nd1sufan

Perhaps he should have made the donation of 2000 wheel chairs to a Jewish Childrens Hospital. Maybe that would have been a good way to show his sincere regret for the parties and show that he was not a racist.

Yeah, you can do whatever you want with this $110 million dollar gift, but first I'm going to build a $110 million dollar arena with it, then you can spend whatever is left. Do you think if it was actually a gift to UND that they had any control over, they would have spent every penny on the arena? My guess is they probably would have used at least half on other things to benefit the university. My guess (and its only an opinion) is that Ralph never made a donation that didn't have strings attached.

Quitting the team and staying in school. Going pro because your that damn good and quitting school. Hmm, a lot different that getting kicked out of school because your so bad acedemically that tutors, summer school and 'the athlete' slack combined can't get your grades up to even minimum standards!!.

Have you looked at the geography of the Big Sky? What do you think is a tougher travel schedule? Hoping on an hour and a half flight from Denver to Fargo, or flying from Sacramento to Phoenix and then taking a 2-1/2 hour bus ride to Flagstaff? How about the 4 hour bus ride through the mountains in the middle of winter from Missoula to Bozeman? In case you haven't noticed yet, this is a plane league with some rather lengthy trips. From what we have heard, and I don't have a link or quote to prove it (sorry), most of the opposing coaches that have come to Fargo for a game are pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to into Fargo. By the way, President Gamble from Montana State just told Hallstrom last week that he wants to add NDSU immediately. It wasn't over a year ago as you have claimed.

DaveK Montana's year before they played the Bison was similar to UNI's year last year. I would only assume since ths Sioux are so much better off now than the Bison were then, it would be a big disappointment to you if the Sioux don't win this game by at least 10.

If they add only one school in the Big Sky, it will be NDSU. They have a big supporter in the Montana State President, and to my knowledge, SDSU has no booster in the BSC like that. Also, the obvious travel partner for Northern Colorado is NDSU. Have you checked the flight schedules to see how easy it is to get from Denver to Fargo? An hour and a half flight and you are on campus or at your hotel 10 minutes after landing. You would have to fly into Sioux Falls and bus to Brookings. That is something that NDSU has over SDSU or UND that the other schools in the BSC will look at, especially with Delta starting flights from Fargo to Salt Lake. Every Big Sky school has to fly into Minneapolis to get to Grand Forks in every sport except football (where they would probably fly on a charter). The BSC will not take SDSU because it thinks it will have an easier time adding NDSU & UND in the future. You may want to think UND has that kind of appeal, but I'm afraid you are mistaken. They will take the one they consider the best option to get out of their scheduling nightmare a nine team league has caused them. They know going to a twelve team 2-division conference will take some convincing of some of the presidents (maybe 2 or 3 years down the road), but they really want an even number for scheduling, so adding one is their immediate option.

One major difference, NDSU had a president that wanted to make the move, UND's obviously does not want to make the move. After listening to the Big Sky Commissioner on WDAY radio tonight, I think the Big Sky thing is still a couple of years away from happening, and he realizes that may be too late for the Dakota schools. It sounded like he realizes the Mid-Con or another conference may be knocking on NDSU's door before his presidents will make a decision.

What about Mr. Bollingers comment after signing day that UND & NDSU went head to head on 9 top area kids this year, and NDSU got all 9 of them. And this is a Bison team still ineligible for the playoffs. It was posted on the Areavoices blog by Hallstrom or Kolpack. The Sioux may get one or maybe two a year for various reasons, but it will be an exception, not the rule.

A good letter, but a Div 1 NCC is not a viable option. The waiting period for a new conference to get an automatic bid in any sport is at least 13 years. It would make more sense to remain an independent and wait for an opening in an established conference.

That must make the Sioux the cupcake crumbs, since that is what they have getting for players the last couple of years, the leftovers the Bison didn't want.

Maybe you can help me out, but which one of the Big Sky schoold are "name schools" in basketball. I would say on the lists from both conferences, Valparaiso is the most recognizable "name school" there. As for football, a Great West team made the playoffs last year and will probably continue to make it every year considering the strength of the league even without an automatic qualifier. The GWFC is also talking to the Big South (also with 5 teams) about merging to get the automatic qualifier.

That Gene Taylor quote sounded somewhat familiar. In fact, I think I heard it coming from the UND administration and coaches about 3 years ago when NDSU announced their move. It doesn't matter who said what and when, the truth is neither program really wanted to play the game this year. If they had, it would have happened. UND didn't get serious about the game until it was too late. Maybe they should negotiate now and announce a game for Sept 07 in the Fargodome.

This is one Bison fan who would pick the Mid-Con over the Big Sky. The only thing the BSC has going for it is football, and we will be ok in the Great West. Basketball and all other sports are better in the Mid-Con. I think the invite will be coming sooner from the Mid-Con and NDSU should jump at it.

No, they didn't say "take a hike" (although I think they would have every right to). When UND finally decided they would make an effort to play the game, NDSU had one open date left and 2 options, and they chose the best one. If UND had agreed to the game before the CSP game was scheduled, I'm sure NDSU would have been happy to host UND for the season opener.

Jim, The Bison "flat out refused" to play the Sioux this year? What would you have chosen, Playing the Sioux as a second D2 gane, or taking $300,000 and regional exposure on Fox Sports Net to plat a Big 10 team? It sounds like a no brainer to me. Perhaps if the Sioux had agreed to a game before the Bison had Concordia St. Paul on their schedule as the only D2 game they will play something could have been worked out.