first game I know there will be a good turnout of students. The older students will want to get to the first game and the new freshman will definately be there in numbers just to see what UND football is like.

If you say that I have to be a multi-billionair then I will. I want to be the Ralph Engelstad of football. Can't you imagine UND playing on a football field made entirely of imported Italian granite with brass inlay? But it will be the nicest football stadium in the country facilities wise. By then the fargodome will be a pile of bricks that the bison will be stuck playing in. Oh wait, it already is.

How do people think they will finish in the wcha? I don't see a conference championship this year, but if the team pulls together well this year I think they could finish somewhere in the middle. They could be a surprise to some other schools.

Think what you want about the alerus. I love it. It may not be a 110,000 seat stadium on campus, but it sure beats memorial stadium. That place was a dump and in need of some serious work. Although, in 35 years when I am a multi-millionair, I am going to build UND a 50,000 seat stadium on campus. I already have the blueprints for it!!

Oh, and bisonguy, apparantly all NDSU faculty and staff received two free tickets for saturday's game. What is wrong with us supporting our military and their families?

From the sounds of it, the Fargodome is going to be sold out on saturday. Imagine the bragging that will be coming from down south. We need the same thing to happen at the Al. This is going to be a great game. UND has done a great job with the football schedule this year. The first three weeks should be especially exciting. Three very respectable opponents in a row. UND is at an all time high in it's football program and we need to get out and support them. Everyone needs to pick up tickets and tell everyone else you know to do the same. I want to see the Alerus rockin on saturday!

It would be nice to see something done at the Westward Ho. It would definately help spruce up the Gateway Drive. That stretch of road needs some work done to it.

Just a note, I wasn't trying to get into a DI(AA) - DII debate. I was just saying that our position as one of the top DII schools helps us bring people in for sports.

I always hear people taking about DI and DII levels. What people need to talk about is that UND is at the very top of DII athletics which is above the bottom of DI(AA) athletics, in my oppinion. I know there has been so much debate about UND going DI(DI-AA) in all sports, but it is a fact. Anyone you recrute can go anywhere, but our status as a top DII school helps us bring in people who would not normally come in.

Or however long ago it was. It is hard to keep track when we started so long ago!

Yeah, too bad our DI debut was fifty-some years ago.

I will be completely honest that I am just typing this to get the women's hockey forum back up to the top of the hockey list to get people to check it outl I am trying to get absolutely everyone I know to go to the first games of football as well as women's hockey this season. Both teams need to have a huge season this year!!! I would give absolutely everthing I own, which isn't much, to see UND break Minnesota's attendance record for women's hockey! Just think of the press, and all of the broken hearts, that would create in Minney!!!! Even if your not the worlds biggest women's hockey fan, if you are a UND hockey fan at all, you are going to show up for the first women's game against Minney just to A) chear against the golden blowfers, B) help beat the blowfers attendance record, C) get UND's womens hockey team off to a great start so that our womens hockey team can also own more national championshop banners than the blowfers, just like our mens team owns more national championships. With support, our womens team could be just as successful as our mens team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If UND having to pick between four great players for one position is the biggest problem we have in all of the spots, which I think it will be, I am looking forward to this season!!!

HEY, it's all about the AL, and if you haven't seen it, it is worth the while to travel up to GF and see it. No matter what you read about it, it is the nicest DII football stadium ever (even whith the far-blow dome). Once UND gets their SIOUX TRADITION area in there, it is going to be one of the nicest college stadiums ever!!!!!!!!!!!

This has to be one of the best rankings UND has ever had to start a season, and we need fan suuport to back everything up and prove it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is one of the biggest games of the season!!! Whether you want us to go DI-AA or stay DII, this is a huge season for us. If you want us to stay DII, we need to stay a national contender to show the head of UND that DII is where we belong to compete. At the same time, if you want UND to go DI-AA we need to have a huge season and make a run for the national championship. No matter if you want DII or DI-AA, this has to be a huge season for us not only as a football team but as a crowd and UND supporters!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get everyone you know to show up for every single game UND has in ALL SPORTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you mean he has rescheduled? Is he playing/singing or not? I want to see Jimminy Glick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't see a hotel being built. Even thought the Betty was built without a whole lot of university input, the rest has been. The mini malls have all basically been decided who will be there by the U. The 23 Bar and Grill idea(franchise) I think is a great idea. We could have let someone like BW's (buffalo wild wings, too much ndsu implication) come in or Applebee's. I do have to add in that the CEO/VP of Buff Wild Wings is a UND graduate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is the only reasone BW's has lasted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! However, with all of the town houses and the mini mall expansions, I cannot see UND supporting or endorsing another hotel. REA pretty much runs the show as far as what shows up for entertainment, sports events, but UND has alot, close to everything, to say as far as what shows up on the property.

Still wouldn't be quite as big as I would have liked to have seen it though.

I was looking at the pix of Betty on theralph.com and noticed something. I have said on here many times that I think they should have made it bigger so that we have room for growth. If you look at the pix of the end seating, they look rather small. The blue prints show that they are going to pull the bleachers close to the court and have concesions behind them. It dawned on me that in the future, they can add much larger end seating if they choose to. They could easily probably add close to another 1000 if they filled the whole space that they have with seating.

I saw the other day that they put the football billboard up by the ralph again. It was a hugo's board just the other day. Wow, talk about great advertisement for one of the best football programs in the country right now. Maybe they had to spend all of their money on those beautiful new bushes they planted around our great soccer stadium!

Cratter, THe NFL-TV on channel 23 is just a free sample up until the middle to end of september, not exactly sure on date. After that the NFL tv will move to just digital cable as an optional package. Right now MidCon is just trying to advertise it and get people interested in it, try to get a few more people to go digital. After that the Ralph Network should be back up and running.

This year UND finished 4th nationally in the directors cup standings for DII. What I found interesting is that UMary and Dickinson State tied for fifth in the NAIA division. With all of the talk about UMary and others possibly being DII and in the NCC, at least this is a good sign. It is good to see two schools from NoDak also doing very well for themselves. You can check out all of the standings at NACDA.