homer

Someone is still a little butt hurt after getting beat up in Grand Forks. Having a hard time being the second best basketball team in the state?

Your guys' recruting class is so good. Look almost every recruit has a page. We all know that is the top indicator of talent.

Thats right. And when/if these petitions go through and there is a state wide vote, the nickname and the future of UND athletics are going to be put in the hands of people who A) didn't attend UND or aren't fans of UND and B) don't give a !@#$ about the future of UND athletics or the nickname. These people will be a large percentage of voters across the state of ND and presidents of schools in the Big Sky conference.

So if the nickname was something other than Fighting Sioux the athletes you mentioned above would be less honored or less satisfied with their careers at UND? Was it the college, facilities, coaches, fans, and their own hard work that made them enjoy their time at UND and helped them continue to develop their skills to advance their careers or was it the Fighting Sioux nickname alone? Would a nickname of anything else made them less proud to attend UND? I'm thinking their pride in the university is because of their experiences on and off the ice or field, the successes and times they had as a team, and the support they received from the fans. I'm not going to far out on a limb when I say the Ralph isn't going to stop selling out every night cause the nickname is gone. The fans aren't going to stop traveling in bunches to road games cause the nickname is gone. And playing for the University of North Dakota is not going to become any less of a privilege once the nickname is gone.

University of North Dakota Spirit Lake Sioux?? Not a real good ring to it

Yes, we know the importance of home playoff games.

As it has been this whole process since he started this mess, I have placed a number of e-mails and calls to Al Carlson to get his opinion on why he believes the law he put into action will benefit UND and UND athletics. As a resident in his Fargo district you would think he would be more than happy to get back to me and share his thoughts right? Have yet to hear from him. That alone tells me all I need to know about this petition and this law. DaveK the guy who put the law into action and met with the NCAA to hear their stance obviously knows this will hurt UND, otherwise what does he have to be so quiet about and why ignore someone who voted him into office? Speaks volumes about his honesty. That and Bison fans' willingness to sign petitions tell me how much "good" this will bring to UND. Also, as I mentioned above, with a Native American population in the state of well over 30,000, getting 13,000 signitures from people so "honored" by the nickname should be easy. Right?

Changing the name is so "wrong" that the goup of people we are "honoring" by having it have come out in groves to sign petitions and support the name. There are well over 30,000 Native Americans in North Dakota. If it is so "wrong" to change the name surely they would recognize this and overwhelmingly support this right?

I'd take the success ndsu has had vs. FBS and in FCS. You can't argue it. Why would they change it? Until we beat any FBS on our schedule, I won't comment on what they are doing. I think our coaching staff is taking this team the direction it needs to go and we will notch one of those wins soon.

What sums it up for me is that he is actually suprised they had great success at a Bison football game. You think Bison fans would have any interest in something that was going to help UND?

I still think we will be a run first team but with an improved passing game hopefully it opens some things up. Last year it didn't take long for teams to figure out we struggled throwing the ball. It wasn't due to lack of talent outside, it was inconsistency from the qb. I think the coaches did their best to address that.

We'll have some work to do upfront as well regarding protection but yes, I am excited. Our passing production from last year has no where to go but up. Beings our best WR's were Sophmore, Sophmore, Freshmen and we had a young o-line dealing with injuries all season starting game one, along with the addition of what will hopefully be improvement at qb, I think our passing game will improve. There is a lot to be excited about with what should be a better offense.

I think we're fine at OL. Actually we brought in two O-linemen. Mike Edwards is going to start out on the d-line but has a highlight tape of him at guard that is as impressive as anything I've seen. If we absolutely get into a pinch there, he can be moved. It wouldn't be ideal but its not like it is something that hasn't been done before Johnny. With what we have returning on the o-line next year that will be Jr., So., or RFr., I don't think we could have added 4-5 OL. 2 or maybe 3 tops. Bigger needs with only a few scholorships.

From the article posted by the Bison fan earlier it mentioned that Portland St. had a very good recruiting class. They were inconsistent last year in their play and I think will be an early measuring stick for UND to get a feel for how we'll stack up against most of the Big Sky. Sounds like they, on paper, had a good class.

Its no different than him saying NDSU and SDSU have better basketball teams than us even though we beat one and split with the other. They maybe are in a better position because they completed their transition 4 years ago but thats not an issue for UND anymore.

We had more PWO than we usually bring in. As far as scholly players go, I think we did a good job of filling needs and bringing in some guys who look like they could play right away. We'll see though. I agree, everyone looks good on highlight videos and only time will tell with everyone's class.

Semi final home games will do that. Especially when its the first one in 20 years. You obviously weren't at either of the semi final games at the Alerus. You would actually have more of an understanding and not be so bitter. Maybe the hard feelings cause your team lost.

Devon Hall- DE from La Mirad, CA

You seem consistently down on UND and pretty high on ndsu to be a student. I'd say the definition of a tool is a fan of another school who opens an account on another teams message board only to sneak in any comment they can but I suppose everyone has their own definition. All you have to do is read you your past posts. They say a lot.

Galloday's highlights are sweet. Our WR corps we recruited this year is a pretty talented group.

Secondary, namely safety will be the biggest question mark heading into next season. Not a real good thing in the Big Sky but there will be opportunity for a young guy or two to step up and get some quality playing time.

Baker, MT isn't a big school but they have a football program that is very well respected in Montana. They have put out some very good football players. Hopefully Varner is another one.

I like the scheduling of the FBS games within the boundaries of the Big Sky conference.

Good article on your team. On a UND related note, really looking forward to the Portland St. game. They were inconsistent last year but this article sounds like their coaches are building a pretty good program.

Carrothers, same high school as Brenneman. Hopefully he has the same type of career.