FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Touchdown Tommy]

Well, Well, Well...The inaugural Monkey Stomp of 2K6 is nearly upon us fellas.

A couple of things:

1. Johnnie Red I hope you bring your security detail with ya on Saturday morn, TDT may wreak havoc on you otherwise.

2. The stiftungsfestivities.com is still well below par.  The members page needs some long overdue updating.  Now I know that pics might not be readily available for all valuable attendees but that hasn't stopped OAS from taking some liberties with other poster pics...Some of the missing members on the page who surely should be included are Veek, JohnnieIrish, JohnnieEsq, Wooderson, Dusty SJU, RedHotBennie, Finsleft, Bennie, Frank Rickard, and the Mongolian Warrior (and Tmerton, BlueDevilBob, and JanesvilleFlash after they are initiated and approved by the Board of Directors).  More pics would be a good addition as well.  If Mr. Webmaster aka OAS feels he needs help I am sure there are plenty of open ears on this board.

3. While The Godfather has indicated the party begins at 9am, may I suggest that we start the morning off right with some finsleft kool-aid near the Pace Arrow and some Hang Your Balls at 8am sharp.  I know Duffman, Frank, Veek, and fins are usually up for the early start time.  Skip the coffee and get out of the hotel early Tmerton and don't forget presents for your inaugural tailgate.

4. Is anyone worried about the Blugolds?

More to come later...

[Willy Wonka]

anybody hear from TDT lately?

I've heard he's plummetted from 1st to 4th place in his fantasy baseball league after finishing around 6th in his fantasy football league. Yours truly stands to gain around $600 bucks for the ordeal that has caused a cease and desist fantasy commish decision from the hated TDT. There's nothing better than taking his money (except maybe punching him in the face)!

On a more somber note...my Red Wing Aces, owners of a sub-.500 regular season record, somehow managed to squeak their way into the final weekend of the state amateur baseball tournament with a pair of wins over the last two days. Game time next weekend? Saturday, 1 p.m. Not sure what my options are, but it doesn't look good, as the tourney is being held IN Red Wing...

Duffy - I may have to postpone our heavyweight bout. Not sure when the next game I can attend will be, but keep your gut in shape for a pounding 

[finsleft]

TDT:
#1- please wait 'til after we eat before you pound on JR.

#2- agreed that's a piss-poor website, even though me and oAs are now pals.

#3- koolaid will be served. and 9 am does seem kinda late. I'm heading out just as soon as I get done with chores. Plus I'm kinda excited to see what the Stift... virgins bring for their offerings.

#4- No.

Nice Avatar!

[tmerton]

Skip the coffee and get out of the hotel early Tmerton and don't forget presents for your inaugural tailgate.

Um, our "hotel" Friday night is NW 362.  When do the liquor stores open on Sat. AM?

[Touchdown Tommy]

Better pack a case of extra special Sonoma County Red as your sacrificial offering to the Stiftungsfestivities Gods.   

[johnnie_esq]

Thanks for the explanation, Esq.  Now just where does D2 fit in to the NCAA scheme of things? 

In many ways, it doesn't.  It was intended from the get-go to provide a low-scholarship alternative to D1 for the medium sized schools who didn't want to fully fund a D1 program but whose missions included the ability to offer aid to athletes wanting to go to college.  D2 schools can sponsor D1 sports (outside of football and basketball, I believe), but can also offer some athletic aid.  I believe the maximum number of football scholarships a D2 school can offer is 36, but not all schools fund that many-- some conferences have a maximum number of football scholarships of 20, I believe.  Thus there is great parity within the D2 ranks in terms of "have's" and "have-not's" (in the upper Midwest, North Dakota, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, UMD, and Bemidji State offer D-1 hockey, which generates a good amount of revenue to subsidize their other athletic programs; Moorhead State does not have hockey and does not fund even 20 football scholarships).

However, given the stresses on finances in the current world, D2 is being squeezed.  By and large, D2 schools do not have the revenue generation that D1 sports offers or alumni connections that D3 sports offers.  They also have relatively high costs for scholarships, something D3 does not offer.  (For private D2 schools there is a real hurt-- $25k per scholarship per year is a LOT more money than $10k per scholarship per year that the public schools have to provide).  The result is that few schools want to move to such a high cost division, and the bigger schools moving to D1-AA (UNC, NDSU, SDSU and soon UND).  D2 is already the smallest of the 3 divisions and is not growing anywhere close to as fast as D1 or D3. 

The NCAA is reexamining D2, but the current committee has a fundamental mission to "do no harm to it".  Thus, no real substantive changes can happen at this point to the D2 structure that could make it more viable.  The current proposal is to offer (get this:) two football championships at the D2 level-- one for the high scholarship schools, and one for the low scholarship schools. 

[DuffMan]

I think they open at 8:00 am.

Where in the hell is DustySJU?  He sends out the mass e-mail promoting www.stiftungsfestivities.com but he can't poke in here with his wit?

developing...

[tmerton]

Better pack a case of extra special Sonoma County Red as your sacrificial offering to the Stiftungsfestivities Gods.   

The London 25 certainly screwed my ability to bring some local stuff to share.   

[DuffMan]

Better pack a case of extra special Sonoma County Red as your sacrificial offering to the Stiftungsfestivities Gods.   

The London 25 certainly screwed my ability to bring some local stuff to share.   

You can ship it directly to me, but I cannot guarantee that it will survive till Saturday.

[Touchdown Tommy]

MR: Do you Bethel Grads need geography lessons?

Sonoma County = San Francisco Bay Area aka Wine Country

[Johnnie Red]

Okay, okay, I can be in Collegeville by 8:00 a.m. on Saturday. I'll have to be at the gym by 5:00 a.m. to get in my workout and then start the trip to SJU.

In terms of pictures for the Stiftungsfestivities website, I did email OAS three on Friday. One is a picture of the original tailgate party in `01, another is of myself and RHB when Linfield was in town in `03, and the last picture is a group of many posters on this board when RPI came the following week. Hopefully OAS will get them on the website soon. He will be at the game this Saturday.

Whoa Nelly, I hope you noticed that Chaska won both of their games this past weekend in Miesville, including a win over Cold Spring.

[finsleft]

Okay, okay, I can be in Collegeville by 8:00 a.m. on Saturday. I'll have to be at the gym by 5:00 a.m. to get in my workout and then start the trip to SJU.

That's the spirit, JR. Skip the workout. TDT will lead us in calisthenics at 8 sharp.

In terms of pictures for the Stiftungsfestivities website, I did email OAS three on Friday. One is a picture of the original tailgate party in `01, another is of myself and RHB when Linfield was in town in `03, and the last picture is a group of many posters on this board when RPI came the following week. Hopefully OAS will get them on the website soon. He will be at the game this Saturday.

JR, what's a "member"? The website has 7 of them, and 3 are non-Johnnies. And have a combined Stiftungsfestivities at SJU appearance total of 1.

[finsleft]

For old time's sake...

[finsleft]

                                      UPDATE
TDT will lead all in a 5 mile run through the woods, with quarter-mile Hamms' breaks, beginning at 7:30 and returning to the double-wide, double-tall by 8:00 a.m.
Me? I'll be doing sprints between the Pace Arrow and the AC unit behind the DW-DT.

[57Johnnie]

Only 5 days to go and I'm ready for some REAL FOOTBALL.

Esq. Thanks for the pick ems again.