former players

[redwing77]

you're giving alex smith way too much credit... losman, grossman, and carr have at least had some decent years where they looked like a professional qbs. i would lump smith in with the likes of ryan leaf or akili smith. the niners are really post-montana. young was an all-pro qb, don't get me wrong, but montana was the 49ers. i'm a niners fan, so sorry if some of my bitterness crept out there hey, they beat the jets yesterday! i would say the same for budaj(sp?), he has at least played competently at a professional level, although he is not superstar.

Don't worry. ESPN and the NFL Network are falling all over themselves to apologize for the Jets loss.

Heh. Aaron Rodgers may not be proud of this season, but he can turn to the media and say "Hey, at least I'm no Alex Smith. I can't imagine being as goo..I mean...in his shoes."

As for the Goehring article: HEY! He grew an inch!

[Ray77]

Not a former player, but a former coach. In an article by Jess Meyers in USA Hockey Magazine, Blais has a few comments on the possibility of NDSU hockey. This probably deserves its own thread, but thought I'd post it here.

Sioux Who?

[AZSIOUX]

Not a former player, but a former coach. In an article by Jess Meyers in USA Hockey Magazine, Blais has a few comments on the possibility of NDSU hockey. This probably deserves its own thread, but thought I'd post it here.

Sioux Who?

thats the dumbest article title ive ever read

also that was a waste of a web page as well, a story that mentioned nothing of importance by meyers

[Goon]

thats the dumbest article title ive ever read

also that was a waste of a web page as well, a story that mentioned nothing of importance by meyers

Gee another article by Myers devoid of facts. what a shock. NDSU isn't going Division one in hockey.

[nodak hockey fanatic]

Gee another article by Myers devoid of facts. what a shock. NDSU isn't going Division one in hockey.

i love the part of the article when blais mentions that over 2000 people drive to gf for sioux hockey, so there is already a fan base here. how many of those do you think would actually pay to see a bison game? unless they were playing the sioux, or maybe if the sioux were out of town and there was no tv coverage? me personally, i would still prefer listening to the sioux on the computer and watching the goofs on fsn on mute.

[nodak hockey fanatic]

jason blake had a goal and two assists last night, first star of the game. i think they said six points in his last three games. it's nice to see him get it going. he has not produced like expected since moving to toronto.

[mikejm]

i love the part of the article when blais mentions that over 2000 people drive to gf for sioux hockey, so there is already a fan base here. how many of those do you think would actually pay to see a bison game? unless they were playing the sioux, or maybe if the sioux were out of town and there was no tv coverage? me personally, i would still prefer listening to the sioux on the computer and watching the goofs on fsn on mute.

I've heard the 2000 figure before, and as a Fargo-based season ticket holder I think it is inflated.

Fargo is having a little bit of a love affair with the Force right now, but at $17 a head, I wonder how many tickets they'll sell next year when the "newness" of the UP Center wears off? I think I read they had over 3000 for a Sunday afternoon game last weekend. I don't even want to try to figure out how much my seats at The Ralph cost me per game, but I have a feeling it isn't that much more than what the Force is getting and it certainly is a better on-ice product. I kind of think Ace, Blaser and Berning have over-reached with the Force. I wish them luck, and hope to be pleasantly surprised, but I can't see them making this work here.

However, I don't think it is an automatic "no-way" on NDSU and hockey. You need to remember that associate AD Lynn Dorn is of the hockey heavy Dorn family from Thief River Falls. I've had conversations with her on a couple occasions regarding hockey and one of her first comments is always some variation of "hockey has been a big part of my life for my entire life...". Once NDSU starts seeing some money coming in from qualifying for basketball's March Madness they might be a little more interested in re-visiting the subject.

[stickboy1956]

thats the dumbest article title ive ever read

also that was a waste of a web page as well, a story that mentioned nothing of importance by meyers

Jess doing/writing anything he can to tweak Sioux fans.

[LB#11]

I've heard the 2000 figure before, and as a Fargo-based season ticket holder I think it is inflated.

Fargo is having a little bit of a love affair with the Force right now, but at $17 a head, I wonder how many tickets they'll sell next year when the "newness" of the UP Center wears off? I think I read they had over 3000 for a Sunday afternoon game last weekend. I don't even want to try to figure out how much my seats at The Ralph cost me per game, but I have a feeling it isn't that much more than what the Force is getting and it certainly is a better on-ice product. I kind of think Ace, Blaser and Berning have over-reached with the Force. I wish them luck, and hope to be pleasantly surprised, but I can't see them making this work here.

mikejm...I respectfully disagree with you on this. The Force game on Saturday night had 4300 at their game, the Bison basketball game had 3200 and there was also a high school hockey game in Moorhead that night. The Saturday before that the Force had 4500 fans with a Sioux hockey game in Grand Forks that night. I don't think the "newness" of the UP Center will wear off, next summer they'll get the parking lot(paved) issues taken care of, the community around the UP Center will grow, the 4 Youth rinks will be underway and the Force will be a year older. The Force have a very young team this year that will only get better with Blaiser at the helm.

[mikejm]

^As I said, I hope I am pleasantly surprised and the Force succeeds wildly.

And to get completely off-topic, I'm still more than mildly upset how the whole UP Center thing happened. The voters in Fargo have not once but twice decided NOT to build such a facility with public financing. When Brandt, Berning, et al proposed the UPC it was to be privately built, owned, maintained and paid for. That clearly has not transpired.

/rant

[31-9]

Devils Audio Spotlight with Zach Parise

[Ray77]

^As I said, I hope I am pleasantly surprised and the Force succeeds wildly.

And to get completely off-topic, I'm still more than mildly upset how the whole UP Center thing happened. The voters in Fargo have not once but twice decided NOT to build such a facility with public financing. When Brandt, Berning, et al proposed the UPC it was to be privately built, owned, maintained and paid for. That clearly has not transpired.

/rant

mikejm...please expand on this. I have heard this argument from different people, but have yet to find someone that can point out what has not been privately financed for this arena. To my knowledge, this has all been done with no public funds. Did some of it go down "sloppily" and look like a PR mess? Sure, I'd agree with that. But I can't agree with the argument that it has not been privately financed, unless you know something that I don't.

The only thing that I'd give you is technically it is now "owned" by the park district, however they are still not on the hook if anything goes wrong with financing or the Metro Sports Foundation can't pay the bills. However, it has all been privately built, financed and will be maintained by the MSF.

[farce poobah]

Who would've thunk he could do it again! Can't believe it wasn't a top ten either because it was awesome!

Toews Amazing Goal #2 against the Wings

ESPN may have missed it, but Versus gave it the #1 play of the week on tonight's broadcast.

[mikejm]

mikejm...please expand on this. I have heard this argument from different people, but have yet to find someone that can point out what has not been privately financed for this arena. To my knowledge, this has all been done with no public funds. Did some of it go down "sloppily" and look like a PR mess? Sure, I'd agree with that. But I can't agree with the argument that it has not been privately financed, unless you know something that I don't.

The only thing that I'd give you is technically it is now "owned" by the park district, however they are still not on the hook if anything goes wrong with financing or the Metro Sports Foundation can't pay the bills. However, it has all been privately built, financed and will be maintained by the MSF.

In my own slanted view, the building is being paid for, primarily, with "public" funds: school district rents, park district funds, etc. Deeding the building into the park district's name also took it off the property tax rolls, which while not putting money into the building, eliminates a large, annual expense that a "privately owned" facility would have to pay. So there is a lot of public money in the deal.

And yes, the whole thing was played out very sloppily. It was half-baked to begin with and now is half-complete. I hope like heck they can raise the rest of the money to finish what they promised. There are many other little things that smell about the project, but airing my tin-foil hat theories would merely push this further off-topic.

[Ray77]

In my own slanted view, the building is being paid for, primarily, with "public" funds: school district rents, park district funds, etc. Deeding the building into the park district's name also took it off the property tax rolls, which while not putting money into the building, eliminates a large, annual expense that a "privately owned" facility would have to pay. So there is a lot of public money in the deal.

And yes, the whole thing was played out very sloppily. It was half-baked to begin with and now is half-complete. I hope like heck they can raise the rest of the money to finish what they promised. There are many other little things that smell about the project, but airing my tin-foil hat theories would merely push this further off-topic.

Regarding the school district renting the ice...they'd have to rent ice either here or at the Coliseum, correct? Yes, they put up 10 or 15 years worth of rent up front, however they would have had to pay that rent anyways, and they're getting the icetime at a discount by paying up front. I think this goes back to the "sloppy" comments, but again this does save the schools money in the long run.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they deeded it to the park district and it is not taxed, however they were filing to be a charitable organization, which would not have had to pay taxes either - and I do believe that after this all happened they did get granted charity status (whatever it's called), right? So in the end, even if they would not have given the building to the park district they wouldn't have had to pay property taxes.

Also, let's not forget that if this did not happen the citizens of Fargo would have had to pay $X million dollars to renovate the existing facilities - I'd have to do some digging to find the exact number.

[mikejm]

...and they're getting the icetime at a discount by paying up front..

Is it really a discount?

Also, let's not forget that if this did not happen the citizens of Fargo would have had to pay $X million dollars to renovate the existing facilities - I'd have to do some digging to find the exact number.

Have to pay $x million? Says who?

The citizens of Fargo were asked twice if they "wanted" to spend $x million to build new ice. Twice they said "no".

Emphatically.

[LB#11]

[quote name='mikejm' date='Dec 10 2008, 01:24 PM' post='362289

The citizens of Fargo were asked twice if they "wanted" to spend $x million to build new ice. Twice they said "no".

Emphatically.

[Ray77]

Is it really a discount?

Have to pay $x million? Says who?

The citizens of Fargo were asked twice if they "wanted" to spend $x million to build new ice. Twice they said "no".

Emphatically.

This was said by Roger Gress and the park board. Yes, Fargo voted no to building a new facility publically. However, if this facility was not built, Fargo would have had to update, renovate, etc. the existing facilities. The cost of this was in the millions. I can look when I have more time for the article if you'd like me to.

[AZSIOUX]

sorry to spoil the fargo talk

POTENTIAL FORMER SIOUX TONIGHT

http://www.nhl.com/scores/index.html?navid=NAV|SCR|Main

drew stafford - buffalo vs tampa bay

zach parise, travis zajac - new jersey vs pittsburgh

jonathan toews - chicago vs ottawa

david hale - phoenix vs landon wilson - dallas

[LB#11]

sorry to spoil the fargo talk

POTENTIAL FORMER SIOUX TONIGHT

http://www.nhl.com/scores/index.html?navid=NAV|SCR|Main

drew stafford - buffalo vs tampa bay

zach parise, travis zajac - new jersey vs pittsburgh

jonathan toews - chicago vs ottawa

david hale - phoenix vs landon wilson - dallas

AZSIOUX...what are you doing putting former Sioux players on this thread?

I have the NHL Package, thanks for the daily updates on what former Sioux players are playing that night, it's a great reminder. Has anyone heard anything on Oshie's injury?

[AZSIOUX]

AZSIOUX...what are you doing putting former Sioux players on this thread?

I have the NHL Package, thanks for the daily updates on what former Sioux players are playing that night, it's a great reminder. Has anyone heard anything on Oshie's injury?

osh is out on the IR for a week or so then go from there. they knew it could be apossibility with that injury so he will continue to rehab and get back asap

the scar tissue in him was going to pop and thats what happened, its really part of the healing process.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/morning-s...est-coast-trip/

There was some hope that T.J. Oshie would at least go on the Blues

[31-9]

Zajac with his 5th of the year tonight.

Sabourin had a real nice view of it too: banked off the boards, took a crazy bounce straight out to Travis and into the open net.

Now Parise deflects a shot from the point THROUGH his legs, and it's his 16th of the year.

Devs win 4 - 1.

[Siouxdonyms]

Zajac with his 5th of the year tonight.

Sabourin had a real nice view of it too: banked off the boards, took a crazy bounce straight out to Travis and into the open net.

Now Parise deflects a shot from the point THROUGH his legs, and it's his 16th of the year.

Beautiful deflection goal. He makes it look like artwork. Lifted his left leg so the puck can travel off his stick through the legs and over the goaltender. Parise's goal turns out to be the GWG, his 3rd of the season.

[LB#11]

In last nights Devils 4-1 win over Pittsburg, Zach Parise was the 3rd star and Travis Zajac was 2nd star of the game. Zach's tip in goal was awesome.

[nodak hockey fanatic]

nice article about toews...

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=397226