Biggest sports story in North Dakota history

[tony]

I've heard this question in a couple places: Is NDSU making the Dance the biggest sports story in North Dakota history?

My first reaction was that Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth's record is still #1.

However, upon reflection, I think that NDSU's decision to go DI is the biggest. No disrespect to Roger Maris, but NDSU going DI fundamentally changed college and high school athletics in North Dakota forever. NDSU wouldn't have gotten the chances to make the Dance or to beat the Gophers in front of 60k or to beat top 20 teams in BB. Not only that, if NDSU hadn't gone DI, who thinks UND would have made the move they did? And by going DI, NDSU has given lots of ND (and SD and MN) high school kids the chance to compete at the DI level - kids that never would have gotten the chance otherwise.

That said, I think that Roger Maris hitting 61 is the BEST sports story in ND history with NDSU's BB team making the tourney at #2.

[Bison"FANatic"]

I like your thought process Tony. It makes a lot of sense. The moving to D1 has not just had a great impact but will continue to have very large impact on sports in the state. The move to D1 was bigger than just what happened 5 years ago it will have a lasting impact and is the reason form many of the successes

I applaude your line of thinking

[99Bison]

Good comments, as you imply it depends on what you consider "biggest."

If you group long periods of time together or impacts, NDSU going DI is definately the biggest and will only get bigger over time.

If you go for an single event/story, NDSU Making the big dance is the biggest national sports story in ND history for this reason: this rediculous fairytail story will be get more publicity for ND than anything else has (just wait for the next 5 days starting Sunday night).

Maris, while a great story that is near and dear to ND hearts has evolved over several years and was a person from ND playing on a team in a different state. People nationally talked about Yankees, Maris, Mantle and home run record... not so much ND.

[tcbison]

Good comments, as you imply it depends on what you consider "biggest."

If you group long periods of time together or impacts, NDSU going DI is definately the biggest and will only get bigger over time.

If you go for an single event/story, NDSU Making the big dance is the biggest national sports story in ND history for this reason: this rediculous fairytail story will be get more publicity for ND than anything else has (just wait for the next 5 days starting Sunday night).

Maris, while a great story that is near and dear to ND hearts has evolved over several years and was a person from ND playing on a team in a different state. People nationally talked about Yankees, Maris, Mantle and home run record... not so much ND.

I complete agree with the last two lines. This story impacts ND more because it is a team that plays in ND. Roger Maris was great but he played for the New York Yankees.

[Bison Dan]

I think we'll only know for sure if we can get a quote from RT and see what he thinks.

[WYOBISONMAN]

I would agree. Athletics in North Dakota (not just NDSU) have changed for ever due to the DI decision.

[Herd80]

I've also been thinking a lot this week about this issue. Trying to put my bias aside (not being a hockey or UND fan), I keep coming to the conclusion that making the biggest tournament in sports (at least in the US) has to be the highest profile issue in ND sports history.

This is more than getting a singular clip on ESPN for a big win, or winning a national championship in a sport that doesn't have the breadth of appeal that college basketball does. There has been much argued regarding individual and team wins, but again, the balance seems to shift if you consider the sport and the stage.

I suppose the dispute will always come down to x number of national championships in whatever sport...but if the sport is well down the priority list behind basketball, football and others in terms of national prominence and recognition.....

Just a thought

[bisonmike2]

Looking back, the D1 move has had a bigger impact but it's not a bigger story. Nobody cared that we moved to D1 at the time. Well, UND cared enough to tell everyone that we were making a mistake but outside of them and our fan base nobody cared. The tournament spot, more importantly, how we made the tournament, with 4 redshirted seniors, 1st year eligible, last second shot is by far and will continue to get bigger and be the biggest sports story in ND history.

[Bison"FANatic"]

I would agree. Athletics in North Dakota (not just NDSU) have changed for ever due to the DI decision.

Not just ND but SD to. If either NDSU or SDSU would have decided that they were not going to go D1 the other might not have went or at least looked at it even more closely. We wouldn't be seeing the Bison men in the Dance and the Rabbit women wouldn't be dancin either. Huge impact to the upper midwest. Lead follow or get out of the way and the SU's are LEADING.

[Herd]

Maybe I'm just being greedy, but a 1st round win would take this whole thing to another level completely. This thing is already big and there will be and has been some great media attention, but it will ramp up expoentially with a win on the 19th or 20th.

As far as media attention, making the Basketball field of 65 outweights a NCAA hockey championship by far. Let's face it . . . hockey is a nice sport, but its regional niche sport. Basketball is national and the NCAA backetball tournament is King.

NDSU's league championship and tournament bid is pretty hard to swallow for those in our state who wake up every day and profess their love for hockey and give it top billing in our state. Some will say almost anything to try to minimize this achievement and put hockey on the same level as college basketball. Instead of appreciating this accomplishment, they cling to their hockey life vests.

[BisonCountry]

This isn't something that can be answered easily especially less than a week after when the event occurred, and when we don't know what will happen next week. If we become like a Davidson or George Mason of past years, this story will astronomically become a larger story. I think when all is said in done, it will be one of the most heavily covered stories as far as media attention in ND sports history that directly associates someone/team to ND.

I wasn't alive when Maris broke the HR record but I'm sure Maris's roots to ND were a sidenote and not the story. North Dakotans take great pride in his accomplishments/record, but how many outside of us knew he was from Fargo other than big baseball/Yankee fans (like Billy Crystal). Again hard for me to answer because I wasn't alive.

I read the Foss article (which is very sad) and he tries to say that Phil Jackson's accomplishments are bigger in ND sports history. I've watched every one of Phil Jackson's championship teams, and I don't ever remember him being announced as the pride of Williston, ND or UND graduate.

When NDSU plays in the tournament, our state, Fargo, and the university is directly attached to what they do. The audience that will be exposed to this will be much larger, and there will be no debate as to where they are from. Our name is on their jersey.

In the end I feel you can say that Maris and Jackson are bigger sports accomplishments done by a North Dakotan. NDSU going to the Big Dance, is a bigger story for publicity of a North Dakota sports team.