Irish

A couple of questions come to mind: First - Berry seems to be "Mr. Team Culture" - has last years team or this years team shown consistently anything that remotely resembles what we consider Sioux Hockey Culture - you know - play hard and physical from whistle to whistle - make you pay for mistakes - make coming to the Ralph a thing to be feared - new guys stepping up - top end talent working hard? Second - will Berry just cut and paste his letter to season ticket holders from last year after not making the tournament or will he compose a new one this year. If a new one he'd better get started.

Yes

Have you seen any forwards improve their play from year to year under Berry?

How long does this crap have to go on before we do something - look at football as a cautionary tale. This is the least amount of talent I have seen up front in many years - perhaps ever - and I have been a fan since before the Bjorkman years. Time for some passengers to go - and that may include coaches.

I am not complaining about our sports writers at all - I think in general they work their butts off and provide quality coverage. It just seems with Fargo calling the shots all we see every WDAY broadcast is an update on the Bison and now the Heraldo can't even make the deadline for Sioux Hockey. And I have previously mentioned my opinion of that toady git Dom Izzo - he seems to be on every broadcast. Time we get some recognition for our programs and we'll have to do it on the field (or ice). This week's hype just emphasizes in my mind how much we need Football to get going.

What's needed at the Alerus - simple - A team that shows up for big games and a coaching staff that puts that team in a position to win. I am usually fairly immune to the Bison hoopla about going to Texas and can view the game with mild interest. However, with both WDAZ(Y) and the Heraldo now paying homage to their Fargo overlords, this year I just can't stand to hear any more media hype. If I have to hear that lickspittle Dom Izzo one more time I may lose my lunch. So please Bubba - get your act together and give us something to cheer about - and right soon. Many of us are very frustrated, not just with Bison success but with our lack of it.

I do too - I am old enough to be a veteran of the Old Barn where you had to drink to stay alive. However, I believe if you applied the modern "enforcement tactics to the Old Ralph they would suck a lot of the fun and energy out of there too. At times at the Alerus I have seen 5-6 cops and security just standing above the student section, ever scanning for the slight hint of misbehavior or fun. That theory has filtered to the Ralph too - much more than when it opened. No one wants excessively drunk, rowdy, or crude students but for heaven's sake leave them alone unless they are causing trouble. Having someone looking almost over your shoulder and ever monitoring for slight infractions or enthusiasm sucks much of the energy out of the student section. I also would like the student cheers to be a bit more organized - perhaps by some "leaders" who organize them. One feature of the Old Ralph was the Farce, whose chants and taunts were researched and clever. They were allowed to be kids and nothing bad happened. Once again the prudes and PC idiots are trying to ruin it for everyone. We want a fun and loud home crowd and if someone hears the word "sucks" then shut up and suck it up, buttercup. Everyone is exposed to much worse on the radio or on the news. Oh, and scoring some would help the energy also.

You may not agree with me, but I think most everyone on the board understands my point. Again, I am not judging Sam, just commenting mainly on Bubba's stubborn refusal to change. I think Bubba's body of work speaks for itself as does his sticking with Rudolf again last year. And how many years has he had to clean up punt blocking? You have to admit Bubba is not a flexible fellow - which can be admirable if you are winning championships but a liability when you are a .500 team.

This is not a judgement on Sam King, whom I don't know much about. Just an observation about our program in general - It has to be one of the most in-bred programs in the country. Bubba has successfully resisted any change for 5 years and the result is mediocrity. Finally he is forced to make some staff changes and we immediately hire either someone who is already on staff or someone that has spent time here. God forbid we get any new blood or anyone that would bring in any new-fangled ideas. We have an incredible tolerance for a crap program because he is "one of us, one of us". The GOBC really let us down on this one - we have wasted a decade now - how much longer are we content.

I don't necessarily disagree - however, we have a head coach who can't recognize an unbelievably crappy OC from even an average one - He hired him, kept him around for 5 years, and only let him go under pressure even after watching his play calling for the 2017 season. In addition, this head coach has a reputation for refusing to change (if he would change we wouldn't have had the special team and blocked kick fiasco again last year). Until Bubba wakes up I am not overly optimistic.

I wish Bubba would go to sleep tonight and tomorrow wake up in the 21st Century.

What we can't have is Rah Rah Bubba before the season starts and Turtle Bubba once the game starts. We have all learned that Bubba is a very slow learner. For the love of all that's holy, play to win this year. We can only have our expectations dashed so many times before you lose attendance permanently. With the amount of posters sticking with you and thinking this is the year you would think we are made up of Viking fans.

There are many reasons why this is so frustrating to fans: - It has been going on for so long - There is no reason with our talent (other than this year - a whole other issue) that it should occur - Although we have a coaching staff with outstanding resumes, absolutely nothing seems to change - nothing (including having Shaw in charge) - Other teams with a much lesser roster seem to have much less trouble - It is brutal on the eye test - no bang bang plays, no back doors, no crisp passing, no overloads caused by quick passing, very little in front of the net presence, just endless perimeter passing, teeing it up, passing some more, then either shooting in to someones' shins or losing the puck - rinse repeat. - Did I mention that nothing ever seems to change? - This bears repeating. - Oh, and it has cost us (especially last year when one more win would have put us in the tourney) and will continue to bite us.

If by "weak" you mean stupid, then you are absolutely correct.

"Why can't we score?"

I just can't get my head around how our once proud and top program turned into a train-wreck just 2 1/2 short years after winning a National Championship. It makes no sense to me - I get the blank class, but still, many teams have a weak class and have worked around it - it seems like absolutely NO ONE is developing. How we can be this inept offensively is totally beyond me. Any insights?

Sadly, UND has no track record of making appropriate, timely coaching changes. Bubba is still wandering around here, although a recent epiphany came to him that he should look a bit at the offense. If this is allowed to go on much longer I will be really worried about our return to relevance.

Berry has been allowed to go on like this for far too long because we were elated after out title and now no one can believe how we got so crappy so fast. WE kept on thinking that we are UND and the ship will right real soon. We are going the wrong way and fast.

Why are the Euros still on the roster (aside from being a Coach's dream) - What do they bring to the table - how many years have they been unproductive? An example of our new program.

This is totally unacceptable. My God we have a lot of deadwood on this team and we see committed to keeping them and let them cruise around in games - with the occasional stupid penalty or shot into the goalie logo.

I did a spit take on reading this one.

Apparently Bubba's just noticed that the offense needs a little attention. He's the definition of tunnel vision.

When are our scorers going to bloom - 3 years is a long time to blame on one class.

ST coordinator eh? Another opportunity lost because Bubba.

My sentiments also - I would feel better, however, if Duluth hadn't been kicking our butts lately and we weren't in dire need of scorers.