SJHornet said:
After reading my previous post, it seems I lead on I was totally disappointed with the addition of North Dakota. Actually, (especially after some reflection), I am pretty happy with the addition. UND has a very good reputation academically and I think has the potential athletically to be another Montana. I am worried about the travel, but a bigger Sky means more attention and better competition means more respect nationally. I would really like for Sac to be admitted to the Big West, but the expanded Sky will do just fine for now. I didn’t know NDSU had such a sour relationship with you guys. If we were trying to get into a conference and UCD had left us out in the cold as you guys had, I wouldn’t want anything to do with them or their conference either. Screw the other XD‘s, let’s look forward to many meetings on the field in the Sky!
Welcome to the Sky UND and SUU!
According to NDSU fans, we've always held them back. They'd be in the Big Ten if it wasn't for us. :lol:
In 2004, when NDSU moved up, NDSU fans bascially were demanding that UND move up too. But UND had a lot of other issues that were much more important at the time. UND and NDSU have always been very competitive, but the cities they are in, Grand Forks and Fargo, are also historically competitive for trade in the region. So the city factor makes the rivalry even worse.
In the spring of 1997, Grand Forks was flooded and a fire burned its downtown. The damages were in the billions, UND was flooded and cancelled the last month of classes with a $100 million in damages, most of the city was unihabitable for six weeks - parts much longer - and UND and Grand Forks lost a high percentage of its students and people - never returning. Until New Orleans, it was the most significant long-term city evacuation in US history.
Part of the reason that Ralph Engelstad gave the hockey arena to UND and Grand Forks was help it to get back on its feet and feel positive about itself. Anyway, the debt load at UND and in the Grand Forks business community was very high even after the city was rebuilt, as a massive dike and floodwall system was built. DI athletics was the last thing UND and Grand Forks were concerned about in 2002, when NDSU made the decision. When, with the differences in scholarship and DII rules resulted in us deciding not to play them any more, they and their fans went into a holy uproar about it. We were the bad guys in not playing them, even though they had more scholarships and it would hurt our DII playoff chances. NDSU only wanted a four-year contract - to help them through their transition but wouldn't play us after that. NDSU also likes to claim that the ND legislature was trying to stop them from DI, but the facts are the very few legislators that were proposing that, more graduated from NDSU than UND.
NDSU's President who led the move to DI was incredibly popular among NDSU fans, as he was looked on as a Moses figure leading them into the Promised Land. NDSU's President was incredibly good at politicking - getting a couple of his Board of Education bosses fired because NDSU wasn't getting enough money. NDSU fans are still incredibly upset that this President had to resign in disgrace - even though the President was practically robbing the NDSU Foundation blind with expensive trips, a huge salary for his wife as an assistant, overspending by $1 million on the Presidents house. But since under his tenure, NDSU became larger than UND in enrollment and moved to DI and had programs added that were supposed to be UND's, NDSU fans consider him a saint.
With the Sioux name, NDSU leadership were attempting to use it against us in getting into the Summit League (the Summit mandated they wouldn't allow us in until the issue was resolved - we were following the court agreement with the NCAA, so things had been resolved). USD gained admission to the Summit 20 months before UND even had an option to talk with the Summit League. The Summit's Commissioner and NDSU's AD had both suggested all members not play UND until the name was resolved. Since the NDSU AD was a ND employee, what he was saying was in direct violation of the ND Board. To the NCAA, UND had until Nov 30th of this year to get the two ND SIoux tribes to approve the name. A referendum on one reservation approved the Sioux name by 66-34%. The other reservation wouldn't allow the people to vote. The name is being changed.
Here's a clip of the Sioux/Bison rivalry back in the 90's from NFL films, before the bad blood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwbop13A9yQ
