fightingsioux4life

Me and my wife will be there this weekend. I won't have the tickets in hand until I pick them up from the REA ticket office tomorrow, but I have secured them and I also have made the hotel reservations. Can't wait!

The real impact of sanctions won't come until the Big Sky boots our collective butts out, we lose a home playoff football game that the team worked hard to earn and we are no longer playing Minnesota and Wisconsin in any sport (including hockey once the Big Ten Hockey Conference starts up). That is when the athletic department budget will drown in red ink, recruits will avoid us like the lepers we have become and the prestige and image of the institution will be tarnished forever. But according to Rob Port and his ilk, all of these things are "a small price to pay". Maybe Alcorn State can get us into their conference and we can exist as a backwater, bush league athletic program? After all, we would still have our name and logo. And isn't that all that really matters?

I think it will be solid for both semifinal games. If both BU and WMU win on Saturday, championship attendance will suffer. If either UND or UM are in the championship game, the crowd will be good. If it's a rematch of Friday's Final Five Semifinal, it will be insane in there.

That is absolutely pathetic. Just when you think they have finished coming up with pathetic excuses for losses to us, they top themselves. Gopher fans come into this tournament every year with the attitude that this is really the Gopher Invitational Tournament (GIT) and the Gophers are the real stars of the show and the rest of the teams really don't matter. When that narrative doesn't play out, they resort to this type of garbage. I guess it shouldn't surprise me. Their fans also should stop picking fights they cannot win. The Gopher fan "interviewed" before the game said we are spending all our money on lawyers while they are spending theirs on making their facilities better. Well son, I got news for you, you can dump as much money as you want into The John, but you'll never, ever match the overwhelming advantage of Ralph Engelstad Arena. REA has been there for 11 years now. Seriously, get over it!

VCU made the Final Four last year as one of those "play-in" teams. That and all the upsets that happened on Friday shows you how competitive college basketball is becoming.

But remember, it's "a small price to pay". Hopefully we'll win enough games to make it an issue.

We must play better tonight if we want to win. That being said, win or lose, this team has likely locked up an NCAA tournament berth and will live to play again next weekend. GO SIOUX!!!

This is what I see happening: -The North Dakota Supreme Court will rule that this law is unconstitutional. The June referral vote will not happen. -The Spirit Lake committee will then push to get the constitutional amendment on the November ballot. This is where the UND Alumni Association has to ramp up its education campaign to tell North Dakotans exactly what is at stake and why UND athletics cannot survive under NCAA sanctions. -If the amendment still passes, I predict that the Legislature will vote with a 2/3rds majority to overturn the amendment during the 2013 session: North Dakota Constitution, Article III, Section 8: A measure approved by the electors may not be repealed or amended by the legislative assembly for seven years from its effective date, except by a two-thirds vote of the members elected to each house. http://ballotpedia.o...ution#Section_8. I believe the repeal vote of the nickname law was 2/3rds in the Senate and close to 2/3rds in the House. But I honestly hope that it never gets to that point. If it does, the damage to UND athletics will take years to repair.

You are thinking of the regional final vs. Denver, we really thumped them! As for where I am sitting, me and my wife will be sitting in Section 125 near the top of the lower bowl. I am in one of the corners, so I have a great view of the ice. And most of the Gopher fans I sit near are actually nice and decent to deal with.

Wow, you got everything right except for the Tech @ CC series! Your next vacation should be Vegas (and don't forget the quarters)!

You are right, he was wrong about that one. But the rest of his post was spot-on.

And the BCS-ites think the Bull Crap Series in football is better! I am with you 100%. Once we get this nickname issue settled, we can focus on things like this as a member of the Big Sky Conference.

If you want truthful, accurate info on this issue, just keep reading this forum. A lot of us have followed the issue for years. If you want delusional, unsubstantiated propaganda about how keeping the name and logo won't do UND harm at all, go to www.sayanythingblog.com. Hope I helped you out!

Can't believe I am agreeing with you on something, but I am on this. Once you reach the Frozen Four, everybody is good (especially in goal) and it's about who executes and who is ready to play. This team has not been ready to play in the Frozen Four since 2005. It's time to bring home the bacon and stop with the alibis and the excuses. Who knows, it could happen this year. Sometimes, it happens when you least expect it.

While I am not in the "Fire Hak" camp (that would be rash and stupid), it is totally fair to be critical of this team's performance in the Frozen Four under Hakstol's leadership. The 2008 debacle against Boston College when we were down 4-0 midway thru the 1st period is inexcusable. It is part of the job of the coaching staff to get the team ready to play during those situations. Is it easy? No, but that's why these coaches get paid big money to run this program. It is not unreasonable at all to expect our teams to come out firing on all cylinders when it counts the most. And I think Hakstol would tell you the same thing if you asked him. I have no patience with the whole "one and done format" excuse. Based on that, the Minnesota Vikings should be the team of the 1970's because of their regular season success. But they were 0-3 in Super Bowls during that decade, so they cannot be considered the best team of the 70's. That title would have to go to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And this is a very die-hard, passionate Vikings fan saying that! As for the "hot goalie" excuse, I will give Hakstol credit for not using that when we lose. That whole thing has been invented by the Grand Forks media (check out my signature for who I think is the main culprit) and promoted by certain fans in our fan base. UMD didn't have trouble scoring enough goals last year to beat Michigan for the national title; they just got it done when it counted. I was in St. Paul for that whole debacle and the team was just not ready to play. Many, many shots from the outside and not enough traffic in front to set up screens or tip-ins. They looked nothing like the team that thumped Denver in the regional final. Frattin had a breakaway and shot the puck high and wide off the glass for Pete's Sake! I suppose that was the hot goalie again, right? I hate to say this because I hate Denver with a passion, but in retrospect I think they would have represented our league better against Michigan last year. I have said this before and I will say it again: Since 2001, UND has become "Runner-Up U" in every single sport. We have been playing second and third fiddle to someone else in every sport during the past 11 years. And that is not the standard that was set around here in the 1980's and 90's. If it was, we wouldn't even get the caliber of student-athlete that we get. Bottom line is, no one remembers (or cares) who finishes second. At some point, it will start to affect our recruiting. And I really don't want that to happen. I think once Hakstol brings home a national title (and I do think it will happen), all this talk will go away.

I think you can blame the Attorney General's office for the 2007 Terms of Surrender agreement with the NCAA. That is the piece of paper that guarranteed the retirement of the name and logo. Without that, we might still have a chance to pull this out of the fire. Alas, it is not to be.

This is the same argument that Gopher fans made in the 1980's and 90's; titles don't really matter, all that matters is that we are in the playoffs every year. I think consistent success and championships are the benchmarks of a great program, not just one or the other. Fair or not, all people remember are the teams that raise NCAA title banners, not teams that are "there year in and year out". For example, Miami (OH) won't be considered a top echelon program until they get over the hump and win a national title. We haven't won a national title in any sport since 2001 (Football). Now with NDSU shoving their FCS football title in our faces 24/7, it is time we get over the hump. That would definitely shut up the "Fire Hakstol" crowd.

I don't care if the Beavers have Patrick Roy between the pipes, this is a series we can and should win 2-0. We are the better team and we are at home. If we don't win the series, we don't deserve to go to the NCAA's.

I really don't think it matters, the league is so tough and balanced that any team can beat any other team in the playoffs. I think we'll see more than one road team advance to St. Paul this year.

If Al Carlson doesn't like how the Higher Ed system is governed, why doesn't he use his position as Majority Leader during the next Legislative Session in 2013 to push reforms that would solve the problems? Why does he insist on fighting a proxy war over the Fighting Sioux nickname that will do tremendous harm to UND and the State of North Dakota? I think this fight is about massaging the man's already oversized ego. And I think it's absolutely disgraceful that he is chosing to put UND athletics in front of a firing squad to get what he wants. He just can't handle the fact that the Legislature is not with him on a lot of his crazy ideas. He needs to grow up or step aside and let adults take over.

Okay, that is fair. I guess I get a little passionate and ornery about this issue. Nothing personal.

I guess I am having trouble figuring out what your main point really is. Based on some of your comments on here, you don't seem overly concerned about the sanctions. But based on other comments, you are concerned about the sanctions. I believe you when you say you support UND, but I find you contradicting yourself on this.

When some people on this forum run around and insist there will be no major consequences for living under NCAA sanctions (even as they are being handed down), I get a little ticked off. The sanctions are real and are already having a negative impact on UND. That is a fact; it is NOT "just an opinion". And I will not stop sounding the alarm on this; the stakes are just too high.

You are missing the point, as usual. What the voting public thinks will darn well impact how this thing ends up. The stakes are just too high to shut up and say nothing. And if you REALLY think that the best student-athletes don't care about winning games and championships, then you are ignorant and out to lunch on this entire issue. The best athletes will go to schools without crippling NCAA sanctions because it will give them the best all-around student-athlete experience. And we'll settle for the leftovers. And I NEVER said anything about winning at all costs; I believe in playing by the rules and winning fairly against our competitors, like I believe we always have done. Last time I checked, our student-athletes do their own homework. As a supporter of UND, your ignorance on this issue is astounding (and very troubling).