diggerdan

The sports center is most certainly not paid off. There is no way the arena could have generated, in two years, the funds necessary to build the sports center and no further donations have come in. It is my understanding that financing has not been finalized but that REA will be borrowing the $7 million. edit - BTW, much of the information in the Forum letter is inaccurate. The arena makes money. How much we may never know, but enough that it was able to jump start the women's hockey program to the tune of about $300K last year. Also, REA is taking over much of the athletic department "leg work" like ticketing and marketing. I don't know if that's a good thing or not as their priorities may not be in sync with the AD's office but I can tell you that from a bottom line ($$$) perspective, they are very good at what they do. Back on topic - UNC's BB schedule is quite an eye opener....and a revenue killer. It's only year one though.

I deleted my previous posts, mainly because the quote was removed, but also because I now believe that WPoS did not intend to be offensive or to in any way belittle our name. I am glad that the situation was dealt with rationally and credit Sprig for that as well.

Very nice Jim. I had the Sioux going 7-9 the rest of the way, which I think is a "the wheel's fell off" scenario. Even with that record, home ice is almost a certainty, which was really the goal of this team from the start. More likely, I think the Sioux will finish 10-6, which should put them in 2nd or 3rd. As other posters have said, the road series at Minny, CC and Denver are key. To avoid a tough 1st round opponent and the final 5 play-in game, UND must get 4 points out of these 3 series. It doesn't sound like much but.......

I wonder what B&N would do if 51 people signed a petition asking that Catcher in the Rye, Go Ask Alice, Adventures of Huck Finn, Of Mice and Men, etc. be removed from the bookstore or be sold "under the counter". Maybe the situation with these books isn't the same but should B&N be put in a position of having to determine the potential "offensiveness" of a new literary work before they put a big display in the front of the store to market it?

Good analysis Pat but I wonder if the Sioux needed Greene this weekend. They didn't seem to need a physical presence and the PIMs that Matt brings could have really hurt the team. Greene will be needed this weekend though. Also Pat do you know if the Sioux track ice time for the games? I would love to know how much time Schneider and D. Hale logged this weekend. Leinweber and Marvin saw much more action on Saturday but it seemed to be at Fuher's expense more than the other two.

I could of swore that was Connelly's but it didn't happen "right in front of me". I can't fault Connelly's effort on Friday and as jk pointed out, he was effective in the CC end. Regardless, his play in the Sioux end was poor. I thought Ryan had a solid game all around on Saturday.

A very gritty effort by the Sioux to come back after getting completely outclassed in the first 12 minutes. It almost seemed that they were shellshocked upon seeing a team that was as fast, or faster, then they were. Also, CC forechecks and cycles the puck very well and that further exposes what I think remains the weakness in our team - puck movement out of the zone. The play of the team as a whole was good however the players who had poor games really stood out tonite because they hurt the team. Schneider, Fuher and Hale had to log 80% of the ice time because Marvin and Leinweber.... couldn't. Connelly had numerous turnovers in his own zone, one of which led directly to a goal. Fylling and Palmiscino just stood around. Prpich had a very good game. I just love this guy. He never lets down, not even for a second. Bochenski is a horse and forces teams to play him specifically, which CC did. Scott Owens said that "luckily, the puck never found his stick". Lundbohm, Spiewak, R. Hale and Massen looked very good as well. I thought Jake Brandt had a very good game. Cullen skated in alone for the rebound on the first goal - Bochenski had a chance to tie him up but let him go and judging by his expression heading to the bench, I'm assuming he screwed up. The second goal was a wicked shot from Clarke. Polaski scores the third goal on a redirect because Connelly passes the puck right to Jozsa at the blue line.

I agree.

Although it's your board and you are free to administrate it as you please, I wish you would reconsider. Clair is a rarity in that he is a true idiot, not just playing one. It is amusing to watch as the board tries to educate him (myself included), knowing full well that it is not possible. tony, I'm not sure what you mean about "speculating on all that other stuff" but I believe UND should go DI. I fairly certain it is on the 5-7 year horizon but I believe it needs to be pushed up to 2005. I would have liked it if UND had moved with NDSU but now would feel inclined to wait and see what, if any, restructuring comes out of the 2004 NCAA meetings.

This story appears to be well investigated and I have little doubt it is accurate. UND will have to forfeit all games played so far for sure. Anything else would depend on the NCAA although it is unlikely they would impose additional sanctions in this case. Allen's career in college basketball is over however and Reverend Richie looks foolish. The only positive (if there is such a thing) is that it was discovered before NCC action took place. Kudos to the Forum for not sitting on this.

chusby is typically of nose-in-the-air, I-know-what's-best-for-everyone thinking that dominates the mindset of those most vocally opposed to the nickname and logo. Only the opinions of those Indians who don't like the name matter, the opinions of those who like or could care less (the vast majority BTW) don't count because they're unenlightened or feel threatened. Unbelievably to people like chusby, most Indians want issues like health care, education and living conditions to be addressed within their communities. Ironically, these are issues that UND hits head on with its nationally recognized programs. However, free thinkers like chusby have no time to delve into these insignificant issues as they have countless name change petitions to circulate, rallies to attend, or message board diatribes to post. I will listen to the voice of the Sioux nation when it stands up and says "Change the name". However, it hasn't spoken yet. Not even close. And don't give me that crap about resolutions from tribal councils either. No form of government in this country is more alienated from the people they represent than your average tribal council. Less than two hours drive from Grand Forks sits a Sioux reservation with over 5,500 enrolled members. You would think that name opponents need only tap 10% of this populace to produce a very powerful name change rally. Spirit Lake Nation citizens at the last name change rally - less than 10. I think that pretty much says it all. The only people who want the name changed are those like chusby who think that a token gesture like this will make up for the sins of an expanding society over a century ago. Sorry chusby, I usually don't like to get mixed up in the name change issue but an idiot must be taken to task for his or her ignorance and piousness. Now run to another board and whine and cry how we don't listen to alternative viewpoints on the SiouxSports board. Fly away, little chusby. Fly, fly, fly.

And Bob Babich appears to be a candidate for the Tulsa opening. Babich a 'serious' candidate at Tulsa Its interesting that this story (Lennon to Sac St.) is getting more attention from the Bee than from the Herald. Lennon is only one of the candidates for the Sac St job but he's UND's only head football coach. Even the blurb the Herald ran today is just a rehash of the last Bee article. I'm speculating that Lennon will be seeking two things from UND: a raise in salary to the $100,000 neighborhood (and maybe more than a 1 year deal; Blais is the only coach with a multi year deal I think) and a commitment that the University will seriously study a move to DI. Therefore, I conclude that he is gone. I would assume that Bubba would be first in line to replace him.

Nice tribute on the home page of theralph.com

Here's a release from the Forum. Not much so far. Breaking News

Have heard, from a reliable source, that Ralph Engelstad passed away last night in Las Vegas. Will try to post a link to the news announcement when it comes out.

Actually, I have always thought that this was an academic benefit of going D-I for NDSU. It must be tough for SDSU and NDSU to compete for research money against the other land-grant schools across the nation. Athletics has a great deal to do with the perception of a university. Of course, I have no evidence to support this. I do feel the lure of more $$$ in research grants is Chapman's primary motiviation in pushing D-I at NDSU.

dagies, I thought Prpich had a fantastic weekend against Wisco as well. Very active, strong checker, even created some scoring chances. He works very hard and is becoming one of my favorites.

I agree with everything everybody said. U2Bad1 - the crowd did seem dead. Did you also notice we are back to the late arriving crowd again? The lure of the new arena must be wearing off. Like Blais said, the Sioux generated good pressure but never really finished anything off. I think that might have had alot to do with the crowd. Also, the first two goals were just slapping at a loose puck, nothing too exciting there. The crowd was ready to explode when Greene and Chytka were doing their pre-fight tango, but it never materialized. It seemed like a lackluster game, be it because the Sioux were a little out of sync on offense or they were just playing down to Anchorage's level. Anyway, there is no doubt in my mind that we would have lost this type of game last year. I also think Parise was trying too hard. Hopefully we'll see something special tonight. I was very impressed with Bochenski and Fuher. I don't know where Bochenski gets this knock of being a poor skater. He's seems that he's got more than enough speed and its impossible to take him off his skates. Massen is another who is very strong on his skates. Those two fight through alot of crap to get to the net. Saw Speez, HKNTSMN and Sockeye Sioux on the ice. Nice that most of the parents could make it. Sockeye looked great in her #22 jersey.

Although kind of funny, I think too much is being made of this. For one thing, the quote may not even be accurate. Even if accurate, it may be attributable more to Brooks' relationship with Blais than anything else. It just like Reusse to latch on to this though. He likes to stir the rumor mill and has no affinity for the gophers. He knows the big hockey boosters will cringe at this and wants to twist the panties a little tighter. ScottM, I had heard that Herbie felt Minnesota was working a little too hard behind the scenes to thwart the building of the NHC and other things being done to get the program at St. Cloud off the ground. Whether they were or not, that might also explain his relationship with Minnesota now. Do you know anything about this?

Coincidently, Virg's hockey notes column today has this nugget:

Fumbles, interceptions, penalties, missed assignments, missed tackles, missed FGs, blown coverage, dropped balls, poor officiating, questionable play calling, a mysterious "dancing defense", and a lunatic on the opposing sideline. Start to finish, one of the more poorly played football games I've seen in a long time. On the plus side: a much better crowd than I anticipated. dbarker, I'm scratching my head on the play calling as well. The receiver screen has been a joke all year. In fact, we can't run any type of screen well (side note, anyone see the Pack on Monday nite? Talk about a screen pass as a thing of beauty). I thought we could have run our receivers and ends across the middle all day long, instead we continue with these sideline patterns which just play into the hands of a defense short on skill.