FgoWolve

As a North Dakota native and a Michigan alumni, I'm always like one of 14 people in the country who get unreasonably excited anytime these two teams play. Looking forward to the weekend. I think you guys have the advantage line by line. You never can quite tell where Michigan's offense is coming from, so I'm hoping for a physical, low-scoring game otherwise the Sioux might run away with it. And it's scary to be heading to St. Paul, because even though I know Michigan sold it's entire allotment of tickets, I'm guessing it's going to be an all green crowd. I hope we have an exciting one. Best of luck to you. Go Blue!

Some of you might remember me as the brazen journalist at the Michigan Daily from a year back who took a few shots at his home state last year. That is definitely me. When I saw the brackets were announced, I just had to come back for a visit and see what people were saying. I'm looking forward to a good game. Not sure if the Wolverines can pull one out this time around, since most of their regional success usually takes place in the comfort of Yost, but it should be a good match nonetheless. Red always has the kids ready for Tourney time, and I know the Ralph will be rocking. But even if Blue can't pull one off for me, you'll all be happy to hear that I'm actually at Minnesota now for law school. If I can't catch you guys one night, hopefully I'll get you the next. But if you guys get out of the region, well I am just out of schools, and I'll be rooting for UND all the way to the title. Well, I'd have to say that, as an intellectual that left his home state only to be educated in the only two states that might have a stronger hockey tradition than North Dakota, at two institutions that definitely have their enemies all over Division I hockey, I am probably the most evil human being ever to post here. I look forward to a great game, though. For those of you interested in the article I wrote that caused so much controversey on these boards, it should be right here. My farewell column

I just don't agree with your arguments on this point, which seems to be the one getting circulated over and over again. As sensitive as the subject is, this just isn't the place to spread the good word of Engelstad or dispell any rumors. No matter what kind of good things he did, he did some shady things that even some North Dakotans don't agree with. It's not an untrue statement and it's part of an opinion piece. You should know to take an opinion piece with a grain of salt. I'm just not convinced otherwise. Also, since many of you had made a number of predictions on my future. I figured I'd help you out a bit, in case you've got a pool going. I'll be attending law school at Marquette University in the fall. I'm just not a small town kind of guy.

I just love watching people take sides on this. I just landed on the message boards at Duluth and a couple of them say this is a wonderfully written piece. Other friends at UND "enemy" schools have said the same thing. And they are also from North Dakota. It just goes to show that you can't really trust criticism from anywhere, unless its from some guy at the University of Arkansas or something.

Thank you. Finally, someone who can understand where I'm coming from. I was speaking to a bunch of Michigan students, since that's what the Michigan Daily readership is. I have to keep their interests in mind. And in order to make this whole North Dakota thing relevant to them, I used a current event to connect it to, which is exactly what you should do in a column. That event was the National Championship game. And I connect it to myself because I am from that state. And also, this is not the space for me to quell any Ralph Engelstad rumors. I wouldn't have the time nor would enough readers be interested in that area. Just because I am from North Dakota does not mean that I am inherently born with the mission to spread his good name around the country. If columnists had to tell the entire backstory so some things just in order to make a quip, columns would get pretty dry and boring fast. I can't recount the entire O.J. Simpson trial just to make a joke about him, nor can I investigate a players' history if I want to take a crack at steroids. Plenty of people have ridiculous misconceptions about the Michigan basketball booster scandal. But I certainly don't expect them to look up what really happened before they take a swing at me with a comment that relates to it. A column is not the place for fixing half-truths and cultural misconceptions, unless the column is entirely dedicated to it. Some of you have even made wild claims about me without fact-checking my past (don't appreciate soldiers, and my favorite, cut from the FNH JV hockey team). But this is a message board where you post opinions. I say go for it. I know the real truth.

You guys are missing the point. I know all of you have all these wonderful memories from South Dakota, or North Dakota, or wherever. I have plenty Bison-Sioux football memories myself that stick up there with some of my favorite Michigan memories. The pride and the passion is just the same, I understand that completely. But I was writing to a Michigan campus. I have to put things into national perspective there, because there's a national spotlight on that campus. Comparatively, it really doesn't compare (except for hockey). North Dakota does get reduced to a flyover state (as sad as it makes me), at least on the national sports radar. That's what I was trying to tell all my students. Appreciate what you've got now, and don't take it for granted. There aren't many campuses where you bump into Braylon Edwards and Michael Phelps from time to time. Don't think that all those athletes owe you something. Appreciate that fact that they're there. Now, I know, I've been afraid to mention it so far, but I have to mention the Engelstad comment. I absolutely realized how big of a philanthropist Engelstad was before I wrote that column. I grew up in the state obviously. I know all the great things he did and plenty of people look at him as nothing less than a hero...But, that doesn't mean that image is still out there. You can deny it all you want, and I realize that he got a bad rap for most of it, but most people that recognize that name outside the state remember him that way. That's not a false statement. I didn't call him a Nazi sympathizer, I just said he is remembered that way. I was careful how to word that one. I was talking to a friend of mine at Minnesota-Duluth and he says students still chant stuff like that at games, cause they know it's a sore spot. It doesn't mean either of us agree with it. And as far out as Michigan, people just think he's a straight-up Nazi sometimes. I tell them otherwise as much as I can, but that doesn't mean that the perception does not exist outside the state, and it's sad that it does.

The easiest thing to adress is the basketball statement. Redwing said it best. Basketball sucks. I'm here talking in a hockey forum. I'm not saying that UND and NDSU don't get fired up when they play in basketball, and the high school tournament is definitely exciting, but compared to the rest of the country, it's not much. I just spent a season covering Big Ten hoops, a completely different feeling. The environment at some campuses is just unreal. It can't compare. The last basketball prospect North Dakota put out of any worth was Jeff Boschee, who I absolutely loved. But not enough people care to make basketball really hardcore. And I doubt many of you here would disagree with me.

After a number of entertaining emails from some of you, a few of which even suggested I introduce myself on here, I decided to do just that. I am the Joshua Cooper Holman, senior sports editor at the Michigan Daily, that wrote this apparently scandalous column. Some of you have contacted me, so I don't want to repeat myself. But please, I love North Dakota despite some of the wild misconceptions you have made up. My favorite one was the guy that pegged my history as someone who was cut from the JV team at Fargo North. Pretty awesome. I attended Fargo South (thank you very much) and haven't played hockey since first grade. Feel free to play with those facts as much as you'd like. If there's anything else, I'm happy to field any more querries.