82SiouxGuy

The author must have been looking at his WCHA Final Five poster.

I think he said that David wanted to play at UND.

The college players will probably have to decide between school and pros before training camp.

I may have missed it, but I didn't see this story listed anywhere else. I liked this comment near the end of the article: Someone hasn't been paying attention lately.

Not everyone is for moving the students. I don't see a need to move anyone. I thought that things went very well most of the season and I think the students should stay where they are.

Doug Barrett on KNOX just said that UND will make an announcement this afternoon at 3:00 regarding division classification.

I sit at the other end and I don't want them taking my seats either.

Thanks for letting us know about the discussion at anygivensaturday.com. There is a lot of talk about possibly going DI-AA. There is a separate forum here discussing pros and cons. A study of proper classification was completed and a report sent to President Kupchella (who wrote the great letter, not our AD). UND has until July 1 to declare for this year. I wouldn't be surprised to hear a decision one way or the other as early as this week. One of the sticking points is conference affiliation (or lack of). But, if UND does go DI-AA it would be great to have UND play both of the Montana schools either home or away. Keep checking back here and you will find out soon whether UND is going to join you in I-AA.

Chuck wrote a column for the GF Herald for quite a while before moving on to the big city. He once claimed a couple of small islands in the middle of the Red River. The larger one was called Hagaland and the smaller one something like Lesser Hagaland. They only exist when the river level comes down. The main law on Hagaland seemed to be that zucchini was not allowed. Chuck also liked to stop at Griggs Landing for a beer once in a while. It was right down the alley from the Herald.

Thank you for the great post. It is good to get a different point of view from someone that doesn't have an active interest in the debate. Especially from a different part of the country. This is becoming so much more than an argument about the merits of a specific nickname for sports teams. And you may be right about the public relations benefits. Win or lose in the lawsuit, this may be a great opportunity to show off the strengths of our fine University to the rest of the country.

There are several reasons why Sioux fans will enjoy the Holy Cross-UMTC game for a long time. One is that it was a historic loss, the first #1 seed losing to a #4. It happened in our building and the winning team ended up facing our favorite squad for a chance to go to the Frozen Four. The losing team in this historic game is one of, if not our most hated rival. Many Sioux fans were in attendance at the game to witness the spectacle. And it was part of a streak of 3 straight losses by an underachieving rival. So to answer your question, no it probably wouldn't have been quite as big a deal if it were anyone else. Wisconsin would have been very close, although the feelings between UND-UW are not quite at the same level as UND-UMTC right now. And their isn't as much interaction between Sioux and Badger fans during the off season since we have a few other school located between us. The other 2 #1 seeds would have been historic losses but not as much fun. And any other lower seed like Michigan would not have been as big a loss. So it was a combination of all these factors and probably others that will keep this game in the spotlight for a long time.

It has been stated by many people at the state and university levels that this is a state matter because it is a state institution. After all, it is the University of North Dakota. It hasn't been decided if the attorney general or a private firm will actually try the case. But any litigation will probably be paid for by private donations because this shouldn't be paid for by the general public.

Thanksgiving is a good weekend for me so move me to the Yes column.

I heard something similar back when the discussion first took place several years ago. I thought that Ralph might have held the first party and then realized it was a mistake and didn't plan to do it again. But then his staff threw the second one 2 years later and that is when it became public knowledge. But I haven't been able to find a link to show that so I didn't want to throw it out their without some proof.

It wouldn't be the first time Tim and/or Swyg switched stations because of Sioux sports. IIRC they both worked for KNOX years ago and made another stop before arriving at Clear Channel.

If you check your timeline, he made his statements after the second party. This is from the Las Vegas Review Journal story about the FBI investigation.

A couple of months ago one of the corporate types from Leighton Broadcasting was on KNOX talking DI. Leighton is the home of SCSU sports and this guy was on the committee looking at a move to DI. Basically, he said that SCSU would do whatever UND decided to do. They were happy in DII and the NCC but if UND moved up the NCC would probably go away and SCSU would rather move up than down to the NSIC.

Grand Forks has had 2 different teams in the past decade or so. Both teams failed. Average attendance was well under 1,000 for both teams. A new park would be a tough sell to the community right now. I think there would need to be a large donor willing to pick up most of the cost. But a facility is needed with or without a Northern League team or UND. The current field is used almost constantly already.

I vaguely remember when they closed the school in Ellendale. I think I was in grade school It was a huge deal around the state. It was also a large blow to Ellendale. There are 2 factors that will make it difficult to close colleges. First is the fact that the people in North Dakota hate to make changes in the constitution. They normally vote no unless they have an overwhelming reason to vote yes. I don't know if saving a few dollars is enough reason to get people to vote yes. 2 years ago a simple amendment to make business incorporation laws more compatible with the rest of the country failed. It is back on the ballot this year. The other factor goes back to what HockeyMom and Siouxmama talked about. Closing schools in places like Mayville and Valley City would be huge blows to the economies of those towns. People don't want to do that to other small towns.

In other sports like basketball and football, players are no longer eligible for NC$$ play as soon as they sign a contract with an agent. I would guess it is the same for hockey. Players usually have a "family friend" or relative that acts as a go-between until a decision is made to actually go pro. So if JPar has signed a contract with an agent then he has probably lost his college eligibility already. If his dad or someone else is just talking to teams then he could still come back next year.

Doug Barrett on KNOX has been reporting this on the news all morning. They were originally going to make the announcement today but moved it to tomorrow.

They are talking about the potential demise of the Mid-Continent Conference because of losing members, not Midcontinent Communications failing. FSSN is safe.

It is possible to put together the network. I believe that Leighton had something put together for their last bid. But tSic is right, Clear Channel has more of the big stations. The only possibility I see is if Leighton and Forum can work together because I think you would need WDAY in Fargo if you don't have the Mighty 790. The other factor is money. Clear Channel is not going to want to lose UND sports and let the competition have both UND and NDSU so they will probably put in a very competitive bid.

That's the real power of Clear Channel. They can put together a great network throughout North Dakota and Western Minnesota. Leighton basically has stations in Grand Forks and St. Cloud. They would have to pull together other companies like Forum Communications to get decent coverage across the state.

Put me down as a maybe, depending on work conflicts. I will have a much better idea by mid June on potential conflicts for this fall. For the math impaired, it will work out to a few dollars either side of $100 per person if all seats are filled. So the potential prices are somewhere between $100 and $143 per seat.