nodakvindy

Here's another side of the story. Ironic that it also ran today. http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/20...state/sta01.txt As for Grand Forks not matching Fargo and Bismarck in growth, the flood is the decisive factor. The fact that the community did not hemorrhage population is nothing short of amazing. Working in the disaster business, you see the emotional and mental scars on a community. Grand Forks is a textbook study on how to recover. Sure there are the occasional missteps and the typical local government quabbling, but the recovery of Grand Forks-East Grand Forks has been remarkable and the rebuilt infrastructure is a huge leg up for the future.

Dogs up 4-3

You are right NDSU = Fargo's college = modest local interest UND = North Dakota's university = considerable regional interest

ASU may have taunted Kerr, but it was Duke that "cheered" in a manner no better than the Mexican fans. During the Duke-Arizona game, the Cameron Crazies were chanting "PLO, PLO" at Kerr. That incident pretty much cemented my lifelong hatred of Duke.

This is the early frontrunner for line of the year! Go K-Dawg

Has Brandt?

Better in that you may be competitive with them. Face it, NDSU football - for all it's legend - is confined to 2 ten year periods or greatness. Other than that not much. It's much like UCLA basketball. Living on the glory of the past. The all time record against UND isn't even that close and even the Nickel Trophy Era is in favor of the Sioux. SDSU is making the move to DI for basketball, I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped football or went non-scholarship in a few years. They were only marginally competitive in the NCC, there is no reason to believe they will suddenly become a powerhouse in IAA. Enjoy your Land Grant School "rivalry".

That's simply not true. Michigan has tried very hard to cut this type of activity out. Even going so far as having Red Berenson get on the mic before the game and ask the students to cool it with the expletives. He had his grandson on the ice with him. They also sent letters to their student season ticket holders prior to the start of the season. Michigan State is also trying to end such behavior.

Um, no. That's a half filled hockey facility. One of the selling points of the Ralph when it was built was that it would be hockey only. Its sightlines are for hockey. The Betty is a basketball/volleyball facility and it is designed as such. We've had separate facilities in the past and that should continue. The multipurpose facilities at the pro level that were built in the 70s were an absymal failure and we should take note of that. And if we already have the Ralph, again what is the point of the Betty. Building a 4000 seat practice facility is simply idiotic. If there isn't some master plan, like getting a pro training camp here, I just don't understand this.

I would guess this will mean the closure of Columbia 4. Although it would be great if they could operate that as a second run theatre, something missing in this market since the closure of the Plaza Twin. Another option would be a cinema grille route with arthouse type films, something every college town should really have.

I bet the NCAA would love that "bend the rules" part.

Maybe it's a concession that the Betty was foolishly underbuilt with a seating capacity of only 4000. If they could have gone 5500-6000 it would have been perfect. Unless it's a game of Kansas-like magnitude, hoops in the Ralph just doesn't make sense. With complaints about atmosphere for hockey, it seems like the Ralph will be morgue-like for games against what will be left of the NCC.

With all NCC hoops at the Ralph, what exactly is the point of the Betty? This also makes it look like another road heavy late schedule for the hockey team and with all those basketball games I would expect poor ice conditions. I wish I understood the thought processes going into these new facilities.

Mankato's bad record hurt your RPI and Bemidji's good one helped Minnesota. Also, should Bemidji's RPI get above .500 so they become a TUC, or if they win the CHA tourney and they become one automatically, that will hurt you since you lost to them. Here's my prediction of the tourney pairings if the season ended today. West North Dakota vs. Bemidji State Minnesota-Duluth vs. Ohio State Midwest Minnesota vs. Massachusetts Michigan vs. St. Cloud State Northeast Boston College vs. Holy Cross New Hampshire vs. Denver East Maine vs. Brown Wisconsin vs. Miami

I'm pulling for a split. The Sioux still control their own destiny with the Bulldogs, so no reason to pull for a Gopher sweep. Also, Minnesota is up to #4 in the PWR, notching a top seed and keeping them out of North Dakota's bracket. Don't want to see them on the Olympic ice come tourney time. A split gives us a chance to retake sole lead over the Bulldogs and is probably enough to keep the Gophers in the top 4 of the Pair Wise. This is a huge series for Minnesota, if they are swept it will be very tough to make the top 3, which is vital this year.

The wonder of the web cam. I think we'd all like to do this sometimes. http://www.e-places.net/samples/stfu.html?fix

Minnesota should be made to forfeit due to unplayable conditions. This is a joke!

The Hyatt gatherings are usually quite good. One note though, there is no $10 cover charge. That was a mistake in an alumni association mailing. I wish it was for both nights, rather than just Saturday. I'd be interested if anyone knows about anything for Friday night.

Yeah, maybe we should go to IAA where that problem doesn't exist.

Dogz makes a great point UND vs top half of WCHA 7-1-1 UND vs bottom half of WCHA 5-0-1 Minn vs top half of WCHA 0-5-1 Minn vs bottom half of WCHA 8-2-0 We'll see this weekend. Both teams have a lot of tough games left, but the next two weeks will tell a lot about the Gophers, with UND and Wisconsin coming to town.

Didn't mean the westerner thing as a slight, I am one myself, but that area is not nearly as in to hockey and it would make more sense for two NFL athletes to be rated higher than a hockey player. There have been many years where there was little or no media coverage of the Sioux hockey team in the western part of the state. Radio affiliates often pre-empt games for local high school sports or are of a low power unavailable outside of Bismarck or Minot.

How quickly we forget Virgil Hill. Won a silver medal, has the most ever Lt. Heavyweight title defenses, and helped the state by bringing many of his title bouts to venues around North Dakota. I would rank him second to Maris as an athlete alone. In terms of total sporting impact, I would rank Jackson higher. Also I find the ranking of Phil Hansen and Jimmy K. above Ed Belfour stunning. Must have gotten a lot of westerners in the poll.

When the DIII proposal goes through (and it appears it will), I would like to see CC move up to DII and join the NCC. This would position the whole conference well for a possible move to DI later on. Nearly all the schools are similar philosophically. At that point, Denver could likely be coaxed to join, getting out out of the Sun Belt black hole. This would also be a great fallback position in case a Big 10 hockey league ever came to pass. A DI NCC hockey league would have the same voice in NCAA terms as the Big Ten. The league would probably be able to get a deal with CSTV, something Minnesota's Fox Sports North deal effectively prevents now. Under this scenario, the NCC could gradually up football scholarships to the IAA max of 63. I think this was a sticking point in the NCC not moving up when NDSU and SDSU left. NDSU wanted to ramp up immediately, as football is their cash cow. I could see SDSU dropping to non-scholarship football (Pioneer League) and devoting all that money to hoops, hoping to become a heartland version of Gonzaga, likely in the Missouri Valley Conference. That would leave an NCC of Hockey schools - North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota State-Mankato, St. Cloud State, Nebraska-Omaha, Colorado College and Denver Non Hockey - South Dakota, Augustana Hockey only NCC members - Alaska Anchorage and Michigan Tech (if they wanted to) Keep UAA becuase you get the extra games for playing up there and keep Michigan Tech for the MacNaughton Cup. Probably never happen, but it's interesting to think about.