bincitysioux

Well, if you say so ......................

Who cares? It's not MEN'S Hockey...................

The more I think about it, it wouldn't be that big of a deal in the event that we kept the name and got expelled from the Big Sky. Afterall, at least St. Cloud State is contractually obliged to continue playing us in hockey so that rivalry will remain intact............. That is just as good as Montana, Montana St., Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc....................

Fullerton is quite combative and acts as if he could care less if UND remains a member of the league. Says scheduling would be easier if there were an even number of teams. Brought up how USD leaving the Big Sky at the alter basically left UND on an island. Says we should go to the NAIA if we don't like the rules of the NCAA. Yeah, we're golden.....................

I don't mind it. Just means more football to watch in the late fall.....................

Too bad we won't ever have home field.......................

Well, I guess USD is screwed now...................

I hear we have alot of alumni around Bud's Insititute............................

Ha ha, that was funny! Well, not really I guess...............

I find it quite embarrassing that at the very least there are apparently 17,000 people in the state of North Dakota that are willing to cripple UND athletics.................

Well, that game totally sucked.........................

They probably would if some SDSU fan started criticizing NDSU's FBS wins for no apparent reason.........................

As much as it pains me to say it, given the fact they are the current national champions along with the fact that they have beaten multiple FBS teams regardless of which teams they are, NDSU has the right to gloat about said subjects. What Sioux fan wouldn't be proud if we beat Minnesota, Kansas, or even Ball St.?

I assume the problem was with the WatchESPN site, because I could surf to any other site all night. It's worked great the rest of the week though. And yes, I understand that bad weather can affect satellite and people's cable service can go out from time to time. My point is that in general the internet can be far more unreliable than television. Internet streaming is a great supplement, but IMO would be quite disappointing if it was the main avenue for coverage.

If it all went through and passed into law, this would hurt UND.............................

I just tried to watch some basketball over the interwebs tonight but was denied because apparently ESPN's site wasn't working here. I guess that is what I can look forward to in the future. That generally doesn't happen with my DirecTV..............

What he said...........

At this point, considering the opponent, that's actually quite embarassing to me. I'm very disappointed with the fact that it is now February and we still don't have a road win. Inconsistency is one thing......................ineptitude is an entirely different story in my book. It is starting to look like the wins against Montana, SDSU, and NDSU were flukes.................

It's just a fad, the internet will never last.................. Arizona St. is #36. That makes them an even bigger joke than North Dakota......................

I'm quite optimistic about the possibilities for the 2012 team, assuming two things: 1) that the QB position has been upgraded, and 2) that the notoriously pourous secondary makes improvement. I know I'm playing Captain Obvious here, but there is talent on the offensive side of the ball with O-Line, Seth Nichols, Jake Miller, Greg Hardin and RJ McGill. Just need a QB to step up and take some of the load off of Miller and Sutton. Hopefully Hanson is the guy to do it. Would also be great if one or more of the sizeable young receivers step up like Jackson, Townsend, or Young. And unless significant adjustments or improvements are made in the secondary, we will get torched by most Big Sky passing games. This defense is not currently well suited to Big Sky play. There are not many "run first" teams in the league.

Actually, none of the last 4 home openers "counted". 2010 and 2011 were coming off of 6-5 and 3-8 seasons. Grand Forks loves a winner. You give the casual fans too much credit. How many regular football attendees do you really think are aware of the seven DI win rule? Stuff like that is for the die hard rubes like us. The average prospective football ticket buyer in Grand Forks just wants to see a good old fashioned drubbing of pretty much any opponent for the season opener...............

I thought you said 5-6,000................... Home opener attendances: 2011: 8,484 Drake 2010: 9,719 Northeastern St. 2009: 12,431 South Dakota 2008: 11,434 Texas A&M-Kingsville 2007: 10,178 Humboldt St. 2006: 10,333 Winona St. Throw out 2009 because it was South Dakota and it was homecoming. 2008 was a Thursday game and set the record for home opener attendance at the time. I'm optimistically saying it'll be right around 10,000 given the fact that it is the opener and bringing back an 8-3 conference championship team that could possibly be ranked in the preseason Top 25 for the first time since 2007.

The SD Mines game will draw 10,000. I care.

After digesting for 24 hours, I still can't understand how UND would voluntarily agree to this. It goes far beyond the hockey games. The hockey games are presumably what FCS wanted to telecast, and as a result football and basketball benefited tremendously. I was personally told by a Big Sky official that the Root Sports deal would not affect UND's deal with Fox. So both Root and the Big 10 Network don't have a problem with games they don't pick up being farmed out to other distributors. So why agree to this? Even for the "good" of the conference? The only thing I can think of is that Fox College Sports had already indicated to UND that they would likely not renew the contract when it expires after the 2012-13 season. Maybe Jayson Hajdu could clarify that? Otherwise, I am having alot of trouble rationalizing this. In reality, if UND was the only school in the league that had a TV deal and had just worked to get all the away games on FSSN in addition to the home games, every other conference team would have been on national TV on FCS 4 times per year, the same amount they will be now with the CBS deal. The exclusivity of this deal is really the back-breaker. That all but assures that the other options that are being explored for the next 18 months are almost certainly web based, which as many have already said, is a major step backwards. I have an Acer Revo computer in the man-cave, and I use it alot, but it is not even half as good as flipping on the TV and finding the channel in 6 seconds and watching in even standard definition. Internet streaming is great for hard-core fans like us that will go out of our way to see certain sporting events anyway we can. Not so great for the average joe. And when it comes to hockey in particular, I'd just as soon listen on the radio than try to follow the game on a webcast. Unless UND has plans to get its own channel on Dish or DirecTV like BYU or Northern Arizona, or can work something out with Fox Sports North, which is considered a "regional" network, this whole scenario puts us back to the early part of the decade when we all thought that Dataflix was just awesome............. Personally, and this assumes that the UND/WDAZ/MidCo partnership will continue for non CBS games, I really won't be affected. Just have to make sure the FTA dish is properly pointed when the season starts. And I go to most hockey and football games anyways. It just sucks to me that people that live in other parts of the country will have to make watching Sioux sports an endeavor rather than a convenience...............

There is already alot of discussion about this here in the hockey forum, but thought I'd post it here too, since it affects many other UND sports. UND MEN'S HOCKEY: TV deal a mixed bag If Fox College Sports doesn't have access to Sioux hockey games, they are not going put on the many football, basketball, volleyball, and women's hockey games that we've all become accustomed to seeing on national TV. IMO, this was a major concession that UND had to give in order for the NCHC to get a TV deal. Giving up 20 hockey broadcasts, 3 football games, and 10-12 basketball games on national TV in exchange for 5 High Defintion hockey games is not a good trade-off. This ticks me off.