fightingsioux4life

Yeah, I wish I was his agent. Those guys make good money. And if I was AP's agent, I wouldn't behave like a jacka$$ and would talk some sense into his head.

Yes, eventually Father Time wins (I actually use that a lot). But I am not convinced that AP is all washed up yet. And the Ravens won a championship in Ray Lewis' final season, so I guess he wasn't all that "slow". His leadership presence more than compensated for any "slowness".

Ponder was stupid and happened quite recently, but you are going to bring up Williamson? That was quite awhile ago. Spielman used to have to share personnel decisions with guys like Brad Childress, now he doesn't. He does a good job in the draft of trading up to get a player or down to get more picks. Now that we have a competent head coach running the team (Mike Zimmer), I think you'll see some serious progress from the Vikings (for a change).

AP is not a normal human being. Anyone who rushes for over 2,000 yards one year after shredding his knee is not your average NFL player. He works hard in the weight room and takes care of his body, unlike Randy Moss, who could have been the greatest WR of all time but didn't want to put in the off-season work like Jerry Rice did. He played in one game last year, which means he didn't get beat up in games and any nagging injuries have healed by now. Any team that wants to win right now will be interested in him. And as for a rookie draft pick having "more tread on the tires", that doesn't mean he'll give you anything close to what AP gives you, a home run threat every time he touches the ball. With a productive QB (Bridgewater), he'll be even more dangerous.....if he comes to his senses and gets back on board the Mike Zimmer Train before it leaves the station.

Well, several Division I hockey schools don't sponsor football (Denver, Alaska-Anchorage, Alaska-Fairbanks), so it wouldn't be all that unprecedented. And I have said over and over again that if we aren't committed to being a top-tier FCS program, then we are better off without having a program at all. But I am hoping Bubba can make some big strides in the next couple of years.

Do you really think AP will leave all that money on the table and retire? After the year he has had, he is itching to get back on the field and focus on football (and keep collecting those huge paychecks). What is happening right now is a high-stakes poker game being played in the media between AP's agent and the Vikings front office. AP will not be cut and he will not retire. He will either play with the Vikings or be traded to one of the teams of his choice (that is the only card he has to play here, he is not an unrestricted free agent). Whatever happens, I just want to Vikings to keep building around Bridgewater and a young defense.

If anyone else is as concerned about this issue as I am, here are the e-mail addresses for both Faison and Kelley. Be polite, be respectful, but also be clear about why this is so important to the future of UND athletics: brian.faison@athletics.und.edu robert.kelley@email.und.edu

"Making fun"? I guess I am a little more skeptical of UND administration than you are, which is an honest difference of opinion. But I do intend on e-mailing both Kelley and Faison about this issue because I think it is one of the cornerstone, bedrock issues facing our programs right now.

Ah yes, the all-purpose jdub27 solution to every problem, write e-mails. But in all seriousness, I plan on doing just that. I want us to get out in front of the situation and force our competitors to play catch-up with us for once. I think a special fundraising campaign along the lines of the Champions Club is in order. If Faison and Kelley were to announce their intentions to fund FCOA for our bedrock programs (MH, FB, WBB, MBB) and ask that boosters and alumni chip in whatever they can afford, I think there would be no shortage of boosters and alumni that would step up and deliver. Our track record of raising financial support for stuff like this is very good and I don't see it changing for FCOA. And it doesn't have to depend entirely on big money donors. Remember, 1,000 people giving $100 each is the same as one person giving $100,000. If you look at the Champions Club membership rolls, the Coaches Club is the largest and it's not even close (I am in the Coaches Club). If we could establish an endowment for athletics to fund stuff like this, it will provide a steady stream of revenues that will help us cover the cost of all this. I am looking at the long-term consequences, not the short-term. Right now, it isn't a big problem. In the future, it might become one when our coaches are trying to recruit top-notch athletes to come to Grand Forks.

This is the hard truth that Kelley and Faison (and some people on here) need to come to terms with. If we wanted to run our programs on a shoestring budget, then we should have stayed D-II and joined the NSIC.

Exactly what I am thinking. This is proactive thinking, not reactive thinking. And this is what we need to do.

I am not against cutting certain programs (baseball and softball don't do much for our athletic department, IMHO). And I fully realize they cannot bankrupt the department. But I hope there is some medium to long-range planning taking place behind the scenes with regard to raising the money to pay for all this if it becomes necessary to do so.

Why does an intelligent individual like yourself believe the media narrative that because AP is now 30 years old, he is washed up? Cripes, three years ago, he rushed for over 2,000 yards. And last season he sat out the final 15 games, thus sparing his body all that punishment from NFL defenses. AP works out as hard as anyone in the NFL and is always working to get better. I don't think he has stopped his workouts because of all these legal problems, so he should feel better than he has in years. A lot of teams that are looking to win now and are one or two players away from the Super Bowl will be interested in AP. And the Cowboys (the original team of interest), don't have Murray anymore, so their RB situation has changed. Bottom line: AP will either play with the Vikings this season or be traded for whatever they can get for him. Cutting him is not going to happen, Denny Green isn't in charge anymore, remember?

This my friends is the phrase that pays!!!

I never said it would happen instantaneously and it doesn't have to because it hasn't been implemented yet. But when Faison says we only going to fund 36 FCOAs (18 each for men and women) and that's it because the Big Sky isn't doing more than that, that worries me and others. It makes it sound like they are just going to "stand pat" and not do any more in the future. I just hope they have a game plan for the next 5 to 10 years to deal with all this because the health and vitality of our programs is at stake.

The Women's Hockey team is getting really close to breaking out and winning us a "natty". And the sooner we can shut up the Gophers, the better.

Whatever happens, I don't want us to be permanent doormats and/or also-rans. You think Brewster and Bubba are going to stick around under those conditions? Like I said before, if the UND Alumni Association can raise $300+ million for an endowment, then there has to be a way to fund the FCOA requirements. I would be willing to pay more in season tickets, Champions Club, merchandise, concessions, whatever. I think everyone is going to have to step up and deliver to make this happen.

That's what I am thinking. Of course, Kelley and Faison don't exactly have a track record of being out in front of issues like this.

The problem with this stance is that FB is the main reason we moved all our sports up in the first place. If we throw FB overboard along with MBB and WBB, then what was the point of moving up in the first place? So we can have the "Division I" label after our name? FB, MBB and WBB will become permanent also-rans if this policy is implemented and maintained. And don't think the Montana schools are going to stick with their no stipends policy forever, as FB is their bread and butter and they can't afford not to fund stipends for that program. We pay our President and Athletic Director to solve problems like these, not to "stand pat" on everything. Which is what we have done for seemingly years and years. There has to be a way to raise the money for this. UND alumni and boosters have always come through for us in the past and I don't see that ever changing. Cripes, the Alumni Association raised $300+ million for an endowment, surely there are proud alumni with deep pockets who would step up to the plate and deliver for us on this.

Anything is better than those clowns they had doing the 2000 NCAA title game. Man, I half expected them to fight over who gets to take Doug Flutie out to dinner!

Okay, I smell political thread drift here. Let's keep it local and within the borders of the State of North Dakota.

Kelley and his team of surrogates put out a very deceptive tuition plan and they were trying to keep it covered up. Tanner Franklin got wind of it and leaked it to the Heraldo. Then Kelley had the unmitigated gall to stop by the student government offices and casually suggest that they not do that in the future. If that isn't a threat, I don't know what is. The students are also concerned about how the post Bruce Smith transition at Aerospace will be handled, in light of what happened with EERC several months ago. Aerospace is one of the more successful schools on campus, but I think Kelley wants to hire a fair-haired boy that he can control and, through him, micromanage the school. I think that would be a grave mistake and so do a lot of people on campus, especially students. I for one am sick and tired of Kelley's "non-leadership" leadership style. He never wants to get his fingernails dirty on anything. He runs and hides behind his surrogates (many of whom are listed on the petition) whenever something controversial goes down and then he comes in afterwards and says "Yep, the buck stops with me!". Yeah and pigs started flying in Iowa this morning. I urge everyone to sign the petition in support of the Student Senate. It is quite amazing that a bunch of 18-23 year olds have to do this instead of the so-called mature adults at the SBHE.

I also signed it.