PCM

Okay wildlife experts, is there a prairie dog living in my garage? Here are the photos my wife took of the rodent after my kids lured it out with a piece of peanut butter toast. Here's a link to the best, most detailed image. Please don't tell me that it's a gopher. If this is a prairie dog, why is it in my garage by itself instead of living underground in a colony? I know that it's eating the bird seed that falls out of our bird feeder, which hangs on the garage. The seed in the garage is in a plastic bucket with a heavy brick on the lid. So I know that it can't get into the mother lode. As far as I can tell, this animal is living between the outside wall and the inside fiberboard wall. Besides driving Sunny the beagle nuts, the rodent is pooping and peeing all over the garage. I'm thinking the best course of action is to have the city animal control personnel trap it and take it to a nearby colony. If it is a gopher...well...the Fourth of July is almost here.

I had something similar happen during the 2006 WCHA Final Five in St. Paul. I was buying a Coke at a concession stand in the X while wearing my black Sioux hockey jersey. Out of the blue, the guy waiting on me said, "I really like the way North Dakota's jerseys are put together. They're very sharp. I hope UND gets to keep the Fighting Sioux name." I was so taken aback that all I said was, "Thanks. I do too." It's probably safe to assume that this person wasn't a Sioux fan. I thought it was great that he went out of his way to say that.

Heck no! I'm just trying to generate interesting discussion.

Did you think that I didn't know what type of response Starman's comments would generate?

Consider this a preemptive strike.

Here's an interesting Kessel-Toews comparison by CSTV's Dave Starman:

How do you know that there won't be a similar press conference in the near future?

So the organization that created the division classifications gets no say in how they're abbreviated because it doesn't like UND's nickname? I suppose that makes sense -- somewhere.

My preference is for blowing stuff up real good.

It's a great read about one of my favorite topics: team chemistry. Fermoyle does an excellent job of explaining how important team chemistry is on and off the ice. He reveals how T.J. Oshie helped make his teammates better players on the ice and how they helped make him a better student off the ice. Plus, there's a nice picture of T.J. and his father.

I agree, and I say that based on watching the playoff games from the season just ended. Spirko was huge in those games, scoring big goals, setting up goals, playing on special teams, blocking shots and making smart defensive plays. Even if nobody else leaves, the Sioux will be short on experienced forwards next season. Having Sparky back would have helped a great deal.

Have you ever heard of Brandon Bochenski?

The normal process is that someone in charge of the school (such as the president) or some governing body with legal authority would decide to make the change. I don't see why, but with the way the NCAA is run these days, who knows? Until the NCAA Executive Committee decided to ignore the association's bylaws and constitution, its member institutions had the autonomy to make such decisions on their own. If UND's lawsuit goes to court, we'll probably find out.

I could be wrong, but I thought it was something like, "Is the NCAA going to go after Notre Dame and the Fighting Irish next?"

It's just you.

I think Scott got William & Mary's NCAA appeal confused with UND's lawsuit. Maybe the fact that the appeal was written by W&M's Chancellor Professor of Law and Coordinator of Legal Affairs caused further confusion.

Here

Careful. Scott said a number of things that weren't accurate. I think this is one of them.

I'm not sure that's correct. It's the first I've heard of it.

For those who can't listen, I'll post a quick summary of Kupchella's comments shortly after his segment is done.

Thanks for the link. Here's what I thought was the most interesting part of the story:

Unless the schedule changes, Kupchella is scheduled to be on Sean Hannity's show with Scott Hennen at 4:06 p.m. (CDT) this afternoon.

I want to alert everyone that Scott Hennen will be subbing for Sean Hannity on his radio show this afternoon. UND president Charles Kupchella will be a guest to discuss the NCAA's American Indian nickname policy. The show runs from 2-5 p.m. (CDT). Unfortunately, I don't know exactly when Kupchella will be on. If I find out, I'll post it here.

Are you sure that's not Jeff Lynne of ELO?

Show me the money!