redwing77

You should see him golf! I hear he has a wicked slice!

There is a myriad of issues you bring up in your post, Oxbow, but I agree with the gist of it. Conservatives are no more evil than liberals, in my opinion. Liberal teachings have been used in the past to justify socialism, communism, and anti-capitalistic belief and political structures. Conservative political thought can be blamed for belief systems that were atrocious as well (Stalin's pogroms, Hitler, fascism, Pol Pot's killing fields, etc.). I think what the real root of all evil in terms of this topic is extremism. Extreme liberalism and extreme conservativist thought are really bad for everyone. Religion is an issue that is very different than a smoking ban. However, I'll leave theological debate for a different thread.

I go by experience. Eidsness isn't experienced at the DI level yet and he's practically been named the preseason #1 by everyone but Coach Hak (we don't know what he's thinking regarding this topic and won't for a while). That's a lot on one's plate, even if he was drafted. He may even be the highest drafted goaltender ever to attend UND, though I'm not sure how to find out who is, if he isn't. Kvalevog was an 8th round pick, iirc. I'm not saying the Sioux have a gaping hole in net. I'm saying that we have a very young goaltending crew with the oldest goaltender all but untested (1 meaningful game played really). Naturally, the expectations are high for this team so the learning curve is unnaturally steep for Eidsness. We have returners on D and at forward. I just hope Eidsness plays as well as Bachman, Kangas, or even Muse next season.

So he's another Walski. Excellent. We need hard workers, especially since goal is going to be our weak link this season. Eidsness may be good, but he's a freshman. I hope he's like Bachman or Kangas, but if not, then it will be a long season good defense or no.

Sorry, but this idea is just as retarded as the idea that Mankato (in hockey) would host Minnesota at the XCel Energy Center.... only the XCel Energy Center would be located in Duluth. The thing that most lament is that the Rivalry was very lucrative to the local economies depending upon where it was held (Grand Forks would benefit whenever it was held in GF, Fargo when it was in Fargo). Holding it at the Metrodome benefits Minneapolis area, if it does at all. Unless the Metrodome is getting very little of the take, this is an idiotic move.

True, but the way you put it in your initial post made it sound like just the mere fact that someone smokes, doesn't mind smoke around them, or a business owner who would like to allow smoking in their premises makes them a criminal. This is wrong. I prefer to wait for people to break the law before labeling them a criminal. If I misinterpreted your post, then I apologize.

I understand where you are trying to go, but I think you are a bit extreme by the use of the term "criminal." No one is throwing anyone in jail because they smoke or because they operate a business that allows smoking. Other than that, I understand your position completely. I do think that the point of notification that the premises allow smoking and that all employees and patrons of the business understand this position and the risks that go along with it would be a reasonable position to have. I do not support smoking establishments even if the cost of treating the end result of smoking (lung cancer) has largely paid for my parents' lifestyle and my education (my father's specialties as a cancer specialist are lung, blood, and breast cancers), but I do think that there should be equal opportunities and incentives for business such as bars to be smoke-free. I like going out and listening to local live music every now and then, but I usually couldn't do that without reeking of smoke when I got home. I don't see why having smoke-free and non-smoke-free bars and nightclubs would be so unworkable.

T.Rex - 20th Century Boy (1973): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylww2dOW7fg

Somewhat off topic, but in that article, they talk about Hextall needing to improve his skating. How does one do that? Might be a tough question to ask, but I've wondered...

I know many people who have the opportunity to send their kids to kindergarten at age 5 but elect to wait a year and send him or her to school at age 6. I wouldn't be surprised if you were dead on dagies.

I bet he turns up behind the bench at Pio games as a Student Assistant Coach (much like the Volunteer Graduate Assistant Coach). He'd get four years on athletic coaching at the DI level and, from there, can get an education and move on in some capacity either in hockey as a coach or in whatever he desires to do with his DU degree. In any case, a tough thing for an 18 year old to find out just before the draft.

can't do that really. The minority has already won this battle. The State has caved essentially. What UND SHOULD be doing right now is mobilizing the student populace into finding a new name and starting the fundraising for the renovation of all facilities to reflect whatever the nickname is changed to... or, if they decide to just take the NCAA sanctions, fund proper jerseys to be made in order to make it NCAA-compliant. In any case, I think the student body should suggest nicknames, then submit them to the Student Senate for review. They wheedle it down into a list of acceptable nicknames and take it to the alumni association and the University Senate. The Senate and Alumni Association will review the suggestions and approve or reject each nickname suggestion. Then, once the list of approved nicknames is down to 3 or 4, the list is sent back to the University community (students, alumni, faculty, staff, and admin) for votes. The University would then hold a vote within an appropriate time frame with the outcome assured as the nicknames on the ballot have all been deemed appropriate by all University parties (Students, Alumni, and University Administration/Faculty). Then the vote tallied, the nickname is announced and a logo design contest is held. If the new nickname is mascot worthy, the Student Senate can suggest ideas for one and how it would be implemented. Sure, in this system, there are going to be parties that will end up unhappy in each subgroup. However, the dichotomy already exists. If the dichotomy remains after a benign or harmless nickname is enacted, then the anti-nickname party looks ridiculous. In order to ensure as little of special interest gets into the fray, the announcement of the new nickname choices and the vote should be held very close together. There will be no University endorsed campaigns for any single nickname. Everyone gets ONE vote and ONE vote only. Faculty, Alumni, Student, whatever, the vote is even. So Ralph Englestad's vote (if he were still alive) would be worth as much as my vote as an alumni and as much as John UND Student's vote. No big money rewards. No political motivations within the vote. Then, once the nickname has been voted upon, it should be immediately ratified and an announcement should be made saying "That's the end of it. This issue is at an end. All further complaints and inquiries for or against the new nickname can be referred to the mailbox currently sitting at the bottom of the Coulee."

No, I did not hear about this. It sucks. He's got talent.

7th Round in the books: Andrew MacWilliam goes to Toronto #188 overall Joe Gleason goes to Chicago #192 overall. Cichy goes undrafted. Kind of surprised Carle, Roe, and Condon went so low. I would have thought they'd go higher than they did.

Round 7 beginning. So far, Sioux recruits yet available: Andrew MacWilliam (I think) Joe Gleason Mike Cichy I have no inside information so I have no clue if they'll be drafted at all. ------------------------------------------------ Goon- Interesting Wild Stat: They made 4 selections this draft (don't recall if they traded away their 7th round pick) and they selected a grand total of ONE forward, a Finn in the fifth round. What's up with that?

Brett Hextall gets drafted in the 6th Round #159 overall by Phoenix. Didn't expect him to get drafted, but then again, I didn't expect Bruneteau to get drafted either. LOCAL UPDATE: Jeffery Foss, who plays for RPI, is a Fargo, ND native and got drafted by Nashville in the 6th Round.

Well, the good news is that Warsofsky was drafted in the 4th round. He's a defenseman who is 5'8" tall, so I guess size may not be as big of a factor as I thought it would be. That being said, I wish they'd draft players faster. I also would like to add how surprising it is to see just how many Americans play in MJ. I thought MJ was supposedly Canadian?

Danny Kristo #56 overall (2nd round) to Montreal David Toews #66 overall (3rd Round) to the Islanders UPDATE: Fienhage goes to Buffalo #81 overall (3rd round). They traded up to get him. It was interesting because I told my dad that he'd go #82 to New Jersey. I'm pretty sure this will end the Sioux-related draft for a while. I'd be very surprised to see Cichy or Gleason or MacWilliam showing up before the 5th round. Not even sure MacWilliam or Gleason will be drafted at all. There's a chance Cichy won't be drafted. I wonder if Cichy went to the Q and logically scored a lot of points (which he would), where'd he get drafted?

Washington, IIRC, went after him, which probably depressed Ken Holland to no end. They ended up taking a goaltender (MJ, but American surprise surprise) to end the first round. They apparently also traded out of the second round. I think Detroit should have traded out of the first round and got an extra second rounder. McCollum would have been around in the 2nd round anyways. The Wild made an alright move. Michigan State's kid went higher than expected, but it wasn't a Wheeler kind of selection. All in all, not too surprising of a first round. I think a lot of future Sioux will go in the 2nd round.

Thank god I only lived through 3 years of the 70s if this is an anthem. Simply an awful, awful song. It's like Freebird x 1 billion in "awful rating."

Well the last time a college used a committee to change a nickname, it backfired BIG TIME. Marquette changed their name to just "Gold" or something like that. The students and alumni verbally fireballed the University and they changed the name again. I'd think the University of North Dakota would be smart enough to involve the students in more of a capacity than a student liaison or just the Student Senate.

Interesting. I missed the "I." In any case, this only raises the question further: How good is this league? I go from citing a league I know a little but not much about to a league I've never heard of. It's like saying the AtJHL is an exciting league full of great players. Or perhaps the MnJHL? or the MWJHL? Or the GLJHL (or whatever it is). Maybe this guy is good. Maybe this guy was good in his league. Who knows.

I think this is a bit extreme. I think the NA have a say.... provided they are currently enrolled at UND or are alumni of UND. Their say is put in this fashion: NA voter has = weight as to that of the White Middle Class Person. We're not dictators or non-democratic. However, after the nickname is gone, they are just another minority on campus and worthy of no special treatment outside of already planned or pre-existing services.

They may be linked to smoking, but they are not BECAUSE of smoking. People develop lung cancer without being exposed to much if any smoking. If we all quit smoking across the board, lung cancer wouldn't cease to exist. It'd drop something like 85-90%, but it would still stick around. The problem is that we're too quick to blame one thing for the many problems we face in this world. Heh, morbidly speaking, you want to lower health care costs? Stop spending money on people over 75 years of age. No one tells you that, in the majority of people in the United States, most of the money you'll spend on health care will be spent on you within the last 40 years of your life. After 50 years of age, the amount of money spent goes up, smoker or non-smoker. It's just how it is. BCBS raises its rates because it can. Health care rates goes up because it can. However, install a national health care plan and then watch what happens. It's bad enough now.... we'll get taxed to death. Maybe the National Health Care Plan can also cover morgue costs too. There is no good way to alleviate this problem. Lots of things contribute to it. A "drug-first" society contributes to it. This means people look for the quick fix, the drugs or health care to cure their ills that they could resolve simply by eating better and exercising more. Drug companies face a lot of charges, sure, but they spend millions (if not billions) on meaningless crap (like drug-name pens, notebooks, etc. At one point, my father was tempted by a drug company to fly to Bermuda for a drug conference all on the drug company's dime... Seriously! Put that money into R&D or take the money for that and apply it to operating costs and drug prices will decrease and it won't affect their profits). Malpractice is OUT OF FREAKING CONTROL. The price of life is a hard number to come up with, but the one thing that we must remember is this: The cost is adjustable depending upon the construction of the jury and the quality (or lack of quality) of the attorneys in the case. Health care costs are partially society's fault. We're scrambling to fix the faults in the system without trying to fix society. The "As long as I don't have to change my life" mentality is rife in the US. I know I've been guilty of it. Until that changes, we can expect higher costs. End rant.

I wonder if "bored" would qualify for me... I'm putting almost 500 miles a week (1500 miles on my car since last Wednesday... 8 days) commuting back and forth between Fargo and the Twin Cities for job interviews. I'm blowing $50+ on gas, $100 or so in hotels (if needed), and all for an interview about 30-60 minutes long and a 2 or 3 minute rejection telephone call. Seriously, 7 interviews now in the Twin Cities area. Haven't heard from 3 (two are today though). And every rejection I get I say to myself "Why the hell didn't I just flush that money down the toilet and save myself the time?" The I realized that I basically did flush the money down the toilet. Ah well. It's tax deductible and good for the economy I guess. Goon- I haven't even gotten to the golf course more than once yet, and that was one trip to the driving range.