Hammersmith

I won't try to speak for UND(though my gut says that the ticket office will be your best bet), but all NDSU games are either selling out or getting very close. There are generally three types of non-donation tickets: Sideline Reserved for $20, Lower End Zone Reserved for $15, and Upper End Zone General Admission for $15 for adults and $5 for youth(3 y/o and under are free but must sit on the lap of an adult). The two exceptions to that are homecoming(vs SIU) and the SDSU game. For both of those games, the upper end zone is designated reserved and there are no youth prices. All lower end zone tickets have sold out except for the SDSU game, and that's only because it's the last regular season game of the year; expect it to be sold out soon. Sideline tickets are available for all games except homecoming, but they will be high up and outside the 10's. Upper end zone seating is still available for all games, but homecoming is very close to selling out(high corners). If you go to the NDSU ticket website, you can hover your mouse cursor over a section and see a photo of the view from that section. As for other avenues, we're too new to this selling out thing to have a well-developed network. You could also try craigslist or ebay. NDSU Ticket Office: (888) 231-NDSU https://tkt.xosn.com/tickets/TicketHome.dbm...D=2400&KEY=

Ask and ye shall yada yada yada... Total enrollments for students who list ND as their address; Fall 2007: NDSU(all counties) = 6599 UND(all counties) = 6538 NDSU w/o Cass = 3197 UND w/o Grand Forks = 3370 NDSU w/o Cass & GF = 3062 UND w/o GF & Cass = 2738 Trends(2003/2004/2005/2006/2007): NDSU(all counties) = 6708/6730/6522/6681/6599 UND(all counties) = 6840/6707/7174/6703/6538 NDSU w/o Cass = 3136/3155/3047/3414/3197 UND w/o Grand Forks = 4378/4351/4123/3701/3370 NDSU w/o Cass & GF = 2973/3011/2904/3250/3062 UND w/o GF & Cass = 3742/3709/3602/3038/2738

From a hockey thread:

Personally, I think Faison/Brekke/Mussman/whoever is playing a very dangerous game. Taylor and Bohl were very careful to craft a script that ended with the Bison in a position to contend for a national championship in 2008. Any I-A/FBS games were mainly added as a measuring stick while creating a little excitement as a added bonus. The one thing the pair absolutely didn't want was a demoralizing defeat that left players injured and out for the rest of that season. Playing Texas Tech this early in your transition just seems like a prime example of that type of situation. Maybe you'll surprise the hell out of everyone and make it a good game, but the odds are not in your favor. The seemingly logical conclusion is that UND athletics needs the money. I don't always agree with Doug Fullerton, but he made a lot of sense in one of his recent interviews. In it, he was asked about the feasibility of Montana going FBS. In response, he compared Boise State to Idaho. He claimed a major difference was the reliance on bodybag games(my term, not his). According to him, Boise State only played one game that fell into that category since they've moved to FBS. Idaho, on the other hand, has based their budget around these games. Fullerton claimed that that reliance has almost doomed Idaho to be a perpetual bottom feeder in the FBS(again, my words). Those bodybag games are an almost guaranteed loss, a loss of a home game and all the revenue and excitement that home games generate, a high risk for needless injuries, and no real national attention; all in an effort to balance the books. The model Boise State has used is to play as many home games as possible to build interest and then turn that interest into money through ticket sales and donations. I don't think you need to be a rocket scientist to see the local similarities. If this TT game is just to balance the budget, then I hope it doesn't become a recurring theme. If it does, that would raise a big-ass red flag for me. Of course, I'm just an interested outside observer; it's your program.

Ball State: $150,000(2006) Central Michigan: $200,000(2007) Minnesota: $300,000(2006, 2007) Iowa State: $350,000(2009, 2014)* *Not 100% certain on the 2009 contract. I couldn't find a reliable source that included the amount.

He sells out the vast, vast majority of his shows; often the first day the tickets go on sale. If you've never seen one of his acts, here's his second Comedy Central special from YouTube: 1. Monologue Part 1 2. Monologue Part 2 3. Walter Part 1 4. Walter Part 2 5. Walter Part 3 6. Achmed Part 1 7. Achmed Part 2 8. Melvin 9. Peanut Part 1 10. Peanut Part 2 11. Peanut and Jose Now go out and buy the DVD of this one and his first special, "Arguing with Myself"; available at your local Wal-Mart or Best Buy.

Ouch. $110 + S/H per ticket. Front row, though. Almost tempting. If I didn't have a wedding in NE to go to and a possible roadtrip/minivacation to the Youngstown State game all within the next two months, I'd probably go for it. I guess I'll just have to console myself with the next DVD whenever it comes out. Okay, I'll stop whining now. It's just that he's my favorite comic. Jeff's wife following in their H1 Hummer: "I just realized something. You're driving a powder-blue Prius, there're pretty stickers on the back window, you're holding a three pound chiuaua on your lap, and you make your living playing with dolls. Honey, you're gay." <click> Jeff: "Bitch" <click>

sob

AARGH! Why didn't somebody mention this when there were still tickets available in Fargo or GF? <much swearing>

I've said from the beginning that the unwieldiness of the new names was deliberate. I think the non-football coaches at I-AA schools wanted a moniker so clumsy it would be used as little as possible. This would keep non-football coaches from larger schools from easily implying(or saying straight out) that the programs at I-AA schools were not in the same division while recuiting.

This Bison fan agrees 100%. To raise the funds needed for a fully-successful DI move, UND will have to expand its fan base and energize the fans it already has. Increased radio and TV coverage is a big part of that. The problem will be that it costs money to make money. To bring the radio broadcasts in-house, NDSU had to create and hire several new positions. Not only on the technical/broadcaster side, but on the advertising side as well. Bringing it in-house means selling all the ad space yourself. That takes time, skill and a staff. Costly. On top of that, UND is still recovering from the personnel cuts Buning was forced to make to balance the athletic department's budget. Now I'm not saying UND can't, won't or shouldn't expand its media coverage, I'm just saying Faison has something of an uphill road to climb and progress may not be as fast as everybody wants. Hopefully, things will be good enough shape next spring to rework the radio contract when it expires. The addition to the area of a couple new stations might help, but I think they all power down at night to unacceptable levels for decent sports coverage.

http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/page?p=maps

UND Basketball (Women's Hockey is very similar; not quite so far east.) NDSU Football:

Don't know if anyone is interested, but this is the nighttime radio coverage map for UND men's hockey(for now) and football: The red line is the local coverage area; the purple is distant. Info from www.Radio-Locator.com. I plan to do UND basketball and NDSU football in the next day or two.

Cool site for the OIR to put together. Would be nice if the colors meant something, but being able to click on a state/county/whatever and get the results is a wonderful feature. I think you can get the same info from NDSU's website, but it's a heck of a lot harder. Still quite a discrepancy between ND & MN, since I thought the numbers of new students from each state have been pretty equal the last few years. I wonder if students who change their address to GF after a couple years also get changed on this map?

Well, USS North Dakota is on its way. The Virginia class attack submarine, SSN-784, is under construction and will be commissioned in 2013. Navy will name nuclear sub after North Dakota Minor oops: I originally had USS North Dakota listed as SSN-783. That hull number is going to USS Minnesota.

What he said.

God, I hate to get into this pissing match, but... Did someone forget to tell local and national high school seniors that UND is clearly the premier university in North Dakota, because it doesn't seem like they got the memo. In North Dakota, more students who take the ACT list NDSU as their first choice than UND(1030/961). Also, more ND students select NDSU as one of their six total choices(2955/2835). While the ND numbers are fairly close, the numbers from Minnesota and South Dakota show a more pronounced difference(MN 1st: 777/573; MN tot: 2796/2045; SD 1st: 72/54; SD tot: 282/179). UND does win Montana(MT tot: <79/94). The breakdown of ACT scores between ND, SD & MN is identical, so neither school is attracting a better class of student than the other. Looking at applications, NDSU is getting significantly more(4382/3783). NDSU also has a higher number of students that are accepted and a higher number who actually enroll. On the flip side, UND accepts a smaller percentage of applicants(70%/85%), and more students who are accepted to UND actually enroll(70%/58%). You might think those last two sets of figures would indicate that UND's incoming class would be of higher quality than NDSU's, but the opposite is true. NDSU has small advantages in students who rank in the top tenth, quarter and half of their graduating classes, and also students who have high school GPAs above 3.75, 3.50, 3.25, & 3.00. ACT scores of incoming freshmen are a dead heat, with UND students having a very small advantage in overall average, but a higher percentage of NDSU students score above 24 and 30. Other than the sheer numbers, which are in NDSU's favor, the student bodies at the two schools are nearly identical; any differences are statistically insignificant. Since the state has never legally named a flagship university, I don't see how you can choose one over the other; our schools are just too similar in the current period of time. If it were 1950, I'd have no problem with only UND being considered a flagship, but times have changed. For the foreseeable future, North Dakota has two flagship universities. In 25 years, we can revisit the question.

Don't know if it's been posted here or not, but Lisa Persuitti(Sioux Crew director & marketing assistant) has been promoted to the position of marketing director. "Persuitti

While I'm comfortable voting for a full smoking ban, I've never been completely comfortable voting for seatbelt and helmet laws(with the exception of s/b for children). I've always thought that health/vehicle insurance companies should provide two rates: one for seatbelt/helmet users and one for those who refuse to wear them. Of course, the former's rates would be far cheaper than the latter's, but that's their choice. If a driver/rider chooses the seatbelt/helmet policy and then gets into an accident while not wearing one, the insurance company doesn't have to pay or pay only a small fraction of the medical bills. It'll never happen, but it seems the most fair to me. Does my smoking affect me? Yes. Does my smoking affect anyone else? Anyone in the vicinity(indiscriminate). Result(IMO): Worthy of a law for public places and areas where children are present. Does my wearing a seatbelt/helmet affect me? Yes. Does my wearing a seatbelt/helmet affect anyone else? Those that have to pay my hospital bills(not indiscriminate). Result(IMO): Not worthy of a law, but worthy of insurance companies charging more.

This is going to sound counter-intuitive, but the opposite of your argument may be true. In NDSU's case, probably the major reason the final decade of DII football dropped from great to good was due to the veer offense reaching the end of its small college life. With pro-style offenses/defenses reaching the DII level, NDSU could no longer use the veer to dominate opponents. If anything, we hung on to it too long. Babich's record suffered because he was making the transition to West Coast/Tampa Two with players recruited for the previous systems. The fact that he thought he was an offensive play calling genius sure didn't help matters. Those factors, added to a slew of graduations and injuries, caused the 2-8 season in 2002. By the time Bohl took over, he had all the pieces in place(Babich's recruits) for a brand new Bison squad that had little in common with the squads of the mid-90's forward. And there's the rub. NDSU was almost forced to reinvent the team even before the decision to move to DI was finalized. Because the last decade and a half has been so good for UND football, you could fall into the trap of thinking what has been working for you well in DII, will keep working for you well in FCS. Now, that's by no means a sure thing, but it is a possibility that your recent success might hold the seeds to future failure. But the real truth of the matter is that past success has little real meaning compared to other factors. We had a new coach that reinvigorated the program and has had great success. You are entering the transition with an untested head coach. NDSU was able to nearly triple donations to our scholarship fund. Will UND be able to do the same? NDSU had room for attendance to grow by nearly 8,500, or 80%. UND's attendance can only grow by about 2,600, or 26%. NDSU had a president who valued the role of athletics and an athletic director that had his confidence. Both Kelley and Faison are unknown quantities at this point. I'm not saying UND football can't, or won't, succeed(far from it). I am saying that coaching, money, and administrative leadership are each more important than past success. Right now, UND is facing questions in each of those areas. Only time will tell if the respective answers are good or ill.

Just throwing this out here... Would it be workable to have smoking licenses for businesses just like liquor licenses? That way, a city could restrict the number of smoking establishments for the public's health, yet still provide fluid exemptions to places like JT Cigarro's. A city's council or commission could set a figure of 75% non-smoking, or 90%, or even 98%. It's probably a bad idea since the system would get too complicated, too quickly, but it could provide a type of safety valve for a limited number of smoking businesses. And the precedent has already been set with alcohol.

I assume you're talking about Measure #1. If you are, it doesn't do what you seem to think it does. Measure #1 takes away the ability of the city commission to change or repeal any ordinance(initiated by citizens or referred by the commission) approved by voters. It was an attempt by the pro-smoking camp to lock the partial ban in place that backfired on them. They were afraid that the commission would vote for a full smoking ban in a couple years even if the full ban failed on Tuesday. By passing Measures #1 & #3, it would've prevented the commission from ever changing the partial ban. Instead, the full ban will now be in effect and no future commission will ever be able to remove it. Oops. While I don't mind them getting their just desserts, I also am sad it passed. I understand that many feel that the smaller the government the better, but I think the commission should have the ability to alter ordinances passed by the voters. Sometimes it might be because the initiated ordinance was worded poorly, or even illegally. Sometimes it's because an ordinance passed 25 years ago no longer has a purpose. In any case, it hamstrings the commission in some cases for no real benefit. If a future commission overturns a voter approved ordinance for no good reason, just vote the bastards out. Half the commission is up for reelection every other year; it's not like they have 10-year terms or anything.

John C. Stennis(former senator from Mississippi) is the other one. Stennis spent 11 years on the Armed Services Committee and is known as "Father of America's Modern Navy". Carl Vinson's mark on the Navy started in the 20's and lasted into the 60's. Vinson was a Georgia Congressman who was the first to serve more than 50 years in Congress. Chester Nimitz was only the greatest admiral in US history. He took over the Pacific Fleet after Pearl Harbor and held command during the entire war. He was one of four naval officers to have been promoted to the rank of Fleet Admiral(five-star) and was the last surviving member of the group(all were promoted in 1944-45). The other active carriers are named after Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt(Teddy), Truman, Eisenhower, Reagan, and H. W. Bush(under construction). The next carrier will be named after Ford, and Carter got a submarine a few years back. Enterprise is still around, of course, though Kitty Hawk is in the process of being decommissioned.

According to the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Chicago State is not an HBCU; no Illinois institution is. According to the Higher Education Act of 1965, an HBCU is defined as: