tnt

I guess the athletes weren't the only ones that are adept at fraud. Gene Taylor speaking on that subject with any authority is a fraud.

http://www.highriskh...tor-gene-taylor Maybe these players are just risk takers Gene. No big deal! I like where he says that even though athletes know their will be consequences to their action, they still take the risk. Guess what, it isn't risky if the whole mentality of the Athletic department is "We've got your back".

I guess if the NDSU administration doesn't take fraud seriously, it would be smart for the state of North Dakota to take a stand in the punishment of these players, as once a precedent is set that this is a nothing crime for football players, how can you prosecute somebody else in the future more harshly for doing the same thing? Wouldn't it be ironic if trying to defend the victimized players, Gene Taylor actually caused them to be punished more strongly by the state to show that there are consequences to criminal behavior, even if you are a star football player.

Anybody know the story with Sam Mellor of Penticton? He did play for Alaska Anchorage for a while didn't he? Is he sitting out a year and going to transfer somewhere else, or is he waiting for something to open up in Major Junior as an avenue to the NHL? Sounds like he is a pretty good player.

But it sounds like your Athletic director said that there would be no suspensions period. First they say they are waiting to see how it plays out, then they say they have suffered enough and there would be no suspensions. Which is it? First of all, I would not downplay fraud. There was a girl that said she was worried that she would lose her green card because she was not allowed to vote, and her name was signed to this petition. I guess I would wonder why there wasn't one of those players that stopped and thought about signing someone else's name and said to themselves or their friends, "This is wrong". Apparently the administration at NDSU doesn't believe in right and wrong, nor the states ability to rate crimes.

Gropp was taken 6th overall in the WHL Bantam draft by Seattle, but his dad played college hockey at CC, so who knows. He does list Johnny Toews as his hockey hero, so hopefully he wants to follow in his footsteps. I also see that James Patrick's nephew Nolan Patrick is quite a player and is projected to go high in the next Bantam Draft. His dream had been to be a Fighting Sioux, so hopefully he is still interested in that route.

A game is played on the field, and since Gene Taylor doesn't want to play us, that is just talk. I guess Gene will find even more excuses now not to play because his program was called into question by UND fans -- wait, his program is being called into question by more than UND fans.

... and there wasn't a conversation that made him believe this happened?

I think that is the key thing here. Sometimes you can't control the stupid things kids do in college, and players on a team are just as likely to do some of these things, if not more, because they have always been told how great they are. But when things like this do inevitably happen, you can get out ahead on it and people can respect that. It amazes me that politicians and administrators haven't figured out by now that you can't keep things hidden in today's society.

I find it interesting that a couple years ago Gene Taylor was front and center about the concern with all the player problems and at that time Bohl was under a lot of scrutiny by him. Funny, they weren't doing quite as well on the field at the time. Now, when disciplinary problems are cropping up again, Gene Taylor says he likes the way Bohl is handling things. Quite the change in philosophy, which just happens to coincide with a huge upswing in the programs winning on the field. That philosophy is how the USC's and Penn States of the world get started -- everything is fine if you're winning, but if not, then the discipline will roll.

But that's your evidence, that he liked the nickname and logo and put it in the arena. If that is the case then I am above the university too, as well as the majority of the fanbase.

How was he above the University? The story about the arena being imploded was a myth. Did any professors get fired after Engelstad said that they should be since they worked for the institution that were known as the Fighting Sioux and were picketing against the organization.

Hopefully UND has taken note of this situation and is constantly talking to their kids about ethics. With virtually every athlete on twitter, I would hope they are constantly monitoring for statements that can be considered for NCAA sanction. I also hope UND has learned the lesson from NDSU on this and the Lynn Dorn reprimand, and get out ahead on issues like this instead of letting them come to light from the media. I think honesty and transparency up front go a long way in keeping a good reputation in the public's eye. If you believe in letting the judicial system play itself out first, then be consistent in that philosophy. That would go a long way in mitigating any damage when college kids make errors in judgement and discretion.

Has anybody heard anything in regards to who hired a bunch of football players to fulfill this task, and what these players were paid, and was their pay tied to the number of signatures they received? A lot of room there to be paying National Champion football players not based on their work but because they are "football players" Just curious if there were any other allegations out there or that are being investigated.

Really, you think drinking in college is worse than voter fraud? Wow!

I think you have seen the worst example of excusing and overlooking at Penn State, and that type of behavior gets started somewhere when people have a winning program that they don't want to risk. The only thing I find interesting is the defensive mechanism that Gene Taylor and Craig Bohl seem to have about the accusation. To say it's not like drugs or this or that, kind of dismisses it in a way. To me, in college you are going to have students experimenting with drugs, most prevalent alcohol. You are not as likely to have students engaging in voter fraud. There may be some circumstances where rating crimes is pertinent, but in this instance, I don't see it. So for NDSU officials to start their own rating system of crimes leaves a lot of room to set aside circumstances, or in the worst case scenario, overlook them all together. Apparently some people at Penn State didn't think molestation rose to an alarming level. and just the fact that you would even question that is mind boggling.

No, they should probably not be treated the same, but if voter fraud is shown by these players in a flagrant and intentional way, I would hardly sweep it under the rug. After all, the integrity of our voting and election system is a staple of our democracy. Is the country going to fall apart from one case that may or may not be just stupid college kids not realizing the seriousness of such activity? No. But I wouldn't be so quick to diminish something like this. Would it be considered more serious by the administration of NDSU if the players in question intimidated people trying to get into the polls to vote yes on one of these proposed measures? Either way, the voting process is compromised. That said, I have a feeling these players had no idea how serious their activity was, but perhaps they should have.

... and if they are found to be innocent, then what? They have already suffered a punishment, yet were innocent. If the coach personally knows some illegal behavior went on, then I can see it, but I would think they should get the benefit of the doubt by the coach as well as our legal system.

Economic activity has been pretty good for a while now. http://www.wdaz.com/event/article/id/14928/

Exactly. So beyond the Altru donation they only have 1 or 2 million for the project that has been public for 3 or 4 years? I thought part of the Spirit Fund was supposed to go to the IPF. I'm assuming there are some funds that they are waiting to come in to at least get the project started. Kind of a "Build part of it and they will come" philosophy.

See Zach Werenski was one of the guys congratulating him. Sure would like to see that guy sign in the next year or so as well. Wonder if he is any relation to the Werenski that used to play at Northern Michigan long time ago.

Being he is the nephew of a former coach in Major Junior, it seems strange that he would commit. Did he get fired or leave on a bad note from Windsor? Wonder if Brad Berry had a hand in this commitment. I would think that Berry either played with Moe Mantha in Winnipeg, or knew him somehow from his experiences in Winnipeg, so that may have helped having an in with the kid.

What do you mean by how he was "treated"? I don't think anyone has an assurance of playing time. I think Eidsness himself would say that he didn't live up to expectations his Junior season and probably had confidence issues. When Dell wasn't performing up to par last year Eidness got his chance to shine again, and then Dell really took over down the stretch again.

That's the point, what is good to you isn't necessarily good for somebody else. It is called taste, and just because you like something else, doesn't make your tastes better.

I think food is basically a matter of preference much like buying a car. Some people are Ford people, some are Chevy, some Dodge, and so on. Everybody can talk about their bad experiences with each of those brands and why they will never buy that again. The same is with food. You get a bad experience, it sticks in your mind, even though others might have good experiences with the same restaurant. I think there are some places that are just plain bad with service and food, and they are easy to weed out. Other places are just a matter of preference, and either having a good or bad experience with either food or service or both.