jdub27

This letter is full of exactly what you'd expect, I almost feel like Hawk Haakenson helped him write it: Claims that this all has to do with a few text messages Wants people to call for resignations of employees at a private company and because he apparently doesn't understand that NDSU is a public entity and there is a difference Rails against agendas and witch hunts and then declares one should be started against "anti-NDSU agenda from the mostly UND alumni legislatures" Claim the legislature is mostly UND alumni. Rough count from the legislature site shows the House has 25 UND alums (27%) and the Senate has 8 (17%) for a total of 33 (23% of ND legislature). NDSU has 17 alums in the House (18%) and 18 in the Senate (38%) for a total of 35 (25% of the ND legislature). That does count two people being in both categories as they have degrees from both schools. That is also before you take into consideration that 3 of the 7 members of the SBoHE have NDSU ties (actually 4 of 8 now that the student member is an NDSU student). Claims the FCC bid was a complete joke even though it hasn't been actually made public and also claims that it would somehow be illegal if the contract had a step-down clause if NDSU didn't win 8 games claiming it is threatening them to win or pay up. He probably shouldn't have challenged them to print the letter. "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt."

It's funny when the jokes just write themselves. The newest idea to save DB is a petition! Luckily, this one carries no weight so the anonymous and unverifiable "signatures" won't get anyone in trouble this time around. Still curious why there hasn't been more made of why DB was led to believe by someone within the athletic department that the media restrictions were known before the bids and that they were common, when neither is true.

UND gets a larger allotment (by a big amount if I remember correctly) due to being the host school. It is doubtful there is a separate "Champions Club" allotment, they will just have presale access first. Once they go on sale to the general public, then whatever is left is fair game. In general, the process (outside of the arena being split in half) should end up being about the same as it was for the MSG game though I think they were still working out the final details with whoever the ticket vendor will be.

Outside of hitting home runs (which isn't his game), Mauer can't control people getting on base in front of him so he can get RBI's or hitting him in when he's on base to score runs. Runs and RBI's are a terrible stat to measure an individual hitter by, especially when his already very good numbers get even better with RISP. As for his salary, no he probably isn't living up to the dollar amount he's being paid but it probably balances out the years that he was significantly underpaid. He has been "worth" $287 million in his career and he's been paid $177 million. Obviously his move from catcher to 1st base lessens his overall value going forward but it doesn't change where he ranks comparatively in value. It will be almost impossible to live up to the standards placed on him but it isn't like that is what is hamstringing the Twins. They've had millions in unspent payroll for years. Again, hopefully some new blood will help solve the issue.

Wins Above Replacement. I'd add that the AL 1st baseman production isn't what it was 5-10 years ago, but it still is what it is. The one year he hit 28 HR's was obviously an outlier and RBI's are a misguided stat. With runners in scoring position, Mauer's career numbers are .330/.457/.472, which is better than his overall career numbers of .311/.393/.448.

Mauer is the second or third best 1st baseman in the AL this season (top 10 in MLB). His production obviously isn't what it was, but again, you can do a pre and post concussion comparison and see the drop off. He is far from sub-par though. I didn't say it was a good move (especially in hindsight, not that I agreed with it at the time), I said it was done to win at the time. While it ended up being more of an aberration than anything, Capps had a pretty damn good year in 2010. Nishioka was a flop, no getting arguing that and trading Hardy wasn't the right move but Hardy wasn't exactly durable, only playing in 101 games and obviously no one could have predicted a career year after leaving Minnesota, which is why the return for him wasn't all that great. That resurgence obviously makes the move look much worse than it was at the time I wasn't excited when Smith was hired and he made more than his share of bad moves. I think the Twins doubled down on it by bringing Ryan back but he probably though he could fix things since he was still on as an advisor and wasn't out of the loop on a lot of the moves. Regardless, let's hope for new blood and someone that has a little bit of an understanding of analytics because the Twins are embarrassingly far behind in some scouting areas.

Because Terry Ryan could have done it much sooner and didn't, instead of leaving it to a brand new GM to handle, he punted on taking the action while he was in charge. Even then he stay was still on as an advisor, so he had input. As for the it being the fourth best option, that is all speculation on what exactly the other offers were. I'm not saying Smith isn't culpable in all of it, he is. But Terry Ryan has his fingerprints all over it as well. While it ended up not working out, it could have been worse, Smith could have actually resigned him instead of trading him. As for Ramos/Capps. It wasn't a great deal but it was a "win now" move instead of long-term outlooks. The 8th and 9th innings would have been on lock-down, but that doesn't matter when the offense can't score against the Yankees. Sometimes those gambles pay off, sometimes they don't. It also shows GM's (not Twins specific) weird obsession with the need for a "proven closer". The dig on Mauer is pretty weak as well. 2011 was complications and issues from offseason knee surgery. It is what it is. If you're taking digs at him now for playing first instead of catching because he has had multiple brain injuries, than I'm not sure how to even argue how wrong that is. Your last point we can fully agree on. Smith probably shouldn't have been hired (again, partially on TR for mentoring and recommending) and TR shouldn't have had a second stint, the game has passed him by as a GM. They need new blood in the front office.

Very true. Unfortunately they keep hoping those guys will turn into 2nd or 3rd starters and aren't having a high success rate on that theory. You can win that way but you can't miss as often as they have. I can't ever see the Twins giving out a true #1 starter contract to a free agent. The last two true #1 starters they Twins had were Santana (Rule 5 draft) and briefly Liriano (trade). So its either trades or drafts were they will likely have to find their next one.

Tough to fully blame Smith on the Santana trade considering that Ryan had basically punted on making an inevitable decisions while he was in control. The Twins weren't going to give him the contract that was coming (nor should they have). While he made some bad moves, I'd also argue Smith made some pretty good moves as well: Pavano, Thome, Orlando Hudson. This article is a pretty good breakdown of his tenure and it should probably be noted that he learned under Terry Ryan and was pretty much handpicked. In the end, you can look at a ton of decisions made any GM and it will be a mixed bag and with a lot of it coming down to luck. That being said, Smith wasn't the answer nor was Terry Ryan the second go around and it was time for him to go. The Twins need completely new blood in their front office.

He tried contacting DB for a comment and his office referred them to the original statement he released last week. That's not on Port, he tried to get the verification you wanted. What more do you think he should have done?

Some of the texts weren't appropriate regardless of context, which is DB admitted and said they were in bad taste. As to the rest of it, that was my point: why was he supposedly led to believe the conditions were known to all those who bid and they were common around the country when neither is true and who led him to believe that? Seems like that person would have some explaining to do for their actions since that bad information is a portion of what is causing DB's issues.

So, if DB's newest e-mail is to be taken at face value (), then he was led to believe some very incorrect things about the new guidelines which was the basis for his support. The leads to a pretty interesting question on who is responsible for this supposed incorrect information, why they misinformed him and what kind of consequences that has. This is a complete aside for the inappropriate texts/e-mails, which are a whole separate issue that reflects poorly.

You are correct, blaming others for the issues caused by their leadership has been a calling card of the Fargo faithful for for quite a while now. My mistake. JJ and ML put in a bunch of restrictions after the fact to spite FCC. They only corrected it after they underestimated the backlash their pettiness caused. FCC requested all the bids to publish them and NDSU still hasn't released them. Also interesting that JJ would have benefitted from those restrictions he put in place as a host a radio show on the 1660...

This is clearly the new talking point out of Fargo. It's all a witch hunt never mind the strange coincidence how there is always something to be found. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes, they aren't exactly shooting in the dark to find these things like some seem to think. A lot easier to blame the messenger than admit the are problems in your own house. Knowing all of this, especially when you've already put a target on your back, and then handling the situation like it was is quite mind-boggling.

I think that's some serious extrapolating on your part when he only specifically mentions locker room access. Now he spins that as them wanting exclusive access to something when they complained about the same thing, but again, locker room access is a far cry from the original policy. Again, if it would have been exactly the same, he would have not missed a chance to drive that point home. Since he didn't, I have a pretty good feeling the exclusivity stopped at the locker room stuff.

The only thing written about what protections FCC wanted was exclusive pre and post game locker room access (taken from Heitkamp's article). That is nowhere near the same stratosphere of the media restrictions originally put in place and then rescinded. This is the exact false assumption I was talking about. Once NDSU releases the bids (as was requested by FCC over a week ago), we'll know for sure, but I feel pretty confident that if they would have wanted the exact same thing they were complaining about, Heitkamp would have said exactly that.

I get a kick out of how fast FargoU fans have turned on the two guys that have been first class in covering NDSU the last 5-10 years, including a lot of kid glove treatments. They also seem to be confused about what was supposedly in Forum Communications bid. If Heitkamp is to be believed (I know, but let's just go with it), Forum Comm had a few stipulations: Exclusive pre and post game access to the locker room. This isn't even close to what RFM and KVLY were originally given. Does anyone even report from the locker room currently? If they do, it's minimal and coverage for other outlets would have been affected minimally. Access to ESPN feeds. No clue why or how that is even possible, but whatever. Likely would have been excluded because I'm not sure NDSU has the ability to grant that. Amount of contract contingent on winning at least 8 games a season. Depending on what the base amount was and how much less the contract would be worth if they didn't win 8 games, I'm not even sure how big of a deal this is. If the base offer was higher than the others, then FCC is just protecting themselves because who knows how quick the bandwagon might empty if there is a poor season. Did NDSU leave money on the table because they were unsure about winning 8 games every year. Again the difference between the amounts is key to how big of a deal this is. At least FCC put those in their proposal (again, per Heitkamp). Did RFM and KVLY even put the items they were granted in their proposal or did JJ and ML get upset and grant them after the fact? Big difference, and if NDSU was able to walk back everything that fast, I'm guessing they were being spiteful and arrogant and decided to grant the new access rules after the fact.

I have to admit, this made me laugh even though I don't think that was your intention.

I was unable to watch live hockey on Midco Anywhere sometime in the last year or two.

Definitely keep. Appearances may change but history is not forgotten.

I mean, who gives a sh!t about the consequences, as long as nothing ever changes! Amirite?

Add in: -New 5 year partnership with KFGO -New video boards installed at the Betty -New on-air talent covering UND from Midco -First indoor home track meet in 30+ years announced -Couple new football games announced for future years I think personal dislike of specific people within the athletic department is clouding someone's judgment on this one.