IowaBison

I think you guys are a little off on this one. While UND's presence in Fargo via their distance learning was a good thing for the community, the institution has to deal as much with politics as it does with academics. Naming an institution UND-Fargo is a pretty big deal. I don't see why you would refer to our President as a scumbag though? I definitely don't hold Kupchella in that regard. Actually, in many ways he'll bare the brunt of this for a mistake that Isaac made when allowing UND to go forward with a politically stupid move. Politics removed, it's a bad deal for those in Fargo who were almost assuredly given better service with a physical presence from their school in town.

but they do have to cover operating maintanence costs, which in the case of the Ralph can't be dirt cheap best of luck with the decision, this big sky situation is likely the best opportunity UND or any other school from the Upper Great Plains or Northwestern US has to move from D2 to D1 in the next ten years.

Give it time, they have a process you know. Also, I don't think that Bison Fans should be demeaned based on the stupid sh#t that is being posted on in-forum.com. I don't think those people have the slightest clue about college athletics.

i don't know what the heck the folks at UND are doing, but the last day for filing for 2004 to be an exploratory year was YESTERDAY! you'd think that if they were truly interested those forms would have been filed. i don't see the BSC taking them seriously if they didn't do it. why would you add an extra year to the transition when the cost to do it is just the time to fill out the paperwork? something's amiss

don't be so tough on those who post on the in-forum site, i don't think many of them are avid Bison or UND fans

thanks for the clarification PCM.

Sicatoka, Did you listen to the report? I had the same sentiment as you when I first heard about it second party. The wday report definitely put a different spin on it, ie it sounded pretty concrete to me.

Not that I really want to start a thread here, but last night there was a report on WDAY stating that UND was asked by the Big Sky if they were considering joining the conference and they responded with, "thanks, but no thanks". You can find it on the wday broadcast at about the 29:30 mark until tonight's broadcast replaces it.

you guys are both right John Nash won the Nobel Prize (92?) for contributions to game theory, if you want a simply exposition of what he did, i used it to explain the "arms race" game somewhere on this site last month Nash was Schizophrenic, is better today, has made many, many, many completely bizarre statements and done bizarre things both when he was definitely suffering from mental illness and at times when he wasn't

Just imagine if the poll was in any way objective Just kidding this is great recognition for the school and the continual efforts they have been making.

i think the women's would draw as well as the men's

I agree, somewhat. It's definitely not apples to apples. But the simple fact is Grand Forks is far from being a football crazy town. There are definitely far worse places to have it, but I think that Grand Forks is a relative long shot. I'd definitely be in attendance as long as the Sioux weren't playing Now having the Women's BBall Elite Eight in Grand Forks is a very good idea.

the 5 to 6 k number is there average over the last few years, I thought about trying to track down where I saw it, but was a little lazy.

my point was that football is bigger in Alabama than it is in North Dakota. once beanie weather hits, it's hockey time.

And he's made comments that agree with your thought Sicatoka. The problem is that you need to fill up the Dome to give it a decent basketball atmosphere and that probably isn't going to happen. We have no where near the fan interest to make it work. Pumping ten million dollars into the BSA is probably the best plan for the next ten years or so.

but that begs the question, when UND doesn't make the national championship game, who's going to watch it? you have to admit that Grand Forks is not a football crazy town once the snow flies. and though late november/early december isn't cold by most NoDakers standards, only die hard fans will follow their team to the tundra i don't think you'd bust 5,000 in attendance most years, though the place would be packed if the Sioux make it there or are you just assuming that your fans have the same interest in the Sioux versus Winona or Pitt State as Bentley versus Catawba

that was McFeeley and it was strictly wishful thinking

So I guess the 5 to 6 thousand people who show in Florence don't count? UND has gotten just slightly more than that at the Alerus when their own team was in the playoffs!

I do not believe that NDSU is actively interested in this proposal. It's coming from real estate developers who will finance the $40 million portion. In order to make downtown more exciting and their investment potentially more profitable they added the arena idea. I think the Trojan Horse idea is a little far fetched. The hockey proposal in 2000 was absolutely crushed, I don't think NDSU will strongly support any other ballot initiatives for a couple of years.

With Kupchella's comments on DI athletics during his State of the University address, shouldn't the title of this post be changed to "....Same Answer?"

I have nothing to write, but God bless you Sicatoka for changing the subject back to DI.

I have to disagree. First, I do think that NDSU will get an invite. Also, I believe that we will get an invite from the Mid-Con as well. While purgatory is very good word for where the Bison are at, ie conference affiliation 'limbo, i'm having a pretty time here

while we did move without a conference, the situation was nowhere near the case where Chapman woke up one morning a said, we're going DI in the fall, there was a process in place which was followed, this took years to complete, it was not done on a whim i think that if UND, though fully capable of having a sucessful DI program, expects to move up only when a conference affiliation is guaranteed you are going to be D2 for quite some time

you must have selective memory TeamSioux our move was part of a deliberate process followed every step of the way by belittling comments from the administration and athletic department at UND