UND-RedSox fan

Boeser

Only an 11 game schedule? Is that pretty standard for FCS? The only college football I follow is FBS and they play 12. Regardless, this team is 3-1 with a FBS victory. There is no way any of our recent teams beat an FBS team (even if it is just Wyoming) and in general fans seem to think this team can be an above .500 team. This isn't the hockey team, people shouldn't be so negative about a team that is clearly improving over previous years and could, in the future, develop into a team that can consistently compete with the Montana schools and EWU. There is a lot more pessimism about this team than I expected to read.

Luke Johnson. I'm thinking 20+ goals this year for him.

LJ is still around. People like to bag on him. I'm thinking we are going to see the goalie as the scapegoat a lot this year since a) it is always easy to blame the goalie and b) no matter how well Tomek and/or Johnson plays, we are going to see a drop off from McIntyre.

Slava Voynov, formerly of the Kings, is self deporting back to Russia due to his legal situation.

I think another thing worth noting is that this faux controversy has served as an excellent distraction for the NFL from its real problems like concussions, CTE, and rampant steroid abuse. Not to mention the off the field domestic abuse stories as well.

My bullet point views 1) Partially explains why Goodell is so adamant about punishing Brady. 2) Quotes from owners about Goodell are idiotic, especially the politician quote. How they can think anyone can come out of this entire situation not looking like a moron (NFL, Brady, and Bellichick) is beyond me. 3) Bellichick seems Nixonian. He doesn't need to do half the things he does and the Pats would be just as successful and yet he does them. 4) A lot of sore losers in the Steelers, Colts, Ravens, Eagles, Rams, and Panthers camps. They didn't lose because of any sign stealing or video taping. 5) I found it funny how it ripped the Bills and Dolphins, with quotes basically saying what the Patriots did only worked against poorly ran organizations. 6) How Goodell still has his job is baffling. 7) Doesn't change anything for me in the large picture, still a Pats fan and got to see my team win multiple Super Bowls with perhaps the greatest QB of all time.

It is absolutely astounding to me that the NFL could spend that much money on a report that didn't even have an understanding of basic scientific protocol. It could be my Patriots fandom affecting my opinion but it seems that the only way they could find remote culpability on Brady's part was to use !@#!$ science and hope they could just bully their way through it.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/miguel-sanos-making-his-first-adjustments/ Good article on how Sano is already making some adjustments to keep his hot start to his career going.

Looking at a Sano contract is extremely premature at this point. As I believe 82Sioux said, they have at least two years of control at less than a million year plus arbitration doesn't normally end in too crazy of a salary. Look at Josh Donaldson. He is looking at 11 million in his first year of arbitration but he is also likely to win the MVP this year. The Twins have Sano and Buxton for at least 6 years still with fairly team friendly contracts. That will allow bad contracts like Nolasco, Santana, and Mauer (it was good when he could catch) to come off of the books. The future is bright in Minnesota. They have Berrios to look forward to as well as he is currently destroying AAA and all of the writers at Fangraphs (some very smart people) are livid that they are not calling Berrios up now.

Are we going to count Poolman as a forward? He's listed as 6'3" and so is Brock Nelson

No idea what is holding the Twins from calling Berrios up. He would be an instant upgrade over at the very least Santana and Milone and probably over Gibson at this point.

Sano has that batting profile of many of the top notch rookies this year. Just like Pederson and Bryant, he has an amazing eye but strikes out a lot. At this point that is the future of baseball. Strikeout rates are at a historic height due in large part to the strike zone being called larger now than it has in the past. Also pitchers are just better now with seemingly every team having a reliever or two that can push 100 MPH and throw strikes. I think it is kind of boring baseball but it is what it is, I guess. Still the best sport there is, IMO.

Agreed. No catchers or shortstops really available that I've heard about. It wouldn't take much to upgrade C as Suzuki has been a subreplacement level player this year, but if nothing is available nothing is available. Bullpen is nice cheap area to upgrade. All it took for the Nats to get Papelbon was eating money and an average prospect. I could see the Twins going after Benoit from the Padres or Axford from Colorado.

Twins are in a really interesting position. A lot of what I have read about them is that their record is a result of a significant amount of good luck through hit clustering and preventing hit clustering. Projection system at Fangraphs really do not like them, but with that said, they would be projected to finish right around the low 80s in wins. In a normal year that wouldn't be good enough for a playoff spot, but this year the AL has 3 or 4 good teams with many average teams. I wouldn't be surprised to see the 2nd wild card team have only 84 wins or so. Any team in the AL besides the Red Sox and A's could make a claim they should be a buyer this week at the same time just about any team besides the Yankees, Royals, Angels, and Astros could realistically be a seller. Honestly, the Twins are not a very good team, but they have built up enough wins where if they can manage to be decent the last two months they will have a great shot at the playoffs. And once the playoffs start, anyone can win it all. It will be very interesting to see what they do from here on out. I think they will be quiet and just hope for the best, especially with their future being pretty bright with a solid farm system and Sano and Buxton already in the majors.

The way Craig looked the last round, I don't think so. Hopefully it is though

Gersich committed as a sophomore correct? That's just the way things are now especially with competition with Canadian juniors.

10 home runs in the finals. Other guy hit 16 in the second round. Should be close

Big number by Campbell. First round record for College home run derby with 20 home runs!

Watching Baseball Tonight on ESPN2 and it cuts to a preview for college home run derby and I see the UND logo. Really cool.

Funny, I had a similar response as a guy that pulls for the Kings. Lucic is the definition of a POS

I've never been one to get mad about a player using PED's (surprise coming from a Red Sox fan!) since that was the even playing field during the steroid era. Players like Luis Gonzalez and Brady Anderson were hitting 50+ home runs. There's also some thought that some of the influence was due to juiced baseballs at the time as well. Also if you're going to hate someone for using PED's, you also have to hate Hank Aaron and Willie Mays for using amphetamines. I hate A-Rod because of the Bronson Arroyo thing in the 2004 ALCS. Also I highly doubt he is back on them. There probably isn't a person in sports being tested more strenuously than A-Rod besides maybe Braun.

I think you might be exaggerating on them having odds similar to Toronto had they lost in the first round. LA missed the playoffs by a couple of points and Toronto had one of the 5 worst records in the NHL. I believe LA had one of the worst records in shootouts this year and most statistical analysis of shootouts say that they all basically come down to luck. There is little correlation in shootout records and team talent. If LA had managed to be an average shootout team they would have been in the playoffs this year. Also they didn't just have things go wrong, they have two players facing possible felony charges, with one of them facing possible deportation. Those are hardly normal things going wrong during the season. And they really aren't that old of a team. Their best players are Kopitar (27 y.o.), Carter (30 y.o.), Doughty (25 y.o.), Toffoli (23 y.o.), and Quick (29 y.o.). Their oldest player was 33 this year. Toronto on the other hand has had the 4th worst record, 8th worst record, made playoffs, 5th worst record, and 9th worst record over the past 5 years. They may have slightly higher odds than they deserve. But I feel like they should be in the same category as the Capitals, Bruins, and Penguins.

I wish Reapers was an option.

I have a problem with North Stars since it is the state nickname for Minnesota but that isn't the only reason. I don't see a difference between North Stars and Sundogs that makes one so much superior to the other. I think they would both be difficult to market. I don't see any reasons why we would have pride in the North Star nickname. And the biggest reason I don't like it, I am not a fan of saying North Dakota North Stars. Sounds redundant and IMO doesn't roll off the tongue.