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View Full Version : McFeely must have not taken his Prozac...



WYOBISONMAN
02-28-2004, 12:27 PM
Check it out. We knew that sooner or later he would be back bashing the D1 move. This column by McFeely makes almost no sense at all.


http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=51606

mustangfan
02-28-2004, 02:02 PM
I wouldn't say that he is ripping. He made some good points how there may not be any doubleheaders anymore and that may hurt attendance.

I think people will still come, but not becasue of DHs, but because who will be coming to the BSA. Oral Roberts, Centenary, Oakland?

bisongold
02-28-2004, 03:30 PM
I'm curious. Does anyone remember when the Fargo Dome was in the "sell it to the community" stage? What were Mcfeely's thoughts on this project. There were plenty of naysayers at that time also and am just curious to see if he was one of them. I have found that a large percentage of people are not risk takers, and do not have much vision. Even if they are shown the vision, they still are not capable of "action" because the perceived risk is too high for their comfort zone. So it becomes easier to criticize and hope that one can say" I told you so" later at any little roadblock along the way. People with this trait seldom are in leadership positions. I was living in Minneapolis when the Metrodome went through the same stages as the Fargo Dome did years later. It was interesting to observe the similarities in the politics, consensus building, and the opposition along the way. Just curious as to where McFeely himself stood on the issue as I know the Forum itself was a big supporter of the Dome which was very important in the project being completed. Is there any question now as to the success of it to Fargo and the entire State?

SDbison
02-28-2004, 03:37 PM
McFeely always has a way of only pointing out one side of the story. Yes, it is OK to make the observations about the way things will or possibly will be different in a D1 basketball world, but he could state some of the positives along with the negatives. Take for example his comments about few Friday / Saturday night combos or women and men playing back to back. So maybe there is some good. How about revenue. If the teams are of new and/or better caliber are they not worth the price of separate tickets? Possibly more revenue for NDSU and the new travel budget? If the schedule is mixed up, or home games far and few between away games does this not make for more build up and anticipation for a home game? As for the media, maybe different and nationally recognized contests will sell more newspapers, increase listeners (i.e. raise ad rates for bison games). Maybe the media will need to spend more money, but the rewards may be greater. Come on McFeely, be creative, think a little. Change doesn't always mean something bad. In the real world it promotes innovation, makes things more exciting and prevents stagnation. Time to quit thinking small and start thinking big. Living in the past will only make the transition tougher. Thinking of new ways to market the games, making game day a different experience, and following up on the results could be, well......a whole new ballgame! I can't wait.

SDbison
02-28-2004, 04:10 PM
Hey Bisongold you make some points. I grew up in the Fargo Moorhead area and was always proud of the way the community wanted to be progressive and build projects which benefited the general public. For example, the many ice arenas, the Fargodome, the horse racing track, etc. I now live in Sioux Falls, a metropolitan area with nearly the same population of the FM area, around 175,000. When I first moved here in 1993 the big thing was building an arts pavillion that would house the local symphony and a Omni theatre. It was to cost less than 20 million, but ended up costing over 30 million. It has only been a venue for a few rock concerts due to its small size (2000 capacity), but also due to the concern about possible damage. My point is the rich in town got the average guy convinced to approve a playground for them. At the same time we have a 5000 seat arena built in the 1960's to house concerts and games. It is pathetic how short sighted they are here and how the naysayers get their way. Another example is ice arenas. While the FM area has close to ten sheets of ice the Sioux Falls area has two old and inferior places for hockey. Ice time is hard to get for leagues, practices and open skate. Luverne, MN, Mitchell, Sioux City and Brookings all within an hours drive have superior ice facilities. All Sioux Fall's leaders do is talk about building more ice facilities and a bigger arena. They have been doing this for for many years now as the naysayers are winning. Negativity and fear run rampant. The SDSU move to D1 is a another good example. My point is much as McFeely is a pain in the butt just be glad your communities leaders and the general public don't have his attitiude.

SDSUFAN
02-28-2004, 06:44 PM
SDBison:

Amen to everything you said. *Especially the negativity about SDSU move to D1. *Why is Dr. Oien's family problems front page news in the Argus? Only because *Dr. Oien has carried the water for making the move. *Stay tuned though as the matter will advance in court this month March 16th Preliminary hearing. *Wait in see the Argus leader will drive 50 miles to cover a preliminary hearing for a misdeameanor charge.

Getting back to McFeely, I don't take him negatively on his column. He is pointing out the bargin that fans have had with the double hitter. *I doubt women's basketball would have gotten off the ground in the NCC if it had been as separate venues. *I think now both NDSU and SDSU women's programs have developed a separate following.

I noticed at UNO-SDSU game last evening that at UNO, who does not have a good program for women right now, there were UNO fans that left right after the women's game. So I think most schools do have separate followers whether their program is winning or not.

jackmd
02-29-2004, 03:25 AM
Women's college BB is growing in popularity especially at the DI level. There are now games on T.V. at least 2 days a week which was unheard of even 5 years ago. The U of Minn women consistently draw more than 10,000 per game and outdraw the men this year (granted a lot of this is due to Lindsey Whalen and the winning tradition).

Both NDSU and SDSU's women's teams will be competitive early in the move. I suspect one of these teams will make the post-season before the men. They will establish their own following (as they have now) and attendance will be fine.

bisongold
02-29-2004, 07:48 AM
The fans will go to the winning team whether girls or boys!! It is more fun to be a part of the winning team's success than to try to make excuses for the losing team. All levels of play are like this. Univ. of Minn., and Larimore girls with their 52 game winning streak are much more fun to be a part of than the corresponding boys games. However, there is nothing worse in this world than watching a bad girls basketball game in high school!! The girls games at UND and NDSU are very fun to watch and they can definitely hold their own as far as attendance is concerned. I feel that having them separate from the boys games would result in higher total attendance than combining them anyway...but this is only predicated upon them being top notch, winning teams. On a down year, I do not think this would be the case.

Herd_Mentality
03-01-2004, 04:30 PM
bisongold....are you a Polar Bear?

And yes, watching the Larimore girls and their win streak has been something special.

bisongold
03-01-2004, 04:51 PM
No, not a Polar Bear but a sports fan at all levels. Very aware of Larimore's phenomenal record and coach! Here's a question for the Fargo Forum and Fargo in general. Why does the Forum have such terrible Class B coverage all year but Fargo can't wait to get their hands on the Class B tournaments!! I would be in favor of only rotating the tournaments between Bismarck and Minot ( and I don't live in either place) as their facilities are much better basketball venues and their papers have Class B sections daily. Come on Fargo! Get with it! I would venture to say that about half of the people in Fargo have Class B connections. I believe you would be surprised at the interest!

Bison_Dan
03-01-2004, 10:37 PM
I don't know where you're from BisonGold but I have seen & read the Bismarck & Minot papers and if you think that they have a great sport section or cover anything in the East I have some property out in Montana ---. I'm lucky to get the NDSU scores. Their sports sections are usually one and half pages. I am a Polar Bear and have read a couple of articles about them in the Forum this year and Larimore isn't even in their area. Don't get me wrong the coverage in the Forum Sports could be a lot better and the sports writers (McFeely) are some of the worst (smart ass)since Ryan Bakken quit. It seems like the Forum wants to be all things to all teams. Hell und gets better coverage than MSU or Concordia. :P

bisongold
03-02-2004, 02:33 AM
Box scores are about all they ever have in Fargo Forum for Class B. Any town further west than Casselton has a hard time getting any coverage. Also, the box scores are do it yourself items, so not much work required. I think the coverage is horrible and have for decades. Last year it was the day before the state B tourney that they finally let you know who was even in the tournament. Of course, last year the Tourn. was in Bismarck. We'll see what happens this year as the Tourn. is in Fargo. I still would prefer the tournament in Bismarck of Minot always!! My guess is you will not see any coverage until the day before! We'll see!

BisonWarrior
03-02-2004, 04:51 AM
I don't know where you're from BisonGold but I have seen & read the Bismarck & Minot papers and if you think that they have a great sport section or cover anything in the East I have some property out in Montana ---. *I'm lucky to get the NDSU scores. *Their sports sections are usually one and half pages. *I am a Polar Bear and have read a couple of articles about them in the Forum this year and Larimore isn't even in their area. *Don't get me wrong the coverage in the Forum Sports could be a lot better and the sports writers (McFeely) are some of the worst (smart ass)since Ryan Bakken quit. *It seems like the Forum wants to be all things to all teams. *Hell und gets better coverage than MSU or Concordia. *:P

I have to agree with bisongold on this one. I don't know about Bismarck but The Minot Daily News does a way better job of covering more of the state. It at least has some sports stories from high school and it always has the same articles as the Forum does about the Bison and Sioux. This fall they had a seperate insert that covered all levels with colored photos etc.

Bison Dan, you say Larimore isn't in the Forum's area but I don't understand how they figure a paper's "area". I realize that Larimore is closer to GF but I know countless numbers of people that live over 2 hours away from Fargo that go to Fargo almost weekly to shop, attend sporting events and other events. I believe they do as much to support the Fargo economy as the locals do. The people in these small towns that are 60 to 150 miles away consider the Forum their paper yet the Forum does not consider them in their area.

I do agree with you on UND's coverage in the Forum. They almost get more coverage than the Bison.

Bison_Dan
03-02-2004, 12:54 PM
I disagree about the Minot papers sport coverage. I have yet to see one (my brother-inlaw lives there) that had any coverage of the east or more than one and half pages of sports. How many high school teams are there in a 150 mile radius of Fargo compared to Minot or Bismarck. Oh well we'll have to agree to disagree. Go Bison!