UND Total Attendance Leader at FCS Level?

[Cratter]

Well you are correct in that football is king but let's look at it this way: I have yet to meet a single NDSU grad in Colorado, but on the other hand I have met quite a few UND grads (skiing, bars, whatever). I even know of a bar that carries UND football and hockey when possible. UND is not very well known nationally but is sure as hell more well known than NDSU (not talking the state of ND here btw).

He knows that. That is why he picked a different school: App State.

[Sioux-cia]

The two places you named were Northern cities, Juneau especially should know who the Sioux are because Alaska has a couple of college hockey teams and nothing else really to speak of. In case you were/are unaware, hockey has some significance up there. As for New York, they like their hockey too, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Bruins, Philidelphia are all close by. A lot of hockey schools out there too. As for the many sioux alum you speak of, sorry bro but not many people watch Versus.

I for one, went on a cruise the year App St. beat Michigan and that was down in the Bahamas. I feel like that might be a more fair objective way of looking at this considering people from all of the country go on cruises. I saw zero UND shirts. I saw 3 Bison shirts, those belonged to me, my mom, and my dad. Several people asked who North Dakota St. was and when I brought up UND having a pretty good hockey school none of them were aware of them either. I saw App. St. shirts on several people and I asked them what it was like to live there, turned out none of them were from there, and they were all just talking because they noticed each other wearing the shirts.

Nationally, App St. football is more well known as a sports team than UND, whether you like it or not. Football is king in the US, and when you do what they did on National television, people remember your name.

Actually, college hockey is not 'significant' in Juneau. The two Alaskan college hockey teams are a considerable distance from Juneau. Travel from Juneau to other parts of Alaska is burdonsome and expensive. The fact that you are comparing the UND Fighting Sioux to professional hockey teams is quite telling. Our program has produced almost three hundred professional hockey players. So, it's only natural to compare us to NHL teams. Our alumni are nearly always identified as being the product of the University of North Dakota's stellar hockey program in print and video. So, bro, it's not necessary to watch Versus to hear or see our alum.

When mom and dad took you to the Bahama's, your pilot was probably a UND grad. I've run into many a UND pilot in my travels. My Sioux gear invariably garners a 'Go Sioux' from them. I wonder if you get a similar response wearing your Bison gear from the cashier at Hornbachers?

Nationally, UND is more well known as a sports team than App St football, whether you like it or not. Football may be king in the US but NHL hockey isn't far behind and what we do in hockey on the college level and what our alum do on the professional level, puts our name and logo on National televion on a regular basis. No doubt about it...., bro.

Edited September 14, 2011 by Sioux-cia

[Walsh Hall]

College hockey is non-consequential, it is just like FCS football. People who went to school somewhere, will generally follow the team. But unlike college basketball or FBS, Hockey and FCS don't have truely national fanbases. Am I going Boston University, Miami, UND, (insert hockey school name here) hats, and shirts throughout the entire country like I will see Notre Dame, Texas, USC, Miami (FL)? Hell no. Am I going to see Appalachian St., Eastern Washington, Montana, Delaware shirts everywhere? Nope. Hence, hockey is no more relevant than FCS. I hope that hockey attracts a higher total attendence, hockey has around 30-40 games a year? Football teams play 11-15 pending playoffs.

The biggest difference is that FCS football is a second class league with second class players. While there are a handful of players with the potential play pro ball, the vast majority are nowhere close to that level. They are the players that in general couldn't play at a better football school. (Still great athletes, but not elite)

DI hockey players are elite, and a majority of them will have the chance to play pro hockey at some level, and many will play in the NHL. There is no comparing the popularity of hockey in general to football in general, but anybody who follows hockey will know UND. I see that as the big difference. At the college level DI hockey is the best hockey there is. At the college level FCS is second tier.

[JohnboyND7]

Actually, college hockey is not 'significant' in Juneau. The two Alaskan college hockey teams are a considerable distance from Juneau. Travel from Juneau to other parts of Alaska is burdonsome and expensive. The fact that you are comparing the UND Fighting Sioux to professional hockey teams is quite telling. Our program has produced almost three hundred professional hockey players. So, it's only natural to compare us to NHL teams. Our alumni are nearly always identified as being the product of the University of North Dakota's stellar hockey program in print and video. So, bro, it's not necessary to watch Versus to hear or see our alum.

When mom and dad took you to the Bahama's, your pilot was probably a UND grad. I've run into many a UND pilot in my travels. My Sioux gear invariably garners a 'Go Sioux' from them. I wonder if you get a similar response wearing your Bison gear from the cashier at Hornbachers?

Nationally, UND is more well known as a sports team than App St football, whether you like it or not. Football may be king in the US but NHL hockey isn't far behind and what we do in hockey on the college level and what our alum do on the professional level, puts our name and logo on National televion on a regular basis. No doubt about it...., bro.

My Pilot had a ring he showed me, Air Force Academy. Nice try. I'm aware that UND has an excellent aviation program, best outside of the academy correct? Do I care at all about who is flying my plane as long as he is qualified?

NHL comes after football, nascar(if we are going to count that), MLB, and NBA. Nice try again, tried pulling a fast one there! Hockey would be more popular if it was tv-friendly, but it is naturally harder for them to get viewers consistently when the puck is hard to see.

So I will say this one last time, In North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada, and parts of New England, UND will be more well known. Everyone else fell in love with Appalachian St. It doesn't matter if UND is better at their sport than App. St, it matters that App St. did something awesome in a sport that everyone from the pacific coast to the atlantic coast recognized. UND can beat #1 Boston U. or Boston College and its not going to be on ESPN for anything unless their was a sick goal. App St. beats Michigan and the rest is history. That's all it takes in football, knock off a big team on a big stage.

[bincitysioux]

I for one, went on a cruise the year App St. beat Michigan and that was down in the Bahamas. I feel like that might be a more fair objective way of looking at this considering people from all of the country go on cruises. I saw zero UND shirts. I saw 3 Bison shirts, those belonged to me, my mom, and my dad. Several people asked who North Dakota St. was and when I brought up UND having a pretty good hockey school none of them were aware of them either.

Typical Bison fan..............................

On vacation, out of the country, and bringing up North Dakota hockey.....................................

The "which school is more well known?" arguement is pointless on these forums. NDSU fans and alums walking around Florida or Arizona with Bison gear on are bound to at some point run into someone that recognizes the NDSU logo. Then they will quickly run to their hotel room and log on to both Bisonville and SiouxSports to recreate the drama that was their interaction with some total strangers that apparently have heard of their favorite school, and proclaim that they are "NATIONWIDE BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Same scenario will play out for many Sioux fans......................................

[JohnboyND7]

Typical Bison fan..............................

On vacation, out of the country, and bringing up North Dakota hockey.....................................

The "which school is more well known?" arguement is pointless on these forums. NDSU fans and alums walking around Florida or Arizona with Bison gear on are bound to at some point run into someone that recognizes the NDSU logo. Then they LakesBison will quickly run to their hotel room and will try to log on to both Bisonville and SiouxSports to recreate the drama that was their interaction with some total strangers that apparently have heard of their favorite school, and proclaim that they are "NATIONWIDE BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but then he will realize that he has been banned from both. "

Fixed it for ya

Same scenario will play out for many Sioux fans......................................

[jodcon]

The "which school is more well known?" arguement is pointless on these forums. NDSU fans and alums walking around Florida or Arizona with Bison gear on are bound to at some point run into someone that recognizes the NDSU logo. Then they LakesBison will quickly run to their hotel room and will try to log on to both Bisonville and SiouxSports to recreate the drama that was their interaction with some total strangers that apparently have heard of their favorite school, and proclaim that they are "NATIONWIDE BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but then he will realize that he has been banned from both. "

Provided lakes is granted a travel pass by his PO to leave the state after his legal troubles.

[JohnboyND7]

Not true. I'm originally from Nashville, when I go home I see people wearing UND t-shirts and hats. When I go to Predators games and wear my Sioux jersey I'm constantly hearing Go Sioux from people as well as catching hell from Gopher and Badger fans. Also, I went to Vegas and Chicago not to long ago and saw at least ten people wearing Fighting Sioux merchandise. Plus we are constantly getting shout outs on NHL broadcasts and in NHL video games. Football is king but hockey has been extremely kind to us and as the NHL continues to gain popularity in the US, UND will only get stronger and stronger.

UND is a great hockey school, if you go to a NHL game, of course people there are going to know who UND is. However, I am curious as to why the hell you would wear a Sioux jersey to a Predators game? That would be like me wearing a Bison Jersey to a Steelers game....Doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

NHL will only gain popularity to an extent. It will never surpass baseball basketball or football. As for NHL getting more popular and thus making UND stronger, thats what Notre Dame thought when football was catching on more....and as sad as i am to say it, my Irish are more relevant on skates than they are on the gridiron.

[bincitysioux]

UND is a great hockey school, if you go to a NHL game, of course people there are going to know who UND is. However, I am curious as to why the hell you would wear a Sioux jersey to a Predators game? That would be like me wearing a Bison Jersey to a Steelers game....Doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

NHL will only gain popularity to an extent. It will never surpass baseball basketball or football. As for NHL getting more popular and thus making UND stronger, thats what Notre Dame thought when football was catching on more....and as sad as i am to say it, my Irish are more relevant on skates than they are on the gridiron.

Don't kid yourself....................your Irish aren't all that relevant on skates either.................................

[The Sicatoka]

Hockey would be more popular if it was tv-friendly, but it is naturally harder for them to get viewers consistently when the puck is hard to see.

And the advent of High-Definition television (sorry DaveK) is making hockey more television-friendly right now. Add in larger screens in homes and it adds to hockey's growing television prowess*.

And then there's the fact that some folks are just willing to ignore: the growth of hockey in the US.

One interesting fact to chew on in that regard: NDSU's football roster (100 players) has two Californians; UND's hockey roster (25) has two Californians (plus guys from the hockey hotbeds of Arizona, Missouri, and Washington, DC).

* 25 years ago how many homes had a 32" or larger TV? How many today have a 40" or larger?

[LB#11]

JohnboyND7...aka bro. Jonathan Toews is to the the NHL what Kobe Bryant is to the NBA, could you imagine if Kobe would have played his college days at NDSU? Did you know Drew Stafford signed a $20 Million contract this summer out in Buffalo? If any former Bison athelete signed a contract of that magnitude the Teammakers chests would be out bigger than Pamela Anderson's. TJ Oshie was voted the most popular athelete in St. Louis, that includes Albert Pujols, Steven Jackson and yes even Craig Dahl.

[The Sicatoka]

... and yes even Craig Dahl.

Blasphemy!

[darell1976]

It was funny to see Denver on MNF with Joe Mays, college: North Dakota St. on one side and Chris Kuper college: North Dakota on the other side. Makes for interesting conversation.

[star2city]

It was funny to see Denver on MNF with Joe Mays, college: North Dakota St. on one side and Chris Kuper college: North Dakota on the other side. Makes for interesting conversation.

Even funnier are the salaries:

Chris Kuper: $7,000,000 per year

Joe Mays: $550,000 per year.

NFL salaries

NDSU fans are always whining about funding disparities.

[darell1976]

Even funnier are the salaries:

Chris Kuper: $7,000,000 per year

Joe Mays: $550,000 per year.

NFL salaries

Which is shocking since Kuper is an OL and Mays is a LB. Must mean Kuper is more valuable!

[JohnboyND7]

JohnboyND7...aka bro. Jonathan Toews is to the the NHL what Kobe Bryant is to the NBA, could you imagine if Kobe would have played his college days at NDSU? Did you know Drew Stafford signed a $20 Million contract this summer out in Buffalo? If any former Bison athelete signed a contract of that magnitude the Teammakers chests would be out bigger than Pamela Anderson's. TJ Oshie was voted the most popular athelete in St. Louis, that includes Albert Pujols, Steven Jackson and yes even Craig Dahl.

I think you meant to say Crosby or Ovechkin there bud. It is a tad harder for schools like NDSU and UND to land pro basketball and football prospects than it is to land hockey prospects. Typical sports fans still aren't big into hockey. I enjoy hockey, I think you guys are thinking that I hate it. I watch it if it is on. I will take a bit of time every Sunday night to see how Notre Dame did that weekend and how Philidelphia is looking in the standings. Craig Dahl has something TJ doesn't have though, a professional league's championship ring I wouldn't mind catching a link for the story that says Oshie is more popular in St. Louis than Pujols.

As to the gentleman that mentioned Mays contract vs. Kuper's, Mays really isn't that good. He has been getting a nice amount of publicity for his hit on Tony Moeaki on youtube and it seems like the Denver paper thinks he is kind of a fan favorite. I like him. A very hard worker who gets the most out of his body. Also, inside linebackers who aren't Ray Lewis(overpaid), Lawerence Timmons, or San Francisco's guy aren't paid that well. Not when you gotta pay OLB's, CB's, LT's, QB's, and WR's ridiculous sums of money. Polamalu only makes $10 million. He is perhaps the best safety of all-time(or ed reed, pick your poison) Kuper on the other hand is probably a bit overpaid, still a good player though. Doesn't hurt he has been in the league awhile longer.

Why aren't we talking about attendence anymore? At one point this was UND folks being really happy about leading the nation in FCS schools attendence. Forum decided to make a weak attempt at a trollish argument. Then I decided to point out that of the 125 FCS schools, only 13 of them have hockey and I felt hockey attendence should not be included in the total attendence as a result. That would be like NDSU comparing total attendence with the wrestling conference they are in, or the Summit League where not all the schools have football. Makes things a tad uneven ya know?

[Cratter]

Why did you decide to bring this topic off topic? That's a great question to ask yourself!!! on a UND sports fan page of all places! Why do you constantly bring up NDSU to throw the threads off topic??

[southpaw]

It is a tad harder for schools like NDSU and UND to land pro basketball and football prospects than it is to land hockey prospects

Wrong. It's a million times harder for a school like NDSU to land a hockey prospect than a pro basketball or football prospect. You kinda have to have hockey to land those prospects.

The thread title is about UND being the total attendance leader for all schools that play FCS football. There is nothing misleading about it at all. Nobody is claiming UND football is a leader in attendance. Nobody is claiming UND basketball is a leader. Of course, UND isn't at the top of those lists. However, this is about ALL sports.

You'd think it wouldn't be very difficult to figure that out, but apparently not.

[JohnboyND7]

Why did you decide to bring this topic off topic? That's a great question to ask yourself!!! on a UND sports fan page of all places! Why do you constantly bring up NDSU to throw the threads off topic??

I didn't bring it off topic or NDSU into it, I brought up why I felt like hockey attendence should not have been included if the comparison was going to be an comparison against other FCS schools, the core sports of football, basketball, and maybe volleyball(thats a big maybe) should have been the only ones used. Someone decided to say FCS is irrelevant, I pointed out Appalachian State is very relevant to today's sports fan and for some odd reason someone decided to bring NDSU into it. I was not the culprit. Maybe if you took the time to read stuff before you attacked people, you would have friends other than online guys at siouxsports.com

[The Sicatoka]

So some are upset that someone looked at "all sports attendance" by the subcategory "FCS schools".

How would that be different than looking at "all sports attendance" by the subcategory "Big 10 schools"? Would they not be allowed to count baseball attendance because Wisconsin doesn't play baseball?

[The Sicatoka]

... I felt like hockey attendence should not have been included if the comparison was going to be an comparison against other FCS schools, the core sports of football, basketball, and maybe volleyball(thats a big maybe) should have been the only ones used.

The topic clearly stated "all sports" at FCS schools. It's thread-starters choice of topic.

[JohnboyND7]

The topic clearly stated "all sports" at FCS schools. It's thread-starters choice of topic.

Oh of course, i'm not disputing that. All I'm saying(stated multiple times only to get attacked every time) is that I felt it would probably be a better guage of the type of attendence FCS-level teams were getting if it was standardized to the core sports. It is one thing if one or two of the schools in your Big Ten scenario don't have a sport, but when 112 of the 125 don't play a particular sport (especially a very well attended one that has around 20 home games a season) it is misleading. On first glance it makes it look like UND is a world beater in all sports when you see them higher than very good football/basketball(standard university's strive for this) schools. At the very least it could have an asterisk with a footnote showing what the FCS hockey schools are pulling in from hockey.

[star2city]

Oh of course, i'm not disputing that. All I'm saying(stated multiple times only to get attacked every time) is that I felt it would probably be a better guage of the type of attendence FCS-level teams were getting if it was standardized to the core sports. It is one thing if one or two of the schools in your Big Ten scenario don't have a sport, but when 112 of the 125 don't play a particular sport (especially a very well attended one that has around 20 home games a season) it is misleading. On first glance it makes it look like UND is a world beater in all sports when you see them higher than very good football/basketball(standard university's strive for this) schools. At the very least it could have an asterisk with a footnote showing what the FCS hockey schools are pulling in from hockey.

The problem with NDSU fans is that they've been drinking so much Bisonville jealousy and envy koolaid that continually spouts the mantra that hockey is irrelevant, that after a while they believe what is nothing more than propaganda. If NDSU built up its wrestling program so that it brought in Iowa State or Iowa type crowds, that would be counted too, even though the vast majority of FCS schools do not have wrestling. A few of the schools actually have large crowds that pay to watch gymnastics and lacrosse: that was counted too.

Are you aware that UND's athletic budget is nearly four million more than NDSU's? Four million. This from a school that hasn't even finished it's transition, isn't getting much from the NCAA as part of it's reimbursement, and is getting nothing from a conference. Even moreso, UND athletic's budget doesn't cover the cost of the Ralph, which is paid for by UND hockey tickets purchased. When the Ralph is combined into UND athletics, the disparity between UND and NDSU would be closer to 10 million.

As much as you might dislike the numbers presented, as far as a business UND is in the upper echelon of schools in FCS (like Old Dominion, or Delaware, or Cornell), while NDSU is in a tier beneath that. A school like USD is even lower (and how they do as well as they do, is a credit to their coaches.)

Think of it as a business analogy. UND athletics is like the Canad Inn complex: each spectator sport is a different restaurant or entertainment venue. Some of those restaurants actually don't have that great of food (and need a new head chef), but overall it is a pretty decent experience. UND chooses to offer a water park (hockey and swimming), while NDSU claims that would be too expensive. NDSU athletics is more like a tractor repair shop, with an attached greasy spoon, a Motel 6, and a tawdry strip club (attracting the derelict characters that is so often witnessed in Fargo police bookings). Both complexes somewhat serve the same purposes to the alumni (entertainment, lodging, food) , but to non-alumni the appearance is entirely different.

[FargoBison]

Wow Star that might be the biggest load of BS you've ever written on this forum.

[star2city]

Wow Star that might be the biggest load of BS you've ever written on this forum.

Guess somebody's feelings are hurt.

I just knew a Sioux-hater like you would absolutely hate it, especially the tractor repair/strip club analogy. Bet you already complained about it on bisonviile.

Can't believe how consistent bison fans are in being whiners.