star2city

Everything didn't work out: we won't have the Sioux name. Look at what Kelley allegedly did: - As a tactic in the ridding UND of the Sioux name, he allowed Douple and other media to trash UND in the press. Kelley caused that trashing. - He purposely misled the SBoHE, by imposing an artificial barrier to conference membership that never actually existed - When the SBoHE pulled the name, that took the heat off of Standing Rock. - Lied and misled the UND community on his true stand regard the Sioux name. - Harmed the DI transition by delaying conference acceptance for two years. All of those actions are reprehensible. All were allegedly done by Kelley. If they are true, the SBoHE should fire Kelley. They would have cause. Kolpack thinks he wins by sending UND into disarray.

If the story is true, Kelley is a man without honor or integrity. Anyone lacking those shouldn't be UND's President. I hope Hakstol and Roebuck speak out soon.

It's just bad writing on Kolpack's part.

Schlossman's tweets are classic: "Tom Douple essentially says he agreed to lie and play the starring role in a charade that would last two years...." "...all for a school not in his league. Bizarre behavior for a commissioner. http://bit.ly/eXf5DM " Kolpack's article may just be the impetus needed for the legislature to intervene and save the Sioux name, even with the NCAA issues.

Douple never came through on a Summit football league. After the SBoHE dropped the name, Douple didn't even set up a site visit for almost six months, and then only when the Big Sky came into the picture. Instead, Douple started talking about Summit football, which never happened. Both Kelley's and Douple's actions are despicable. Both are zeros for integrity.

Kelley may get a chance to testify under oath today: Valley News

It's always been clear that Kelley wanted the name gone: Kelley and Faison lobbied hard to retiire nickname Douple is now getting revenge to Kelley for taking all the heat on the nickname, and then getting shafted by Kelley. If Kelley had accepted a Summit bid, one can be assured that Douple would have kept his mouth shut about Kelley. Both of them just wanted to spin the public by their B. S. We deserve better than this from our leaders: who resort to politics and outright deception to get their own way, so as not to alienate the vast majority of their constituents Kelley's days may be numbered by the crap he pulled. Disgusting. We were all just pawns - dummies - in a play put on by Kelley, Douple, and the media.

Venezuela, as a militaristic anti-democratic socialist state, subsidizes consumer gasoline. Don't think we want to go down that road. Saudi Arabia has cheap gas too. Maybe if we Sharia Law was imposed here. Perhaps consider buying stock in any number of smaller oil companies that operate in the Bakken, so you can have a small piece of the action too. Over the past year, many of these smaller companies operating in Bakken have done exceedingly well. Here's a very good investment blog on Bakken. There's certainly no guarantee, but the Bakken story is likely just beginning.

Makoti (ND) refinery on hold due to government red tape

Highest near-term numbers yet: Bllomberg: Bakken production likely to quadruple by 2015

Gerry is just blowing smoke up some legislators a**, and everybody looks like clowns listening to him. Dyke Avenue to the east is essentially all light industrial, with many buildings in decay. That's the perfect area for expansion and revitalizing.

Just very thankful that Bison Dan isn't running.

No one is arguing that most of the sophomores haven't had bad breaks. No one is arguing that they don't have a players heart. But, how many of them can reasonably be expected to become a starter in on a competitive Big Sky team in two years? That's the bottom line. Without the freshmen class, the prognosis for men's basketball would have been dire. These players all wanted a shot at DI when nobody else would offer that, and they were given the opportunity. Nothing is ever guaranteed.

Jones lost a huge amount of credibility when he touted the sophomore class. When he brought in the freshmen class, everyone had heard his song and dance one too many times. To become a legitimate mid-major, succeeding classes must not only be talented, but three or four deep.

Politico: Conrad won't run

Should UND put in Kelley Green turf? Weber St considering purple turf

There are some interesting candidates out there that could conceivably start a college hockey team, as they could use additional programming for their own network: Texas and ESPN close to agreement on a Longhorn Network The main point being is that with Notre Dame, UND, and Denver potentially forming a new league, a number of schools that would have had no interest in the WCHA or CCHA may now see opportunities.

Total attendance speaks volumes. UND hockey attendance is more than double NDSU football. Moreover, nearly every single person entering the Ralph pays $'s: even the students. That can't be said for other UND and NDSU sports, where tickets are free but they still don't bother to come. Even in Minnesota, Gopher hockey attendance is almost on par with Gopher football. The reason they don't have hockey is mainly because of history. The one other ND college that sponsors college: Dakota State College -Bottineau - actually does very well nationally at the JC level. In the 1950's, hockey was only popular in Minnesota in a couple of places: Iron Range, Roseau/Warroad/Baudette/TRF, Duluth, and the blue collar sections of Minneapolis and St Paul. Now, a Minnesota community that doesn't have a hockey team is one that with few exceptions is in decline. Grand Forks, Grafton, and Devils Lake and Bottineau were really the only hockey playing towns in North Dakota, and HS hockey didn't start in ND until 1960. It wasn't until 1980 that hockey even spread to most of larger western towns. The reason those schools don't have hockey now is because of it takes an organization with expertise and finances to get hockey going in a community. A community has to have enough people moving into it with hockey expertise to get hockey rolling with a Blue line club. That automatically disqualifies practically any ND town with less than 5000 people, because those towns are almost all dying. The recent exception is Hazen and Beulah, which proves the point: the presence of hockey is actually an indicator of economic vitality and community spirit. With Minot's increasing wealth, watch for a Minot State program to happen.

The Betty only seats 3200, so some games need to be at the Ralph or Alerus to realistically average 3 k or more. Part of the reason that UND drew more than 3000 avg in 2001-2 and 2002-3 was there were huge crowds in the Ralph (vs Kansas for 13 k and vs NDSU for 7 and 9 k). Scheduling for the Ralph for basketball has become more difficult, because the women's team has also been drawing better and is often scheduled for alternate weekends from the Ralph. In the early years of women's hockey, the games were often played in the Olympic rink to facilitate scheduling: now that is less likely. In the Big Sky, Weber St is the only school that draws more than 4k routinely: Attendance thread on eGriz. Montana draws well in both men's and women's BB, but still under 4k, and there also isn't hockey weekends there. This year's recruits have given the first real spark of hope for the men's team. The men's numbers for the past few years are inflated some because fans would show up for the women's game and then leave before or at halftime for the men's game. With the Big Sky schedule, there won't be conference doubleheaders, so the men's team will need to stand on its own. To help attract fans - especially students and younger kids - video boards replacing the scoreboards are really needed in the Betty. Fans demand an experience now, while back in the 70's, fans were content with a bleacher seat.

Goal is now to run the table!!

The Sioux may now have actually played themselves into a role as possible conference favorites. There hasn't been a freshman class like Webb / Huff / Anderson / Brekke / Schuler for a generation. If Wilmer and Allard can continue to develop and/or two decent recruiting classes, this team could make some noise in the first Big Sky season.

When the newspaper in the epicenter of the US oil industry is editorializing about the Bakken and imploring the President to act, the significance can not be understated: Houston Chronicle Editorial: The Bakken Factor could be US bridge to renewable energy future

Hak was also one of the staunchest proponents of the Big Sky - which doesn't effect hockey at all. Hakstol wants all other sports at UND to rise to a higher level. When and if Minnesota and Wisconsin leave the WCHA, UND athletics as a whole needs to be best positioned to be in the highest possible hockey league: an anti-Big Ten hockey conference with Notre Dame and Denver (among others). The competitive status of UND's entire athletic program may affect a hockey affiliation decision by Notre Dame(they could decide to go east with their hockey program). We may be the North Carolina of hockey, but UNC has used that basketball dominance (and finances) to raise their other programs and make basketball even stronger. If a tribal court rules that Standing Rock has already given their blessing to the name based on the peace pipe ceremony in 1969, the settlement requirements would in fact already be met and the NCAA likely wouldn't have any legal ground to keep UND on the sanctions list.

Thanks!!

The bolded is the downside. Plus, it's never good to be on the bad side of NCAA bureaucrats. They can make life miserable for an athletic department in many different ways. Some day, the Standing Rock Council will become more reflective of the people on this issue. That may be partial the intent of the legislature - to stall until there is enough Council changes at Standing Rock.