Welsch: Yearning for the Big Sky of yesterday

BelgradeBobcat · Post by **BelgradeBobcat** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 10:22 pm

http://dailychronicle.com/articles/2006 ... welsch.txt

This probably deserves some discussion. Welsch rates the 7 other Big Sky cities.

bozbobcat · Post by **bozbobcat** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 10:43 pm

It's interesting, I'll give you that. I'm not sure where I'd rank those cities personally, but in a way, I liked the appeal to the "old west" of gritty railroad towns, cowboy towns, and agricultural towns. (The museum at Ogden Union Station is worth visiting, by the way. It has about 5 different museums.) I know the "old west" is very stereotypical, but there's no question that the Big Sky has evolved since 1963.

longhorn_22 · Post by **longhorn_22** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:16 am

I wish we would get NDSU and SDSU but I dont think it will ever happen, which makes me sad.

BelgradeBobcat · Post by **BelgradeBobcat** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:19 am

I think Brookings, Fargo, and Grand Forks would make nice Big Sky cities.

No so sure about Cedar City. If Welsch doesn't like Cheney he ought to really hate Cedar City.

bobcatgrad2005 · Post by **bobcatgrad2005** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 8:22 pm

The cool thing about the old big sky was that most of the away games were within driving time of Bozeman. Bosie, Pocatello, Moscow, Missoula, etc. I'd have loved to make road trips to more away games, but Sacramento, Portland, and Flagstaff were just too far out of my range. But it was a cool article.

Amazing how much Bozeman has changed. My mom remeberbers when Kagy was gravel. And, no, she's not that old either...

WYOBISONMAN · Post by **WYOBISONMAN** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:27 pm

BelgradeBobcat wrote:I think Brookings, Fargo, and Grand Forks would make nice Big Sky cities.

No so sure about Cedar City. If Welsch doesn't like Cheney he ought to really hate Cedar City.

When NDSU played in Cedar City this year I stayed in Mequite NV. It worked out great. An hour drive to the game and after the game I was partying in a casino with a round of golf the following day........but, I would NOT suggest staying in Cedar City.....it is dead.....

Post by **SonomaCat** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:29 pm

WYOBISONMAN wrote:
BelgradeBobcat wrote:I think Brookings, Fargo, and Grand Forks would make nice Big Sky cities.

No so sure about Cedar City. If Welsch doesn't like Cheney he ought to really hate Cedar City.
When NDSU played in Cedar City this year I stayed in Mequite NV. It worked out great. An hour drive to the game and after the game I was partying in a casino with a round of golf the following day........but, I would NOT suggest staying in Cedar City.....it is dead.....

I've only driven through it and read a little about it ... but my impression of Cedar City was "retirees and Mormons." Is that fairly accurate? It didn't seem like a real exciting college town (meaning not a lot of entertainment options).

bozbobcat · Post by **bozbobcat** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:32 pm

That was kind of my thought about Cedar City, too. Brookings and Fargo would make very good Big Sky towns. Of course, that's beating a long-dead horse.

Cat Grad · Post by **Cat Grad** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 9:53 am

Man don't get me started...back before Big Sky was even thought about being built, we could race up the canyon to West or on to Mack's Inn in Idaho, pick up Coors and bring it back and sell it to the college kids (this was when Coors was only sold in CO, ID and TX)--when no self-respecting human would be caught dead in the Rocking R, before the interstate was built between Livingston and Three Forks...when the Valley teams were all Class C and Belgrade's main competitor was Bozeman Holy Rosary (before Bozeman High won a state title in anything because all the good athletes went to Rosary

and the Cats played by the SUB...

Change happens

Back in the day, the only wine around was Mogan David, we all drank Lucky Lager or Oly and coffee was MJB, Folgers or the local brew out of Butte. Now, all of our old conference seems to be the new, improved WAC or West Coast

I kind of like what we have now, but really wish we would expand to include more of the school's similar in nature and atmosphere to our original members.

NavyBlue · Post by **NavyBlue** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:38 pm

BAC, (and others), I don't think you should not consider Southern Utah, for BSC inclusion because of your dislike for Mormons. Southern Utah would be a good fit for the BSC, IMHO. They do alot with very little, Big Sky membership would allow them to do more.

Geographically, SUU would help to "bridge" the distance between NAU and the rest of the conference. That said if it were up to me, UM and MSU would be working to join the WAC, 'course it is not up to me.

I would rate the Big Sky expansion candidates as follows:
1. North Dakota State
2. South Dakota State
3. Southern Utah
4. Northern Colorado

Of the four schools vying to get in the league, I would rank the one that was admitted as last in desirability.

WYOBISONMAN · Post by **WYOBISONMAN** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 4:06 pm

Bay Area Cat wrote:
WYOBISONMAN wrote:
BelgradeBobcat wrote:I think Brookings, Fargo, and Grand Forks would make nice Big Sky cities.

No so sure about Cedar City. If Welsch doesn't like Cheney he ought to really hate Cedar City.
When NDSU played in Cedar City this year I stayed in Mequite NV. It worked out great. An hour drive to the game and after the game I was partying in a casino with a round of golf the following day........but, I would NOT suggest staying in Cedar City.....it is dead.....
I've only driven through it and read a little about it ... but my impression of Cedar City was "retirees and Mormons." Is that fairly accurate? It didn't seem like a real exciting college town (meaning not a lot of entertainment options).

Yes, Cedar City is in itself not too exciting, but I surely did enjoy combining the NDSU game with a weekend in Mesquite. I think that the proximity to Mesquite and warm weather make it a fun place to go for an away game. Plus, NDSU did a big alumni tailgate and BBQ prior to the game (no beer of course......)

Post by **SonomaCat** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 4:30 pm

NavyBlue wrote:BAC, (and others), I don't think you should not consider Southern Utah, for BSC inclusion because of your dislike for Mormons. Southern Utah would be a good fit for the BSC, IMHO. They do alot with very little, Big Sky membership would allow them to do more.

Geographically, SUU would help to "bridge" the distance between NAU and the rest of the conference. That said if it were up to me, UM and MSU would be working to join the WAC, 'course it is not up to me.

I would rate the Big Sky expansion candidates as follows:
1. North Dakota State
2. South Dakota State
3. Southern Utah
4. Northern Colorado

Of the four schools vying to get in the league, I would rank the one that was admitted as last in desirability.

Who said anything about disliking Mormons? I like most of the Mormons I know ... I just don't think that towns made up exclusively of Mormons and retirees is a great college town, which was the theme of the article.

NavyBlue · Post by **NavyBlue** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 5:10 pm

Sorry BAC, I guess I just took what you said that way. I do agree with your main point though. Again my appologies.

Cedar City is a small town but they probably support thier teams better than Sac or PSU and maybe Northern CO. Whatever they draw BSC teams would be more interesting to people thier than Mid-Con teams.

BelgradeBobcat · Post by **BelgradeBobcat** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 5:56 pm

I think SUU's football crowds have been pretty small-like 2K or less? They do have a nice basketball arena and I agree that they would be a nice bridge to NAU and a good travel partner for them as well.

I have a feeling that um and maybe MSU too are a bit "upity" to ever associate with SUU.

WYOBISONMAN · Post by **WYOBISONMAN** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 8:19 pm

BelgradeBobcat wrote:I think SUU's football crowds have been pretty small-like 2K or less? They do have a nice basketball arena and I agree that they would be a nice bridge to NAU and a good travel partner for them as well.

I have a feeling that um and maybe MSU too are a bit "upity" to ever associate with SUU.

Yes, the crowd was very small when we were there. I suspect that NDSU had about 1/3 of the total attendance......

Bengal1 · Post by **Bengal1** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:52 pm

People keep dogging on UNC, and to be honest, I don't think they're necessarily a bad addition -- granted, I think the Dakotas are better -- but, UNC reminds me a lot of EWU's athletic program when they made the jump up. UNC firing their head football coach this year shows me they are serious about wanting to compete at this level as soon as they can.

UNC had a head start on the division I jump, and in my opinion, adding them has created a bridge to the Dakotas. The "footprint" (Fullerton's words) of the conference will be the Montanas, ISU, WSU, UNC, and even EWU. PSU and Sac aren't going to have the power to threaten to leave (and cost the Big Sky's NCAA auto berth) in just a year or two.

In my opinion, SUU should not be invited to the Big Sky. Dixie State, in nearby St. George, is growing by leaps and bounds, and it will become an NCAA division II school next year. I don't think they'll stay division II for long, and it's only a matter of time until they outgrow SUU. I'm not saying I want Dixie either, but the interest in southern Utah will focus on them (St George is still booming, and Mesquite, less than 30 minutes away, is too). In fact, the southern Utah media, if you can call it that, is based out of St. George. Dixie athletics already get more newspaper coverage than SUU.

SUU has had plenty of time and opportunity to step up and play with the other division I-AA schools, but they still run their program at a division II (or less) level. Their athletic budget is half of most Big Sky schools, and they still only sponsor 40-50 football scholarships. Academic wise, they don't fit either (similar to Weber, however most Big Sky schools -- and UNC and the Dakotas -- are classified as Carnegie Research Extensive or Intensive). I just don't see them ever growing much stronger than what they currently are. (And I'll be damned if I have ever found a bar down there

)

My two cents worth...

PapaG · Post by **PapaG** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 4:08 pm

Bengal1 wrote:People keep dogging on UNC, and to be honest, I don't think they're necessarily a bad addition -- granted, I think the Dakotas are better -- but, UNC reminds me a lot of EWU's athletic program when they made the jump up. UNC firing their head football coach this year shows me they are serious about wanting to compete at this level as soon as they can.

UNC had a head start on the division I jump, and in my opinion, adding them has created a bridge to the Dakotas. The "footprint" (Fullerton's words) of the conference will be the Montanas, ISU, WSU, UNC, and even EWU. PSU and Sac aren't going to have the power to threaten to leave (and cost the Big Sky's NCAA auto berth) in just a year or two.

In my opinion, SUU should not be invited to the Big Sky. Dixie State, in nearby St. George, is growing by leaps and bounds, and it will become an NCAA division II school next year. I don't think they'll stay division II for long, and it's only a matter of time until they outgrow SUU. I'm not saying I want Dixie either, but the interest in southern Utah will focus on them (St George is still booming, and Mesquite, less than 30 minutes away, is too). In fact, the southern Utah media, if you can call it that, is based out of St. George. Dixie athletics already get more newspaper coverage than SUU.

SUU has had plenty of time and opportunity to step up and play with the other division I-AA schools, but they still run their program at a division II (or less) level. Their athletic budget is half of most Big Sky schools, and they still only sponsor 40-50 football scholarships. Academic wise, they don't fit either (similar to Weber, however most Big Sky schools -- and UNC and the Dakotas -- are classified as Carnegie Research Extensive or Intensive). I just don't see them ever growing much stronger than what they currently are. (And I'll be damned if I have ever found a bar down there )

My two cents worth...

Thanks for the solid information. On a side note, how excited are you all about Gutierrez? I see him as the biggest impact transfer in the conference this year.

Bobcat4Life · Post by **Bobcat4Life** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 1:12 am

Wow, must have been a really slow day in Bozeman news.

Welsch: Yearning for the Big Sky of yesterday

Welsch: Yearning for the Big Sky of yesterday

SUU

Re: SUU