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zonadub

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Posts posted by zonadub

  1. Talk about butthurt at being rejected by the Big Sky. Those numbskulls still are hoping we get kicked out of the BSC as some sort of poetic justice for rejecting NDSU.

    http://www.bisonvill...ngs-in-GF/page2

    Strange Tony hasn't thrown a party thread for Ryan Bakken's retirement. BV couldn't wrap thair noggins around that Bakken was no longer a sportswriter, but someone who wrote satire. If you joke about NDSU, its always taken seriously down in BV and it is taken to heart like a crime against the state. Ryan Bakken is equivalent to Osama down there.

    Just confirmation that NDSU would still prefer to be in the Big Sky, despite all their protestations to the contrary. :)

    • Upvote 3
  2. You guys can e-mail me if you have questions about how this stuff works. Since a lot of wrong assumptions are being made, here you go:

    I submitted the original open record request for e-mails a month or two ago. I received quite a few pages of e-mails dating back three years. The e-mails showed that the schools were not close to agreeing on a contract. If there were signs that they were close, we would have immediately run a story on it. Instead, we decided to do a broader, in-detail piece (a Sunday enterprise, as we call it) after the spring sports season when we start to lack local copy. We did not feel that any news organization was poking around in that direction. If anybody had done the same request in the last three years, the 2011 e-mails showing how close the schools were to playing would have been reported.

    However, on May 13th, the SiouxFootballInsider Twitter account posted something about "interesting info" involving the UND-NDSU football game scheduling. That Twitter account/blog is followed by many other media people, and we knew that tweet would propel them to start digging into info. We did not want to get beat on a story that we had, so that night, we posted a story of the e-mails we had. It was not close to the piece we had envisioned doing in the early summer, but we felt we would get beat if we waited around. At the same time, knowing that TV stations would very likely be sending in their own open-record requests to get the info that we had, we decided to submit a second request to make sure there was nothing new that they would get and we would miss (in other words, anything since our initial request).

    About a week later, I received that request from the general counsel of the North Dakota University System (who also sent me the first request). It had two more e-mails in it. I received the request at about noon. Assuming other news outlets were getting the same request, and that there was interesting info in it, I quickly filed a story showing the updates and put it online.

    So, that's how it happened. It was not the piece we had hoped to do. Our stories still had holes in them (What happened in 2011? The two had seemingly agreed to two dates and were going out to lunch in Fargo. How did it not get done? We also would have liked to ask Faison what type of pay day would it take for UND to view the NDSU game as its guarantee game for the year). A comprehensive piece would have been much better. But once we figured others were on the trail, we had to change our plans.

    No, I do not have Brian Faison's office bugged. No, he did not tell me, "Hey, open record request me, please!" (It would be great for us if he did inform us of his e-mails -- maybe it wouldn't have taken us three years to dig them up -- but unfortunately he does not). No, I did not find the e-mails and tell my editors, "Hey, I have a feeling someone is going to wear an absurd shirt to Springfest, so I think it's best if we publish it on Day 2 of Springfest stories, then throw it on the bottom of Page D1 to try to distract everyone from our 1A stories. What do you say, guys?!" I know, I know, it's hard to believe that it didn't actually play out that way.

    Thank you, Mr Schlossman. It is good to hear the story behind the story. Will be interesting to see how the Bison faithful spin it now. ;)

    • Upvote 1
  3. Playoff game goes to the higher seeded team...unless neither team is seeded. Then the Bison would host because NDSU would almost be a guarantee to bid more than UND. NDSU....will be hosting a lot of playoff games in the future....just like Montana. Moneymaker games for the NCAA.

    Having a little reading comprehension trouble tonight, Johnboy?

    So you are saying that the Bison, if they finish 3rd in the MVFC, would be seeded higher than the Sioux if UND finished 2nd in the Big Sky. Or are you saying that neither team would be seeded since they didn't win their respective conferences? Both E Washington and Montana were seeded last year, so if UND finishes 2nd in the conference this hypothetical scenario can happen. Unless, of course you contend that the Bison would be seeded higher following a third place finish in their conference to UND's second place conference finish in their conference. I would disagree with that. I am at least giving NDSU credit that they will make the playoffs if they finish 3rd, SDSU didn't.

    And if it did happen, I still think Taylor would be very uncomfortable after not taking advantage of UND's down years and UND getting the first game of the series in D-I at the Alerus.

    The bottom line is still that Taylor has let the most advantageous years go by. UND will become more competitive before the series resumes and NDSU won't continue to win FCS championships until the end of time. When it happens and if it's in the playoffs, Taylor does not necessarily have the final say at that time.

  4. This thread is 23 pages long in less than a week, and only a couple of posts have touched on the irony of Taylor's actions, while most of it has been yet another measuring contest between UND and NDSU. Bison fans saying just take the one game to restart the series are being at least a little self-important in thinking the Bison and GT are the only ones who can determine if there is a game to be played and where It will be played. They are overlooking the end result of what their actions will bring...

    When UND and NDSU finally do meet on the field under the scenario that Taylor is heading toward, it will be in the playoffs. When UND reaches the playoffs, they will have a significantly better team than they have had since whenever Taylor started this song and dance about home and home; then 2 for 0; and now 1 for 0. The window of humiliating the Sioux on the football team has been the past 3 years, but looks like it is starting to close with the coaching and philosophy changes that are being discussed in other threads on this board. Who can say that by the time UND reaches the playoffs, that the game will absolutely not be held in Grand Forks. iirc, unless it is a first round game that is awarded on the basis of who will pay the NCAA more for the opportunity to host, doesn't the game go to the home of the higher seed? Somewhere in the playoffs, that happens, and if both teams are good enough, they may not meet until later rounds.

    So here is my hypothetical situation: UND makes the playoffs in 2015, but goes to play Sam Houston and don't make it out of the first round. NDSU, meanwhile has growing pains under Klieman and doesn't win the MVFC in 2015 or 2016. In 2016 UNI and SDSU finish 1 - 2, and NDSU 3rd. Meanwhile UND finishes 2nd in the Big Sky. So, both teams make the post-season and UND is seeded higher. Both teams win opening round games, and they meet in the second round, but because UND is 2nd in the Big Sky while NDSU is 3rd in the MVFC, UND gets the home game in the second round of the playoffs on the basis of seeding. Wouldn't that make heads explode in Fargo!?!? Taylor would be out of a job faster than you can say "he should'a", no matter which team wins on the field because he played these petty games and cost Fargo the first home game in a home and home by being so vindictive.

    Jus' thinking out loud, so to speak.

  5. The first game is going to have to happen in the playoffs. Right now it is on UND to get there. After one game, the state of North Dakota will not accept excuses for the game not happening. Until a playoff matchup happens, Gene Taylor can come up with every excuse he wants.

    ^^^^^ this ^^^^^

  6. WAC baseball >>>>> Slummit baseball

    Losing to Grand Canyon is no shame.

    Losing to IPFW is.

    The Slummit isn't worthy of DI baseball or softball autobids. It should square off against the Northern Sun to get into the DII playoffs.

    So the answer to the Sioux's conference position is to join a weak conference like the Summit? Thanks senor_sieve for your interest in UND athletics. My uninformed guess is that UND is happy where it is. btw, baseball is a pretty big deal here in Arizona and at Grand Canyon.

    • Upvote 1
  7. Despite all the Kelley hate on here (some deserved, most not), he's a very smart individual. Whatever nickname chosen won't be popular, especially initially, but there will be significant input by many groups. This isn't and won't be a rubber-stamped agenda item by Kelley.

    Who will appoint the committee? Didn't Kelly appoint the original committee? Do you think he will appoint people with opinions strongly in opposition to his own?

  8. It is a good thing to be different than the run-of-the-mill Dakota school... Being in the Big Sky sets UND apart, in a good way. It is one of the premier non-BCS conferences.

    If you are honest with yourself, what does the Summit have that the Big Sky doesn't? NDSU (a former rival)? Denver (a hockey rival)? The Big Sky is stable and well respected outside of the region. And, to paraphrase bincity, what is the true appeal of going to Brookings, Vermillion, Fort Wayne, Youngstown, et al over Bozeman, Missoula, Flagstaff or even Greeley? It just won't make a difference for traveling Sioux fans. With the UND alumni base being located where it is, the Big Sky is probably much better.

    As a fan, the only difference I see is that UND and NDSU don't play in the same conference. That is not a bad distinction. Not being in the same conference as SDSU and USD is not that big of a deal. Didn't Coach Schweigert say he was surprised by the appeal of the Big Sky footprint and travel as a positive recruiting tool?

    • Upvote 2
  9. There is a team in Montana called Northern Lights, MSU-Northern I believe.

    So you're sayin' that Northern Lights is too good a name for Kelly & co to come up with. So maybe he will want it to be the UND Kelly Green. :D

  10. Is this all going on behind closed doors? The legislature's moratorium expires next year and there does not appear to be much going on in the news about the new name. In light of Kelly's reaction to the Gamma Phi sign, should we expect a lame weather related soccer-style name like Northern Lights?

  11. I enjoy that fightingsioux4life is willing to post ideas that are not in line with everyone else. The perspective feels well thought out and usually comes with more substance than the 'haters'. There is a lot of Kool-Aid here and sometimes it's nice to hear a different viewpoint and a new way to look at things.

  12. ISF, I like your thinking. I, too, think that all of the flagships in ND, MT, SD and ID need to band together for a conference. Is nine the perfect football conference? Maybe a U of NC, St Cloud or EWU for the ninth.

    Well, as long as you are dreaming, Wyoming for the 9th team. Then you can see what Klieman can do against Bohl. :)

  13. Not a Jones fan by any means and feel that UND's basketball team was inconsistent, at best, this season, but.........

    UND was second in the Big Sky this year - without Brekke! Without Schuler for a good part of the year.

    Second! That means UND finished ahead of Montana, Montana State, Northern Colorado, and yes, even SUU. Again, not a Jones fan, but he had a long uphill road this year.

    Also, and do not extrapolate that I think hockey is taking the ability to win away from the rest of the programs, but he is recruiting basketball players to a school that acknowledges it is a hockey first school. These players are coming in knowing the darlings of the fan base are the hockey players (then probably the football team) and not the basketball players. That has to be a tough sell for the coaching staff.

    There is not a snowball's chance in #€|| that he is going to be fired after finishing second in the Big Sky.

  14. Of course they got a bad draw...they're a number 16 seed. What were you expecting?

    In my very humble opinion, NDSU, with their 12th seed, should be thankful they are not playing against the 16th seeded Wildcats. The Bison would have a VERY difficult time staying within 10 points of Weber.

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