nosidel

Exactly right! AD can certainly force his way out by becoming a locker room cancer. But that would only serve to cost him money and further damage his already tattered public image. It's AD that stands to lose the most in a holdout situation. The Vikings lose little or nothing. If Adrian Peterson wants to rebuild his standing as an all-time NFL great, his best course is to STFU, report to training camp in Mankato, and have a great season with the Vikings. Then, maybe, the money and adulation he expects will begin to come back to him. Unfortunately, it appears that he's getting stunningly bad advice from his agent.

I'd say that, despite the off-field issues, he's still the best running back in the league. I'd say he's got 5 years of very high-level football left in him. There's no better use of the Viking's resources -- both financial resources and draft picks -- than to simply keep AD on the team. With their QB problems apparently resolved, the Vikings are a team on the rise. Keeping AD will accelerate, not hinder, that rise.

And if AD were to walk, he would remain the property of the Vikings. He still couldn't play for anyone else...until the Vikings say so.

Adrian has $2.4M in unamortized signing bonus remaining. Not enough to cause the Vikings any cap problems.

Apparently you're listening to sports radio too much. I agree, the Vikings aren't likely to get much for AD in trade. Given his age and contract $$$, I'm thinking a 4th or 5th rounder. All the more reason to just tell him "play here or no where." If he decides to play here, they get a HOF player for at least another year. If he doesn't, they're out a mid-round draft pick, but still own AD rights. In the end, the Vikings control where Adrian plays. If they want to play them, they indeed do have all the cards.

IMO, you have it completely wrong. As long as the Viking stick to their guns, AD has no cards to play. If he doesn't play out his contract with the Vikings he gets no money, the Vikings still own his rights for 3 more years, he doesn't rehabilitate his broken public image (costing him endorsement $$$), and he makes no progress toward establishing himself as the greatest running back ever, which IMO is very important to Adrian. There's no way Adrian Peterson is going to walk way from his career. By holding out against a determined Vikings front office, he would effectively be doing just that.

NDSU would expect to stomp both of those teams. The fact that a UND fan apparently considers beating them a major accomplishment says nothing about NDSU, but speaks volumes about UND.

No one is being passive aggressive. NDSU is superior to UND in football and has been for 50+ years. We know it and you know it. Stop pretending that it ain't so.

Well, I guess that just indicates the current state of the two fan bases. Obviously, NDSU fans have a whole lot more to talk about.

Don't hold your breath, it's probably never going to happen. Even if NDSU wanted such a program, which it doesn't, it would take many years to develop. Any money spent on hockey would be far better spent on football and basketball.

...and NDSU fans, by and large, don't want one anyway.

Why does it take the letters NDSU to get UND fans excited? Now, you can't even be happy with your top-level hockey program? You need NDSU to generate interest there too?

Honestly, why does it matter so much whether UND is NDSU's biggest rival or not? Is that much of the self-image and self-worth of UND football fans really tied up in a rivalry that hasn't been played for over a decade? What have you people been doing for the last ten years? Football must have been pretty damn boring without NDSU to give your program purpose.

I'm certainly not an attorney, but seems to me that UND's failure to adopt a new nickname would not be a breach of contract. What happens in that circumstance is covered under the terms of the contract (UND goes back on sanctions). No suit for breach would be necessary.

No, no one on the planet thought that Jensen was anywhere near what they now say about Wentz. Some scouts thought he had potential, but very few thought he would be drafted, much less in the first round. Brock was a great FCS quarterback, but he didn't have even close to the size, arm strength, and athleticism that Wentz has.

OK, I'll put it this way. Let say you're living in the Twin Cities, or Madison WI, or some other city in the upper Midwest. Let's further say that you have a kid and that kid is a good athlete who receives scholarship offers from two schools, one in the Big Sky an one in the SL/MVFC. As the kid's father, with I hope a fair amount of influence over the kid, which offer are you going to want the kid to take? The one were you can drive to Brookings, or Fargo to see him play away games? Or the one were his away games are at least 1,000 miles from your home? Now, put yourself in the kid's shoes, wouldn't you like to have your family at an away game or two, and maybe some of your friends too? Heck, some of those friends may already be attending some of those schools. Do you really think that those sorts of factors don't have anything to do with recruiting decisions? Sorry, but there's no doubt that UND is at a disadvantage in this area versus SL/MVFC schools because of its affiliation with the Big Sky.

Again, you're delusional. In this area, there just isn't any comparison. I live in the Twin Cities, for instance. I deal with alumni of the SL/MVFC schools on a daily basis. I don't recall the last time I encountered anyone from a Big Sky school other than UND. That's why UND has traditionally recruited in this area and not so much in footprint of the Big Sky. It's just a lot easier.

You know it's really hard to find a cogent point in this post. Oakland isn't in the Summit anymore, and the rest of your post actually presents a very strong case that the Summit schools do have much better recognition in this area than do the Big Sky schools. The NCC schools + UNI = 5 schools with better recognition than any school in the Big Sky. That seems pretty significant to me. And, geez, isn't UND a hockey school itself, and a hockey intense rival of Denver's? Even if Denver's presence doesn't help basketball recruiting much in this area, wouldn't UND fans like to play Denver twice a year in MBB and WBB?

You are indeed delusional. Kids within this area, the upper Midwest, are way, way more likely to have heard of, and give damn about, the teams in the MVFC and the Summit than those in the Big Sky. If you don't understand that, I can't help you.

Not suddenly. But, you're delusional if you think that playing schools within your natural recruiting area won't help with recruiting. Kids like to play against schools they, and their parents and friends, have actually heard of, and with which they are familiar. .

It's a lot easier to win games, coach teams, and manage athletic departments when you can expect a house full of enthusiastic fans night after night. IMO, UND fans would be far more numerous and enthusiastic with their team playing NDSU, SDSU, USD, Denver and UNI (in football) than they could ever be in the Big Sky.

Really? Do you think the "Big Sky to FBS" thread has some of these same elements?

Driven by hunger, a fox tried to reach some grapes hanging high on the vine but was unable to, although he leaped with all his strength. As he went away, the fox remarked 'Oh, you aren't even ripe yet! I don't need any sour grapes. People who speak disparagingly of things that they cannot attain would do well to apply this story to themselves.

Hard to imagine that it had nothing to do with the Summit League.

Obviously I didn't hear what was said. A "shout-out" is usually a good thing.