dakotadan

I actually really like the original interlocking ND. My problem with it has to do with North Dakota building its own identity. No matter how many times we try to tell people that we used a version of the interlocking ND first, people will never see that logo and think of North Dakota. And with Notre Dame's increasing use of the color green, it doesn't help our cause. With the move to DI, many sports fans across the US will be introduced to the University of North Dakota for the first time. From a marketing and branding standpoint, this is the time for UND to be building its own identity. As for getting teams mixed up, a few years ago I went to Madison for the UND/UW hockey series. The Badgers were playing the Indiana Hoosiers that Sunday in men's basketball. By chance, I stayed at the same hotel that UI was staying at. Saturday afternoon while waiting in the lobby with my Sioux jersey on, the UI coaching staff approached me and asked me how my team had done the night before. We talked about the game for a while and how much we disliked the Badgers but that Madison was a fun town to go to games in. After chatting with them for a while their bus arrived. They wished me good luck and as they walked away a bunch of their coaches said "Go Irish". Even with a giant indian head logo on the front of all of the jerseys wandering around the hotel and Madison that weekend, their coaches focused on the interlocking ND patch on the shoulder and assumed Notre Dame. That is something that will never change.

Are they going to change the arena name to the Joyce Center while they are at it? Time for North Dakota to get its own logo.

There is a big difference between predicting a non-tangible housing market and quantifying tangible petroleum. And there were actually plenty of people warning about the housing market taking a downturn.

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted in here yet. N.D. becomes No. 2 oil producing state, trailing only Texas

Softball will join the Big Sky at the same time as the rest of our programs. With the addition of UND and SUU, the Big Sky will have enough schools to sponsor softball as a conference sport. It will start with seven schools with UND, Idaho State, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Sac State, Southern Utah and Weber State. Montana will be starting a softball program a year or two later for eight softball programs in the league.

Liberty University announced at their commencement today that they hope to move to FBS. Obviously they would need to find a conference to invite them.

109 days to go until UND football.

It is just baffling how much of a thorn this has been for the team the last couple of seasons.

Actually, while going to UND I worked as a juvenile social worker, I have a very close group of friends who are not only teachers but Title I teachers, and I was lucky enough to attend the 2011 Title I national conference in Tampa, Fl with many of them where I was involved in some good discussions about topics such as this. So their post was perfectly clear to me. I just happen to believe that there comes a point where our society has to quit teaching everyone that they are a victim and coddling everyone. At some point people need to be held accountable for their actions. And it begins with teaching our children that there are consequences for what they do. Making a child sit in time-out is hardly water boarding. But that might be an effective method too!

Also, adding Idaho would give the Big Sky 6 members who sponsor men's golf (Idaho, UND, Northern Colorado, Sac State, Southern Utah, Weber State) so it could be added as a conference sport. If you include FB affiliates UC Davis and Cal Poly, the Big Sky could possibly begin sponsoring women's swimming & diving also. (Idaho, UND, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Cal Poly, UC Davis) Even if Idaho and NMSU manage to get a Sun Belt football affiliation or take the independent route, NMSU is going to need a place for the rest of their sports. Would the Big Sky consider them as well? Or Seattle and Denver? Fullerton definetly has the opportunity to increase the Big Sky in terms of quality members, visibility, sports offered and hopefully after all of this is done more TV exposure.

There are rumors floating around that Idaho is talking with the Big Sky about possible membership. Both with and without football are being discussed. However, considering the situation they are in, it would be stupid of them not to be covering every option possible to cover themselves. So I wouldn't necessarily read too much into it but this article seems to suggest otherwise. Are the Idaho Vandals off to the Big Sky? While non-football membership in the BSC seems to be an option for Idaho, it apparently is not for Boise State. If you ask me this is a smart play by Fullerton. If Idaho joins the Big Sky for their non-football sports it essentially kills the WAC even as an olympic sports conference. With the Big East no longer having a BCS AQ and basically turning into C-USA, is Boise State rethinking their membership? Is BSU willing to sacrifice all of its other sports as independents just for FB to be in a diminished Big East? And with the Big XII still talking about moving back to 12, the Big East is likely to get raided even more. By taking Idaho without football, the Big Sky could be helping to push Boise State (and ultimately San Diego State) back to the MWC. This would ultimately close off any hope of Idaho getting a MWC invite down the road and get them even closer to dropping football back down to FCS.

ND Parents Outraged Over School's Tiny 'Time Out' Room The lady's poor kid didn't have enough room to play while he was in time out for disrupting class. I hope they keep it and start making these idiotic parents sit in there with their kids.

All black sidelines with green lettering outlined in white with the outline of North Dakota at center court would look awesome. While we are at it, put in electronic retractable bleachers that go all the way to the walls on the ends, a video ring that wraps around the upper trusses, all new championship banners that are of the quality of those in the Ralph, and change the name to Betty Engelstad Arena. That would be much closer to a DI facility.

ESPN is reporting Butler to the A-10. So does the Horizon take an eastern Summit school or two?

I just don't see UI and especially NMSU coming back to FCS for football. I think their egos will get in the way and they will go through the torture of independence for a looong time before swallowing that pill. So the WAC is now a non-football league that includes NMSU, Idaho, Boise St., Denver and Seattle. That is only 5 schools with not many options out there. The question is will these schools be desperate enough to save the WAC and add Utah Valley, CSU Bakersfield and UTPA. Or will they start stabbing each other in the backs trying to sneak into the Big West, WCC, Big Sky or even Summit? Man, Boise State's athletic department has gone for a whirl. Football playing on the east coast and now the rest of their sports are going to likely be playing in the new version of the Great West Conference.

The WAC is on life support more than it has ever been, even as a non-football league.The WAC may be forced to pick up the remaining Great West schools just to stay alive a few more weeks. It'll be interesting to see if the Sun Belt picks up a few of the remaining WAC teams to finally finish it off. I could see them going after Texas State and NM State. It is looking more and more like Idaho may be up !@$! creek. C-USA adding UTSA in 2013; North Texas, FIU, Louisiana Tech also likely

I guess I missed in the article where it said that Altru was flat broke and has not already/ will never again donate a penny to UND for anything. What I did see was that Altru had spent years planning a complete makeover of its main campus and major expansions into south Grand Forks but has decided to push those plans back by two years. After spending all of that time planning such a major undertaking and then buying another hospital, it is just prudent and good business to relook at all of those plans and blueprints. But I guess I will leave the forensic accounting to others. As far as the IPF, I'm not holding my breath until we actually hear a peep out of the athletic department. I'm not sure why they are so tight lipped on what their plans are and what they hope to build in the future.

What article?

I don't have a problem with them having the Alerus Center logo, that is part of sponsorships. But they still could have come up with something better than this.

I have to go against you and say that UND will win.

Because we are not Notre Dame. The fact that they didn't use the interlocking ND is about the only thing I like about this field. The biggest thing I would have liked to have seen is either black or a different shade of green in the endzones so they constrast and stand out a little bit. Put the Alerus Center logo just a hair smaller on the other 25. I don't mind leaving midfield blank. Down the road when the nickname is figured out then something could be added there. Or else put the outline of the state of North Dakota there, maybe with small stars representing the locations of Bismarck and Grand Forks. I know there was a bit of a time crunch to get this done (not really, they had 11 years to plan this) but it would have been neat if they had allowed fans to submit design ideas. But ultimately, as others have said, this isn't the biggest thing to worry about. It looks just like the field we have had the last 11 years. It just would have been nice to see a little bit more effort put into this.

Does anyone know who any of our non-conference games are against?

The ladies lost 4-5 in OT?!?!

If the USD games are true and the non-conference Montana game holds true, we have some rediculously good schedules coming up, especially home schedules. And we will be playing many of our most difficult games at home. That should help our chances of making the playoffs. I have no problem with us not playing a FBS team any year. A completely FCS schedule will give us the best chance of making the playoffs, which should be our ultimate goal every year. Games such as the San Jose State game just don't really excite me. If we are going to play an FBS game, let's at least do it against regional opponents that will interest the casual sports fan in the region.

The softball team is on an impressive winning streak having won 9 of their last 10 games. This included sweeps over UNO, Jamestown, USD and UWGB. The only loss was a doubleheader split with SDSU that took extra inning for SDSU to pull out the win. The ladies are currently 17-24.