82SiouxGuy

Both sides signed the settlement agreement that required both Sioux tribes. That agreement is legally binding. The only way to change that would be for both sides to agree, and the NCAA has no incentive to make that change.

I would expect that they will sign another defenseman. They may even need 2 if someone signs early (Blood or MacWilliam?). It will probably be someone from the BCHL or AJHL that is a little older. Up front I would guess that they expect 1 or 2 underclassmen will leave (Gregoire would have been a strong candidate before the injury). Also, again this year we have seen that you need a lot of bodies because of potential injuries.

The actor is Josh Duhamel. He is from Minot. He is a big UND hockey fan. He and his wife, Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, spent the holidays in Fargo with his family. All of this has been covered on this board, most of it multiple times.

Off the top of my head I would add three variations of other suggestions, Nordics, Norsemen (and women) and Northern Rangers. You could also add Reapers. I'm sure that there are some others, but I can't think of them at this moment.

The committee to choose a new nickname has not even been chosen or named yet, so the timeline has not been outlined as of yet. They may not have decided on the final timeline. I think that you have listed most of the better suggestions that I've seen. I would eliminate Mavericks, since both Mankato and Nebraska-Omaha use it, and Vikings because of the Minnesota Vikings and Valley City State. I think that there will be a lot of sentiment against animal names and also weather names. The other names you have listed all have pluses and minuses.

A few other Rangers, but nobody noteworthy in college. Having the Texas Rangers and New York Rangers in professional sports is a point against for me. Rangers --- Drew University (Madison, New Jersey) Regis University (Denver, Colorado) Northwestern Oklahoma State University (Alva, Oklahoma) University of Wisconsin-Parkside (Kenosha, Wisconsin) I do like Northern Rangers better than many of the others, including plain Rangers. The only Northern anything I could find are: Nor'Easters --- University of New England (Biddeford, Maine) Northern Lights --- Montana State University-Northern (Havre, Montana) (men's team)

It might be a little too much hockey for the rest of the Athletic Department, but worth putting on the list to consider.

I'm not saying they were right about any of it. I'm just saying that they could be called hypocrites if they didn't use the nickname for the rest of the school year. The truth is that most UND supporters are going to hate the NCAA no matter what they do.

I'm pretty sure they have plenty left. You can probably find the contact info on an old thread here, or just contact the Athletic Department.

They have told other schools that it is OK for UND to use the nickname until the end of the year, and that the other schools shouldn't have a problem with it during that time. Wouldn't it be hypocritical if they didn't also use the nickname until then?

The settlement with the NCAA said that it was fine for UND to use the name through this season. The NCAA has been selling UND Fighting Sioux stuff through the process. None of this is new.

A lot of the big schools don't travel a whole lot during non-conference. Some will play in a tournament or 2, and some will play a couple of games against other big schools from other major conferences. The rest of the schedule is against weaker or lower level schools. Those games are almost all at home, they don't usually travel to lower level schools. That is part of the reason that almost all schools in big conferences seem to have a winning record during non-conference play. It is also probably a money maker for the schools, getting all of those home games and selling them as part of the season ticket package.

I'm pretty sure that they were 10-6 the year before with Tarvaris Jackson and Gus Frerotte taking turns at quarterback. Favre made a difference in 2009, but he was one of the few differences between 2008 and 2009, so they had plenty of other quality players.

When did anyone say it wasn't "feasible" to run this like a FCS program? Almost every FCS program has issues with their budget. Have you watched Montana over the past decade? That is why so many play FBS guarantee games, and why a lot bring in low guarantee teams for at least 1 home game, either non-scholarship DI teams, DII or even NAIA teams. That is what we are talking about, having 8 Big Sky games, a FBS game, a cupcake at home, and 1 more game. That game will change from year to year, unless UND gets an annual contract with either USD or NDSU. That game could be home and home with a quality FCS. It could be a second FBS sometimes, it might be a second cupcake some years. That is what happens in FCS football. I find it interesting that people are getting upset about 2012 and future schedules when we have no idea what the conference schedule is going to look like.

A lot of hockey concussions seem to come from hitting the ice or the boards. There isn't much that is that hard on a football field. Most football concussions come from hitting another player or from hitting the turf, both have more give. So my guess is that many of the hockey concussions are more serious because of it. They had a concussion expert on KNOX one day last week. He said that pretty much everyone has had multiple concussions. Most are very minor and a person doesn't even know about it. Any contusion on the brain is considered a concussion. It just depends on what part of the brain, how serious the injury and how many you have had, especially in the same part of the brain. Some are so serious that those cells don't recover. Other parts of the brain learn to do what the injured cells are supposed to do. He also said that it can take up to 3 years, or sometimes even longer, for someone to completely recover from a concussion.

I wish I could live in a world where money didn't matter. I bet that UND and a bunch of other schools do too. Unfortunately, it matters a lot. Schools get into trouble if their athletic departments go deeply in the hole. So most of them try to watch the bottom line and balance that with performance. I can live with a weak home game every couple of years to make some money, or even every year if that's what they need to do. I'm just glad that the days of 5 weak home games should be done soon. As far as this proving the point that NDSU has about not wanting to play a game against UND every year, it may or may not. NDSU could sell the tickets for a UND game at a premium price. They have about 17,000 tickets to sell that are non-students. Just adding $10 per ticket gives them $170,000 of extra revenue with absolutely no extra cost. And they don't have to pay a guarantee of $125,000, for each of 2 games. Plus they would increase season ticket sales because people would want to guarantee having seats. This added revenue could potentially give them enough extra profit on one game to approach what they would make on 2 games against someone like Wagner. But it could also give them much larger revenue one year and less the next. I don't have the actual numbers to be able to determine if it would equal or not, but my guess is it could be in the same ballpark. The problem is that they may not be able to have 6 home games every year for their fanbase. But it would just about eliminate the cupcake factor for both schools.

Sorry if you didn't like the comment, but it applies. It isn't just about wanting to see FCS games. That is only a small part of it. I was referring to the attitude some people have that UND is so superior to all other schools that they don't have to deal with the same issues and problems. That losing to some schools is "unacceptable". Everything is wonderful if UND wins and horrible if UND loses. If a team has one of those "unacceptable losses", then the coach should be fired. If they win a game then the coach should be nominated for coach of the year. As far as I can tell, most FCS schools are cash strapped to some extent. That is why so many play the FBS games. Many FCS schools aren't interested in the home and homes, and they don't want to take a reasonable FCS guarantee when they can either take a big payday from FBS or take in a big gate at home with a lesser opponent. Montana is a perfect example. They have had great success in FCS football but had major financial issues until they adopted that policy. Athletic directors have been saying that for the last couple of years. And to be perfectly honest, similar financial factors would have affected UND if they had stayed in DII. Whether you like it or not, finances are a part of the picture and are always going to affect the product on the field.

That would make sense. Interstate 29 will probably reopen sometime late morning or early afternoon on Sunday.

My guess is that it is a generic web site that is dressed up for UND. Follett runs bookstores for a bunch of schools. They probably aren't going to set up totally different web sites for each school. They buy a bunch of tee shirts for all of the schools, list them as _________ Mascot Women's Tee, and let the computer fill in the blank with a list of the schools. So no one paid attention to having a page listed as North Dakota Mascot Women's Tee. Either that or it was built somewhere else where they didn't know the issue. My advice would be to let the bookstore know and ask them to fix it.

Why do fans of all the BCS schools let their teams play FCS schools? Why do the fans of so many other FCS schools let their teams play DII or NAIA schools? First, the fans aren't making the decisions, the schools are. And they make those decisions for financial reasons in many cases. The reality is that finances are a part of collegiate athletics. Schools schedule home games against lower division schools for the money. The constant whining about playing "lesser schools" can get really silly. Putting a winning program on the field is very important. But the financial aspect of athletics is at least as important to the institutions. Even the biggest programs in college athletics keep at least 1 eye on the bottom line, the difference is that they have a lot more dollars to play with.

It seems to me that I've seen numbers like $50,000 payouts for DII games. And a rumor said that NDSU payed $125,000 for Wagner. If those numbers are correct, and you figure $15 per ticket, you would need to attract 5,000 more fans to see Wagner than St Cloud State just to break even. Is UND going to attract 5,000 more people for a game against Wagner than a game against St Cloud State?

I don't know if 2012 is a year that they can have 12 games or not. But it is not exactly fair to compare what UND is getting for a guarantee game to what Montana gets. Montana has built up a reputation as a powerhouse program in FCS so they get the big games. UND still isn't out of transition. People have to realize that the program is still learning to walk at this level, they aren't ready to run. Yes, Bunning made a lot of mistakes. But he is gone. They are dealing with the current situation. Things get much better in 2012 and will continue to get better. That is the magic of getting into a quality conference. But being in a conference for 2012 and beyond does absolutely nothing for 2011 and earlier, so they are getting through the transition as best they can.

No, NDSU has played DI powers like Wagner State instead. A potential cupcake is a potential cupcake. Having the DI label would be nice, but it really doesn't mean that much for those type games. And the cost of bringing in a Wagner State may not be worth it compared to the cost of bringing in a St Cloud State. Money is important to the Athletic Department, even if it isn't to you. If they can have a game where they can make a significant profit while still having a pretty good chance at a win, and have it at home for the local fans, it is a win-win situation for the Atheltic Department. Not everything is about the macho image the fans want the program to portray.

I haven't heard anything more. I do know that Interstate 29 is still closed in North Dakota and at least part of South Dakota.

They gain what is normally an easier home game with a small guarantee. That allows them to bank most of the gate. And if you are having a successful season you will sell a lot of tickets for one of those games. As was said earlier, many FCS teams have one of these games on the schedule. All of the BCS teams did it this year except Weber, and they had 2 BCS games instead. Montana has done it for years and it hasn't hurt their marquee level. The result is the same, a bigger than normal payday. And the other Dakota schools have done it too. You will see one lesser opponent at home on the schedule most years going forward.