bincitysioux

15 DAYS!!!!!

Thank you for setting us all straight....................

16 DAYS!

With a substantial investment like that, I'm positive that UNC must have the nicest high school facilities in the region.............................

This is fun.................... BigSkyBears makes me laugh.................. I like guys who make me laugh............... Welcome to the board!

17 days

UNC belongs in the RMAC.............

Ralph intended for the building to be the home of the premier collegiate hockey program in the country. Because of the outcome at the polls yesterday, his dream is still alive.................

I do.....................

What are you talking about? On behalf of "their people"? Both Sioux County and the Fort Totten Precincts voted to retire the nickname.........................

It was a 2-1 vote in favor of retirement. That seems pretty "unified and collective" to me...........................

18 days..........

19

Prior to the USD addiditon, the MVFC has never in its history added a member unless a member departed........................... As I said, USD was added only after at least two schools demanded (SIU was one of them, don't recall the other without looking) that they would recieve travel concessions for agreeing to admit South Dakota. I don't see any "Yellow-Brook Road" that leads from the Summit to the MVFC. If there had been one, I'd think that UNO would have been on it.......................

That is your opinion................ However, South Dakota had made a commitment to the Summit League nearly 2 years before they got and offer from the MVFC. The Valley only made their offer to USD when they were threatening to head west, when the WAC was imploding, when Youngstown was looking at the CAA, and when Missouri St. was feeling out FBS. USD was the logical choice because they already had forthcoming Summit affiliation. North Dakota did not, due to Tom Douple's and Gene Taylor's grand-standing on the nickname issue. If UNO football had even the smallest, most miniscule chance at football in the MVFC, they would not have dropped the sport. My guess is that it was made clear to Trev Alberts, that the Summit League would take them in a minute (they'd take any warm body). But it was made very clear to them that a conference for football was basically an impossibility. At the same time, they could solidify themselves in college hockey with the NCHC. I know it is hard for "but-football" fans to accept that sometimes hockey trumps football, but in this case, it did.......................

I think you are forgetting that North Dakota did in fact pursue the Summit/Valley combination for about 4 years (before the transition even started) until it was clear that Douple drew a line in the sand regarding the nickname situation, and Viverito never was interested in expansion until the Big Sky started to look East. The MVFC was clearly not willing to take on two more Dakota schools. IMO, if not for the nickname fiasco created by Douple, North Dakota would have been more appealing to the Valley vs. South Dakota for many obvious reasons. But Viverito would never even have entertained the idea expanding at all until the Big Sky wandered into their footprint and offered to invite both North and South Dakota. Then they were suddenly willing to take one despite strong objections from at least two members that required major concessions in the form of scheduling. The Valley would never have even remotely entertained the thought of adding DII UNO as a football member and you know it. The MVFC is not desperate, the Summit is, and that is why they were added. As far as getting back into a conference with the rest of the schools, I have no desire. I'd much rather be in the top FCS conference in the country, and have the opportunity to schedule the other regional Dakota schools in intriguing non-conference contests in all sports. It is the best of both worlds......................

20 days left..................

I want to beat Sac St. more than any other team. Their fanbase is far more irritating to me than even the Griz.

Kelley was never pulling Douple's strings. Gene Taylor was the one who went public with the Summit League's ban on playing UND. Douple was on every talk radio station in Fargo and Grand Forks two hours later denying everything Gene Taylor said. Then the next day he did a 180, and announced that he had in fact forbid Summit schools from playing UND and would toss their membership application in his bottom desk drawer until the matter was resolved. 3 years later, after UND stood him up for a hot date, and nearly stole away USD from his harem, he went to the Enquirer and said President Kelley made him do it. Yeah right......................what a fool.

24

25 days..........

NDSU had a nice transition. North Dakota's was painful to watch at times. But North Dakota finished their transition pretty strongly, in multiple sports. Football, volleyball, Men's basketball, and Women's basketball all improved and won conference titles in their last season of transition. The entire point of the transition is to build the programs to the next level. I'm confident that North Dakota did that.

26

As a small consolation prize though, we could keep hockey and the rest of the athletic department..............................................

I'd say that the fact that Standing Rock's own tribal council has been officially continually opposed to the nickname for 20 consecutive years now says alot about the validity of that particular "ceremony". Of course, a bunch of white guys like myself and Reed Soderstrom would obviously have a better grasp of tribal traditions and policy than would the elected leaders of said tribe......................................