fightingsioux4life

I didn't really notice a big uptick in advertising this year; maybe I was listening to and watching the wrong radio/TV stations. I guess after years of neglect, I am still a little bit skeptical of the commitment to the football program. There have been improvements and they are good steps forward. One of my concerns is if we start having success and our coaches start getting looked at by other schools, will we dig into the bank and pay them to keep them or will we just let them go like we did Dale Lennon? I realize that the athletic department was in chaos during that time, but it is a concern for the not-so-distant future.

That's good, you have a sense of humor. The fact is, our marketing and promotions are still too much like the NCC era. But I will never convince everyone of that.

The fact is, UND football is still being treated as the red-headed stepchild of the atheltic department. There have been some improvements, and those improvements are appreciated. But we were promised a "massive" advertising campaign in the month before the season started and it was pretty much the same old same old. I do think the attendance this year has been better than some people think, but whether we can keep it rolling remains to be seen. This is the sport most responsible for our move up and it should be promoted as the #2 sport on campus. We can win national titles in this sport. We can build a bigger fan base with this sport; the potential upside is tremendous. It can become a very big Fall attraction in Grand Forks and the region. The "triple-header" weekends when hockey and football are in town at the same time can and should be promoted together. Perhaps some family ticket specials can be promoted for all three games so that both sports feed off each other. These are the things that will promote the sport to potential new fans. Once they are hooked, we won't have to "hold their hands".

I agree with you 100%. Of course, now that you have dared to mention this in public, you will now hear from all the Debbie Downers on this forum that will tell you that it's not "feasible" to implement these things. Or that the ROI (Return on Investment) isn't good enough to justify the expense. Or that men's hockey is #1 on campus, so everything else will automatically fail, which means it isn't worth the effort. Or that we should abide by the "reality check" Cal-Poly gave us on Saturday and lower our expectations and standards for the program (I did not like Tom Miller's "Sunday Sermon" in yesterday's Heraldo). We moved up to Division I in all sports, so now we must start ACTING like a Division I athletic department. No more excuses about how this and that isn't "feasible". Just get it done. The old "hockey only" model won't work anymore. It's put up or shut up time.

Look troll, why don't you get lost and start planning your championship parade down Broadway in Fargo with all your Scott "My Oh My!" Miller groupies. Unless you have something substantive to contribute, which I suspect is above your pay grade.

It's the same cotton-picking talking point every single time....."But we have a better Men's Basketball RPI rating and that's what really matters!" The Summit is a conference for teams with no better options. Would UND have settled for the Summit if the Big Sky didn't open their doors? Yes. Am I glad we didn't have to? Heck Yes! You guys should really work on getting into the Missouri Valley Conference for all your sports in the future. That would be a big boost for all Bison sports. You better hope the Summit stays together until then.

I so miss the old REA. There wasn't a better home ice advantage. I sometimes wish we could have just one more game there.

Good grief, can't we have one place on the Internet we can escape from all the election year BS?!?! Three words: Knock......It.......Off Thank you. Now, back to the topic.

Thanks for posting.....but who really cares about pre-season rankings?

I am glad you think this whole debacle is funny. Because I don't. Somebody could have died and all you can come up with is a bunch of "boys will be boys/this is what college kids do/rite of passage" garbage. And I am willing to bet if the RA hadn't done his job and one of them had died of alcohol poisoning, you would be on here screaming for charges to be brought against the RA for "negligence" and "irresponsibility". So, which is it Mr. gfhockey. You can't have it both ways. The adults did their jobs, the young adults need to grow up and you need a lesson in common sense. I think that about covers it.

The fact is, the Spirit Campaign announcement was over-hyped. Like I have said, I have donated to the Spirit Campaign twice, so I support the concept and want it to succeed. But our world has become way too media driven and hyperactive. Just let the actual events speak for themselves and then we can talk about them. When Ralph announced his gift, it was in the loft of the old REA. No bells. No whistles. No streamers from the ceiling. The absence of those things did not diminish the significance of the gift; I would argue that the absence of those things put more of the focus on the gift. That is how it should be. Maybe I am being old fashioned about this, but that is how I feel. Nothing more, nothing less.

Then UND officials shouldn't talk like it's the end of the world as we've known it. That is why the Spriit Campaign announcement was such a debacle. They hyped it up too much.

Those college rankings should be taken with a block (not just a grain) of salt. And, FYI, UW-Madison is a notorious party school. But I am willing to bet that they also produce some outstanding professionals in a variety of fields, just as UND does. UND's reputation for producing well-prepared professionals is well-established in a number of fields (nursing, aviation, business, medicine, engineering, ect). But all you care about are some heavily subjective rankings in a weekly news magazine. To each their own.

It's amazing that any UND graduate has ever accomplished anything of significance in this world, right? Each of your posts are more ignorant than the last. I am a two-time graduate of UND and I am proud of that. And no, I didn't spend 80% of my time partying and getting drunk and getting a bunch of citations from the police. I used my opportunity to make something of myself. And a lot of students at UND do the same thing. But apparently, you are more concerned with stamping out the so-called "nanny state" that says drinking yourself almost to death is not a good thing. Your comments about UND as an academic institution are not only ignorant and stupid, but are very insulting to those of us that got a great education there. Based on all this garbage you have pumped out, I now must seriously question your loyalty to UND. Flame away, but it is all the truth.

This had better not be an announcement about the Spirit Fund again. Not that I don't like the concept of the Spirit Fund (I have donated to it twice), but this had better be a game-changing type event.

Just keep the smart remarks coming. Our program is out of transition purgatory and is closing the gap with NDS-Who. I predict we will meet in the playoffs sometime the next five years. And we'll be much, much better than we are right now.

I never said Blais was "God" or "Perfect". All I said was team discipline improved almost as soon as he took over in 1994. And it is totally fair game to ask questions like this after a party bust involving member of the team. I would rather do that than be like half of Bisonville who keep white-washing all the crap their players pull. Accountability is an ongoing effort, it is never "done". And I will not apologize for it. Good day everyone.

Hence my nickname for them.....Minneapolis, Jr. With the emphasis on Junior!

During the 1996-97 NCAA Championship Season (the season of the hard winter and flood), Brian Zierke (#19), one of the left-over spare parts from the fallen Gino regime, got into a bar fight. Blais booted him off the team. I do think it was his second or third incident, so he was gone. That is the type of discipline I am talking about. To be fair, Hakstol did kick Frattin off the team and that helped straighten him out. But sometimes I think Hak should wield that stick more often to re-enforce the message. These are 18-22 year olds and sometimes you have to repeat yourself like a broken record to drill the message into their thick skulls. Did drinking happen during the Blais regime? Yes it did. Did players end up on the police blotter this much? Heck no. If these kids want to have parties, have fun and blow off some steam, that is fine. But when people are drinking so much that the police are involved, then you will have problems. Have your parties in private homes and behave yourself and you will be fine. But these kids sometimes act like they are invincible and untouchable because of their status as a member of the team and that leads to trouble. These distractions are not good for a team that has the talent to contend this year.

Blais would never have tolerated this crap. He was a strong disciplinarian and wouldn't have let things deteriorate to this point. Once the camel's nose is under the tent, it is almost impossible to keep him out. Blais understood that; it is time Hakstol figures it out as well. And the notion that the fan base has no business even talking about this is total crap. If someone is charged with a crime, it is public record material. It is not a "strictly private matter". You cannot be a part of a public enterprise like UND hockey and then turn around and say that whatever happens to players on the team is "None of the public's business". It just doesn't work that way and I think these players had better get used to that.

Just ask any Imperial Cass County Bison fan. They'll tell you. They have all the answers, remember?

Okay, fair enough. I guess you just don't seem to understand the long-term consequences of binge drinking on people's lives. If it leads to long-term alcohol addiction problems, it can ruin a young person's life before it has a chance to get started. And for those that don't want a "nanny state" telling everyone what to do, binge drinking doesn't just affect the individual boozing it up. It can also cause major disruptions on the team. College hockey is a grind. It starts in October and doesn't end until March or April. If everybody isn't on the same page and committed to winning and winning the right way, you won't have the same level of success that we are all used to around here. Excessive alcohol consumption doesn't do anyone a bit of good and Faison and Hakstol should be commended for trying to curb it before it gets out of hand.

Well, I just wouldn't put anything past those corporate-suit wearing stiffs.

No, the NCAA doesn't control ESPN. But they could bring up this behavior at the next contract negotiation session and "strongly encourage" them not to do it again. And I think everyone knows what I mean.

I didn't know basketball started this early.