Irish

Count me as one who didn't get to the St. Cloud game - I had a late start because of work and then heard it was sold out. This is crazy. I beleive many fans were turned away or discouraged from trying to go. What a pathetic way to build team support. Does anyone from the athletic dept. or the Englestead even care. On the other hand, playing in the big Ralph isn't the final solution either. We lose a considerable home court advantage in there because of the empty space. The poor planning that went into the Betty seems to have put us in a corner. When I heard the capacity during the construction phase, I couldn't believe it. Everyone I talked to felt that it was too small. I believe that it was rushed without much planning for the world jrs. Speaking of the World Juniors - has any of the supposed benefits materialized. The Ralph seemed to get a monopoly on the food and drink sales for the tournament, shutting out local businesses. What hapened to the profits? Now, a year later, have we seen the massive business boost we were promised - has it "showcased" Grand Forks in such a way that many new recruits are comming here just because of the exposure? I think we were sold a bill of goods on that one. It was a nice tournament, but not worth the fallout - especially now that we are stuck with the Betty. Another issue that has been mentioned on this topic is the effect of the Ralph on the Athletic Dept. budget - If this is topic for a new thread I apologise - but i would love to hear an explaination from someone who knows the facts (which I don't) as to how we could be broke. The football attendance since the move to the Alarus is about double - plus playoff games - Hockey capacity is about double also. Add to that increased ticket prices and the push to force people into the Fighting Sioux club in order to get tickets. Then add the increase in consessions - How can we be broke? Is women's hockey that expensive - Things just don't add up in my head - can anyone explain it to me? Is the Ralph not the great deal we thought? What is the relationship between the Ralph and the Athletic Dept. financially - who gets what revinue? Where did the money to build the Betty come from? who controls the profits - I would really like to hear from someone who knows.

I would respectfully disagree with Coach Lennon. I'm not trying to be overly critical - He's done a great job with the program. I wonder what others who were at the game think of the play selection - This is one area that drives me nuts - it seems that the tighter the game, the more conservative we get. Anyone else have an opinion?

Manke must be wondering just what has to happen in order to get a shot. I don't agree with the "short leash" comments however. One of our major problems is the offensive philosophy. When we are dominating a team, the offense is unpredictable, resourseful, and mixes plays well. However, when things are tight so is our play selection. I believe that we lost the Omaha game for the most part because of extremely conservative and predictable play selection. We play not to lose in close games. How many times in the second half did we begin an offensive series with a 2 yard run. We set ourselves up for failure and prefer to rely on our punting and defense. Our offense seems to be more interested in figuring where we can pin them back to if we punt than moving the ball or scoring. We have squandered marvelous field position with poor play selection. This game matters - open things up please.

I agree with almost all of the above. I've been waiting to post in hopes that time would ease the irritation I feel. In addition to Belmore's free fall, the thing that irritated me most is the offensive play selection particuliarly in the second half. How many series in a row did we try a run for a short gain on first down only to face second and 8. Then we went to one of the standard plays that we have used for the past 10 years which were anticipated and well defended. The tighter the game is, the worse our play selection gets. Our offensive philosophy sometimes seems to be trying to figure where we can pin them down if we punt. Our offensive coordinator was outcoached by Pat Burns for Christ's sake.