PCM

Dear Dr. Brand: How on earth does racial stereotyping, hostility and abuse on this scale occur on your watch? Fight Breaks Out at Las Vegas Bowl Rally The Haka as described in Wikipedia. BYU football players performing the Haka. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPKUjAFkIig A New Zealand rugby team defeats France by performing the Haka. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPKUjAFkIig PS: Do you think Myles would allow an NCAA team to call itself the "All Blacks"?

Dang tootin'! I'm sure I can take Little Round Top this time.

When this debate is done, can we refight the Civil War?

I put a fresh battery in my calculator.

That's never been the argument. The free expression argument is about whether the minority of a minority has the right to censor words and images in the public domain that it finds offensive. Which does not preclude a lawsuit on First Amendment grounds at some point in the future. Does that mean that university administrators can't be held accountable for their decisions and the examples they set? Because as the parent of a student attending a public university, I do expect accountability. As a taxpayer who foots the bill to support public institutions, I expect accountability. While I'm sure that administrators of certain universities would prefer to make decisions in a vacuum -- free from public scrutiny, discourse and criticism -- I don't plan on issuing them a pass simply because they've managed to establish free speech exclusion zones on their campuses. It's an issue of such critical importance that it transcends UND's DI plans and the desire of some Sioux boosters to mimic NDSU.

Committee member Linda Brady's comments must be read in their entirety to be truly understood and appreciated. So nobody has the right to speak for the community except the one person who's offended. Can we call her the nutty professor?

I wasn't aware that I needed your permission.

He's already scored 57 goals? That's amazing! (PS: I know what you meant. )

Minnesota can still have its policy, regardless of what happens with the court case. Wisconsin and Iowa had policies against playing schools with American Indians nicknames years before the NCAA came up with its policy.

#$&*# USCHO!!! Why the heck can't I link my recap?

I agree. I think Myles probably philosophized his adversaries into submission. He's still at it.

You don't? I do. I understand that some won't agree with Hakstol's reasoning, but he did explain why he did it.

I hate to be the one to tell you, but you should know that there are rumors floating around.

That kid's no good. The goalie sucks.

So the season's over?

Did I say that? I believe that I have been saying the exact opposite. Yes, I'm well aware that Minnesota is winning with a young team, and congratulations to the Gophers for their mid-season excellence. They had a young team last year, too, and we all know how that turned out. If they win a national championship with a team that young, they will be the exception to the rule that maturity and experience are important factors in a team's success. I also remember a young, talented team that went 19-1-4 until the second week of January and then went 3-8-2 for the next two months. Some will remember how that Sioux team struggled to get home ice, barely beat Denver to make the Final Five, was bounced out of the Final Five by UMD its first game and bounced out of the NCAA playoffs by Ferris State.

I saw the story on the front page of the Herald this morning. Very sad news. My son went to school with Jason and was pulling for him all the way. My heart goes out to Jason's family and all his friends and relatives. He proved himself a very special person during his all-too-short life.

Ya gotta have a dream!

It's different because it's not the same team. The 04-05 team barely averaged three goals per game. The Spirko-Zajac-Stafford line didn't really become the "men among boys" line until near the end of the regular season. That was two freshmen and a sophomore providing much UND's offense. What got the Sioux by that year was Parise's goaltending and a big, physical, experienced defensive corps. It also helped that by playoff time, guys like Fabian, Massen, Canady, Genoway and McMahon who hadn't been scoring much started popping in goals. Just because the puck isn't going in the net now doesn't mean it will stay that way the entire season. Last season, the Sioux had Zajac, Stafford, Spirko, Towes, Oshie and Duncan up front, yet they were hardly an offensive jugernaut, averaging about 3.7 goals per game. With the exception of the 01-02 season, none of the Sioux teams under Blais ever averaged under 4 goals per game. The Sioux struggled much of last season, but made it to the Frozen Four with the help of Parise's goaltending and Smaby being the experienced anchor on defense. And once again, the offense started coming around by season's end. This season, some of the key elements that made UND's defense good the past two seasons are gone. We don't have as many big, physical defensemen as we did the past two seasons. We don't have Parise. And I'm not saying that neither Lamoureux nor Grieco are capable of filling his skates. I am saying that their job is a lot more difficult without an experienced D-corps in front of them and without much support from the offense. As Hakstol said, when the team is scoring only 2 or 3 goals a game, the margin of error is very slim and every defensive mistake is magnified. He's exactly right. The team's style of play and mindset changes when not making any mistakes that cause goals becomes more important than scoring goals. Hakstol understands what Blais understood: The best defense is a good offense. If you don't have a great defense, you sure as heck better have the offense to compensate for it. We know that some of the players who were expected to do a lot of scoring haven't been. We know that some of the forwards who were expected to step up their scoring haven't done it. And although this year's freshman class isn't last year's, I see signs that Forney, VandeVelde, Zajac and Genoway will contribute more offensively as they gain experience. This leads me to another point. The past two weekends, I've heard the coaches of teams that swept the Sioux talk about how maturity and experience factored into their success against UND. I don't care what anyone says, there's no escaping the fact that this year's team is young. There is no substitute for maturity and experience in the WCHA.

I've been around longer than Yoda. He's channeling me!

It's nice to see that people know when to use "Vaht?" in the proper context. I fixed my post.

No, but the last two seasons the Sioux have gone through stretches in which they've struggled to score goals.

I plan to do double duty. I'll also be on the lookout for Swedish hockey players for UND's women's team. It's the least I can do.

Nope. I've been beating this drum for the past couple of seasons. I agree with Tim Hennessy who said during last week coaches show that if the Sioux would score a few more goals, a lot of the team's problems would disappear.