Matt

The Ohio Valley helped finance that bid to get the home game.

I tend to agree with you, but I can't help noticing on the one hand you rightfully point out the Big Sky appeared to have no interest in expanding in the central time zone (even refusing to accept the xdsus) and then they totally reversed course and offered both UxDs. On the other hand you rightfully point out that Standing Rock appeared totally opposed to approving use of the nickname. Might SR have reversed course a la the BSC and allowed a vote had there not been interference from the SBoHE after the SL approval? We will never know. They should have let things play out because, as we saw with the BSC, we may think we know things with something close to certainty at a given point in time, but often we are wrong.

If there are any feet to be held to fire, it's those feet/that fire.

I invite you to bear the flag in the quest to get a congressional investigation started.

I've seen this term used a few times, but it's a misnomer. Fear is an intangible, emotional, imagined. The issues the student athletes are facing are real, and are in point of fact right now with Iowa dropping the home and home with WBB, and the warnings from Fullerton, very tangible. You have the luxury to come on this board and minimize those consequences as if they don't really exist, or downplay the difficulty in dealing with them because when the consequences do come, it isn't you shouldering the burden.

Why does the nickname issue (referral, big sky, et al) feel like a torpedo coming at us. "The hard part about playing chicken is knowing when to flinch" The players Frank Burgraff as: the saboteur cook Tim O Keefe as: the captain (Scott Glenn) Al Carlson as: the arrogant russian captain that launched the torpedo (Stellan Skarsgaard) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxO8_lOOra8

Let's set aside for a moment which conferences UND could try to get into. Think of it from the other perspective: Given how historically rare and extraordinary the expulsion of a school from a conference is, and taking into consideration the same type of people that would vote to kick out UND are the same type of people which would have to vote UND into another conference, what college president would cast a vote to bring an expelled UND into their league?

CMU is not under sanction.

No matter where this goes, there is a civil war going on here that will continue to damage the university for years to come. Keep the nickname and, outside of men's hockey, there will be damage to the other athletic programs (hockey scheduling notwithstanding), along with anger and resentment by many fans and alumni. Lose the name, and there will be anger and resentment by another group of fans and alumni. These are as dark days as I've seen for this proud institution.

That's a good observation.

“As far as conspiracy concerns, I leave that with the JFK folks. It’s reality that we are where we are. It’s reality that I’ve talked to Joel Maturi (Minnesota athletic director) and Sean Frazier (Wisconsin deputy athletic director) and we’ve been working on schedules for 2013-14, but that stops because of the nickname and logo. They can’t play us. That’s reality. That’s nothing I’ve made up. That’s been on the books for eight years. We lost a home and home with the University of Iowa in women’s basketball — the opportunity to host a Big Ten team here. This isn’t fiction. This is all real, and we have to deal with reality. That’s my job.” Faison stressed the importance of competing against men’s hockey rivals Minnesota and Wisconsin. “I’ve heard from some fans that say it doesn’t matter if we can’t schedule Minnesota,” Faison said. “I look at them incredulously (and say), ‘Really?’ Of course it matters.” That's the UND Athletic Director quoted today. If any fans on this board have more direct information from employees or agents working on behalf of the athletic departments of Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Iowa which contradicts this information, lay your cards on the table. Otherwise, this is the most up to date, accurate information regarding the future of UND athletics playing these opponents.

Any "fan" asserting independent status as a money saver is, at best grossly misinformed to the point of foolishness, or at worst intentionally misleading.

If UND were viable with sanctions in place, Fullerton would have no reason to be talking about expulsion in the first place.

I really wonder if people appreciate the gravity of Fullerton's public comments this week. The rarity of a school being kicked out of a conference cannot be understated, so for a commissioner to talk publicly about kicking a member out blows me away. Look at the schools that received NCAA sanctions for paying players or other cheating. Those schools didn't even get kicked out of their conference. The SEC didn't even kick Kentucky out after their basketball scandal in the 80s. You would have thought with their crappy FB program, if the hoops team was causing trouble, the league may have cut them loose. SMU got the death penalty, so conference affiliation really was a dead issue, not that I would have expected the SWC at that time to do anything anyway. UND fans that doubt Fullerton's position, or stick to the "they need us more than we need them" line, do so at the peril of UND's BSC affiliation.

Good question. We can't tell for certain, but there is a big difference between getting over a hurdle in a TRANSITION vs doing it in perpetuity. The prospect of no home playoff games condemns the football program. What coach would even want that job? At least in a transition there's an end game.

If you considered the recruiting "just fine" during the transition, you have a very different definition of "just fine" than I do. Not to mention, my vision for this program, and certainly Muss' vision, is a helluvalot higher level than "just fine".

It doesn't matter what level it is at, conference decisions come down to football (see Kansas basketball's lack of influence in Big 12 realignment). The BSC will not abide a program that wins the conference championship, but must go on the road for the playoffs, putting Fullerton in the position to answer questions to local and national media about why this is happening, each and every year. If UND is the Fighting Sioux this time next year, unless the NC$$ changes it's position, my money is on the BSC acting to remove UND by their summer meeting. I haven't even begun to consider the effect of all that on football recruiting. How many times have we heard recruits talk about their excitement for the BSC?

Although Port feels the inability to host home playoff games is something the university can live with, I suspect the prospect of a Big Sky Champion UND Football team going on the road in the first round of the playoffs would be something Big Sky Presidents would find an unimpressive development. A DEVELOPMENT ALL PRESIDENTS COULD VOTE TOGETHER ON.

Well, Seward's folly turned out ok...harbinger of things to come?

I don't see where we have room to criticize ndsu. They won the great west, they have fbs wins, they won the mvfc, and now a national title. We don't like their arrogance? Too bad. Our program needs to win some games to get our own arrogance. Just win and we don't have to pay attention to the other s**t. This constant game of catch-up is now over!

I would not be surprised to learn the coach's evaluation of the WR corps is not the same as ours.

UND and MSUM in the same year? There's still the Concordia option I guess. Saul can coach the heck out of Miles' players though.

That's just a flat out ignorant statement. I guess since you aren't from here we can cut you some slack. Here's a link to the state high school activities site. http://www.ndhsaa.com/ You can see for yourself by the participation how people in this state feel about basketball. I love hockey, but it never caught on in the small towns here like it did over on the MN side.

That sucks, but i'm not too surprised. Glenn is a good recruiter.

I would have thought that fans of a team that lost at home to a d2 school would have just a shade more humility.