NoiseInsideMyHead

The as-yet untold story. These are students who live in Grand Forks, many of whom pay tuition and fees, all of whom enroll in courses, participate in student orgs, go home and tell fun stories, buy supplies, pay rent, eat food, buy gas, see movies, buy clothing (including officially licensed Fighting Hawks merchandise)... In a declining-enrollment era, UND is chasing away student-athletes, who are frequently the most desired students who go about things the right way.

So this happened. There's a nice little photo-essay on ESPN.com about the journey of the FF floor from a Michigan forest all the way to Glendale, and poor dude on the right's underwear is showing.

Not really much different than those human shield and collateral damage cases overseas. How many times after a 'precision airstrike' on a high-confidence target do you see footage of a destroyed 'children's hospital'? Either somebody's aim was way off, or the scene was rigged by the bad guys.

Let's not forget these green-bleeders who are likely hurting tonight. (I had no idea how big swimming and diving teams were.)

Counterpoint: it's not customary to beat up on the deceased at a funeral. Rubbing salt in the wound with horrifying figures - however objective - would have been bad form.

Bitches better have my money.

Couldn't even be bothered to capitalize it. So disrespectful.

Good God, man, clear your inboxes! Outlook = 4503. Gmail = 22,566???

Hair on fire hockey. Probably shouldn't count for stats purposes, even though I suppose a 3x3 scenario could happen in regulation. It's not fully growing on me...yet.

Let that loop with the audio...it's intoxicating.

By height.

Suddenly I realize how clean and technically proficient last night's game was.

Do nitro pills come in green?

More information from USA Hockey. http://www.usahockey.com/news_article/show/771106?referrer_id=752796 Demanding paid guest travel, paid nanny/child care, and business class airfare is going to turn a lot of people off. Not helping the cause, IMHO.

Playing Denver in the conference semis is an entirely different animal than a national at-large team (basically at home) in the NCAA regionals, especially with some of the bracket projections I've seen. I'd give UND a much greater chance of winning at least one in Fargo, even though I haven't written them off tonight. I think your focus on recruiting is misplaced entirely. UND is UND, and guys will want to play here regardless of what happens in the next 10 days.

It's not even 'old news' anymore to the rest of the world. The only people keeping the flame burning are local die-hards.

Faison had a coupon.

I know the notion of amateurism and the Olympics is laughable, but consider the following. Under the traditional model, I suspect the Olympics used to feature younger athletes. Namely, high school and college-aged kids who had relatively little financial need (i.e., they were full time students, living at home or on scholarship) and often abundant support (i.e., they were their parents' dependents). I'm going to paint with a broad brush and say that certain sports are tilted towards upper ends of the socio-economic spectrum; poor inner-city kids are not playing high-level hockey. (The economics of youth sports are a different issue, entirely, and I'm leaving that alone here.) Older Olympians, on the other hand, necessarily found ways to make ends meet when they weren't competing, and trained locally. Several of the WH players are entering their second or THIRD Olympic cycle. These are not kids, they are adults. Yet, they are looking to USA Hockey for what amounts to extraordinary financial support. Maybe it's not the economic model that is the problem here, but rather the fact that the athletes have aged out and their personal situations have materially changed. If you are 26, 27, 28 years old with a college education and haven't figured out a way to support yourself, then perhaps training and sports that do not put food on the table should take a back seat to being a grown up. Being an Olympian and representing your country is a privilege, not a right. All achievement is borne out of personal sacrifice. Some sacrifices are greater than others, and let's face it -- life isn't fair. There will always be somebody who has it better, or whom you perceive to have it better. Most Olympic sports don't offer professional opportunities, period, and nobody is buying tickets to watch. For all of the flaws inherent in USA athletics, I believe the actions of the WH team today are a black eye and an insult to the thousands of men and women who have trained and persevered and competed honorably and made tremendous sacrifices in pursuit of an Olympic dream that few will ever realize. The pride of wearing the colors and marching into that stadium behind the flag and the gratitude of a nation are all the compensation they will ever receive. Maybe we should just refresh the roster and see what happens. USA! USA! USA! As the saying goes, it's the name on the front of the sweater that counts, not the name on the back.

Thanks for the detailed information and the refresher on the Amateur Sports Act. The law is noble in intent but is hardly the vehicle to address pay demands or justify boycotts. The opportunities to compete are clearly there, which is why the WH team appears to be resorting to guerrilla tactics instead of legal arbitration. The comment in the linked article about 'selling out NHL arenas' is interesting. Most promoters and venues notoriously love to make money...I'm sure if there was a market, the games would be booked. Even in hockey-crazy Grand Forks, the USA women's team the last go around didn't come close to filling the Ralph. But I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume there is data to back their claim.

Gotta have the money first. There are always going to be people who either don't need the money or for whom representing their country is worth the sacrifice. I don't see much leverage here for current athletes, organized or not. Our local/regional regard for the team is greatly skewed (and rightfully so, pride being what it is) but simply does not exist anywhere else in the country. Lamoureux is not a household name for most of the country. Also, there's no Title IX-esque requirement that USA Hockey field a women's team in the first place. So is there not some peril here if the team pushes too hard?

Sponsorship is what drives the USOC and, presumably, the various individual sports' operations. Sell more sponsorships, have more money. If sponsors aren't willing to fund full cost of participation (i.e., off-year training, living, travel, etc.), then what are you going to do? Is the allegation here that USA Hockey is mismanaging its money? If so, put all the cards out there. Otherwise, you can only get so far by squeezing them. Very few Olympic athletes are living the high life. Many of them are staked by hometown benefactors.

Didn't they just upgrade the women's locker room at REA? And have you seen the locker rooms at ICON? Not saying I agree that there is ultimately a violation, but I think a move (on the surface, at least) will look very, very bad. Facilities do matter, and UND isn't exactly dripping with cash to remedy the situation at ICON. Moreover, is GF Parks willing to lose an entire locker room in their busy youth facility to UND?

Marmalard, dead. Niedermeyer, dead.