Quote from: Retired Old Rat on August 03, 2026, 05:49:11 PMWhy is the attendance so much higher at Carleton?

Free beer!  May have been other factors though with weather and other events on campus.

I get not many Oles attend games. I did. I enjoyed going to the games even during the down years. Sadly I live in Texas now and can't go to many games.

I doubt CC had an impact. If it was the NC possibly given the resources needed. We've hosted the stat championship and still played football those days. I could the request from the Vikings to host the game trying to get more events at their facility.  The Star in Frisco (Cowboys facility)hosts as many HS games as possible.

Still not a fan of moving the game. Hope Olaf still controls the broadcast feed. Huge fan of the quality of that feed.

Quote from: faunch on July 28, 2026, 11:24:15 AM$20 per ticket and $20 for the pre-game hospitality event to watch a game with a 30 point spread. And I wonder the charge will be for food and drink once in the "hospitality" zone?

As a TCU fan my response is that at least the game isn't being moved to Ireland.  So we are moving what should be a home game for our Seniors to a neutral site.  WTF!  Takes an opportunity for the Olaf students a chance to watch a game at home.  Not a fan at all!  If we were talking about a late season game in a dome I would support it, but this is ridiculous.  The only other reason I could see St. Olaf doing this is that there were concerns about light that late in the season.

Well the Sorsby mess is over!  Don't know if anyone saw the news about our mess of an AG in Texas threatening to sue everyone trying to keep him from playing for Tech.  Didn't realize where he did is undergrad, but now I am surprised he likes corruption.  Most in Texas know our AG should be in prison, but he is not.  He was impeached by his own party.

Quote from: art76 on June 09, 2026, 09:23:06 AMSo, what's the consensus on the "Brendan Sorsby ruling". Is this as straight forward as it seems? What's the scuttlebutt?

The Texas Tech School of Law just became the top law school in the country.

I talked with quite a few Red Raiders who are not happy he is at Tech.  I also know a few who are pretty happy with the ruling.  The Tech connections especially in West Texas run deep.  The NCAA appealed to a court in Amarillo.  Anyone want to guess where all the judges on that court went to school?  The Big 12 schools and the regularly scheduled cast of OOC opponents Tech plays will still play them.  I am not sure what it looks like for most others.  I can assure that no SEC or Big Ten school, and probably no ACC team will play Tech.  Mainly because Tech won't schedule them.  After Tech's first loss fans are going to ask Sorsby who he bet on in the game, and that isn't going to come from just the fans of the winners.

Welcome to the world of football in Texas.  You thought the old Pony Excess was crazy; well you ain't seen nothin'.  The biggest spokesperson for Texas Tech athletics is a booster named Cody Campbell!  The only reason why (sucks to) BU got in the Big 12 was because of the Governor and other state leaders.  Go to your local country club, community event, company, church, whatever and the football trash talk runs deep.  My old boss made a coworker floor it to a meeting just so he could show him the highlights of that week's football game and flaunt that his team won.  A few years ago during an event awarding scholarships to HS seniors there was a scoreboard keeping track of how many kids were going to each school.

If anyone wants a laugh at Texas Tech I highly recommend doing a web search of Texas Tech Bell Ringer.  You'll laugh!

7v7 has really gone crazy in Texas.  There are state tournaments.  While the HS coach can't be on the field or coaching the kids they are definitely running some of the plays and schemes from their 11v11 playbook.  Some of the coaches for 7v7 probably aren't household names in MN, but in Texas most people recognize them pretty quickly.  The coach at my old HS has called it a game changer when working with the QBs.  There is also a push to make women's 7v7 a state sanctioned sport. 

When I was in HS it seemed everyone ran the wishbone or a variation of it.  Now it is all these spread the field and air it out offenses.  I am a huge TCU fan.  Coach Gary Patterson used to use the wishbone to teach defenders how to defend the spreads.  He fought these pass happy offenses for years, but finally relented.  Now Sonny Dykes who was one of the original air raid guys seems to be moving away from it. 

Quote from: faunch on May 26, 2026, 10:46:07 PMNot sure if there's an air conditioning contest but we turned ours on today at approximately 6:30 pm. Hot and sticky might be fun for some things but sleeping isn't one of them.

I had to turn mine on in March.  We had some days in the 90s which pushed the temp inside to the mid 80s.  It was brutal!  Just got my electric bill for May which wasn't terrible in terms of heat, but still over $250.  An electric bill in the summer can easily hit $500+ for a 2500 square foot home.  It flat out sucks.  I'll start reffing basketball in some gyms in a few weeks.  They tell me the gyms have A/C, but I am not sure it ever gets used.  I've been known to walk outside to cool off.  I leave the heat off for longer than most in the area.  Usually the house has to sit around 60 before I turn it on. 

What's everyone's favorite thing to hunt?  Love me some dove hunting.  High limits with lots of shooting.  If it flies and dies I am in.  Deer hunting is nice, but in Texas it's not the most sporting of activities in my opinion.  Hoping to do some hog/predator hunting with the thermal scope soon.

Thank you.  It would be just me moving from Dallas which makes it a little less attractive, but the housing prices are quite nice.  We have a few kick and shoot places around the state for pheasants, quail, and chukar.  Pheasants are great fun to hunt.  Almost bought a Franchi Instinct SL a year ago for those upland hunts, but decided to stick with my CZ for now.  Any of y'all ever done any sandhill crane hunting in MN?  Those are some big birds, and they are vicious.  Lots of fun to shoot.  Meat is a little overrated, but still very good!

Looking at moving back to Minnesota.  I haven't had my first $200 cooling bill yet, but the $500 one is coming!  Anyways I was asked about a job in Willmar.  I had some friends who were from there, but I've lost track of most of them.  Anyone know anything about the town today?

Also will have to do some research on hunting.  Most hunting in Texas on private lands where pretty much anything goes.  Deer and turkey hunting over feeders.  Not really the most sporting means.  Certain species you can hunt at night especially with thermals and night vision.  Also I don't remember there being a ton of dove hunting in MN, but looking forward to chasing some other wild upland birds.

Quote from: OzJohnnie on December 09, 2024, 11:20:57 PMHeh.  Dallas had a very Vikings finish. I enjoy watching the Cowboys lose games on bad luck plays.  Ever since Roger Staubach threw that Hail Mary to beat the Vikes I have got a thrill from a tragic Cowboys loss.

Don't hate on Captain America!  Next time tell your Fans to not run into each other. While flying up to MN last week I got to meet my favorite NFL player of all time Tony Dorsett. Super nice guy!  Always fun to listen to old timer stories. We joked about his run of 99 yards when the Cowboys only had 10 on the field.

I think most of DFW is enjoying Cowboys losses more than anyone. The story is becoming what need do they fill first. Unfortunately confidence is very low in our GM, and his replacement probably won't be any better.

Back from hunting and fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.  Fun times!

The founders of ESPN went to DePauw.  When St. Olaf played football at DePauw years ago there were several mentions about ESPN working to televise D3 games through some channel.  It was before there was a ton of streaming channel options if I remember correctly.  I've really enjoyed having ESPN+.  I get to watch several games that are not usually available in DFW.  I can't tell you the last time I have sat down to watch a DFW pro sports team outside of a World Series game.

I remember a few people talking about the quality of the St. Olaf broadcasts.  Having to produce our Christmas Festival every year allows us to use the same equipment which really helps.  Also selling our radio station around 2004 was a huge help as it allowed the college to move to more streaming options.  Selling the radio station was a huge issue on campus and with alumni.  In the end with the growth of streaming services it was clearly the right decision.

I think I'm disqualified with it still being in the 70s in Texas.

I'm still running the A/C. It was mid 90s when I went outside a few minutes ago.

St. Olaf has beaten some bad teams. I think you have to look at last year when they struggled. Either every team on their schedule is worse than last year or the Oles have improved significantly. I think it is more of the latter. I don't think this continues when they play better teams, but I do think there is reason for optimism.

Art: Glad to hear your wife is doing well.

Youth sports can be painful.  I ref quite a bit in Texas.  So many parents want their kids playing sports their kids just aren't ready to play.  Some of it is the bodies haven't developed yet.  Basketball can be absolutely brutal to ref.  If I called everything the parents call from the stands and bench the ball might move 10ft the entire game.  The main league I umpire we do machine pitch for our 1st through 3rd graders.  Once the kids start hitting it is fun.  It becomes more about fielding.  We had several parents request for the fall league to do machine pitch with the older kids so they could focus on fundamentals rather than trying to hit what can often be bad pitching. 

Good win by St. Olaf.  I know it was a blowout, but it was nice to see the Oles play well.  Luther looked bad.  Mark Gelle mentioned Luther was in a complete rebuild mode.  He also mentioned that for football the MIAC had to replace I believe 13 officials this year.  Wow!  I also really appreciate how the St. Olaf broadcast continues to improve.  The broadcasters are good, but the student workers are awesome!

Quote from: BiggieSmalls on September 10, 2024, 08:24:41 PM

Quote from: Texas Ole on September 10, 2024, 05:13:14 PMSt. Olaf had a nice win last week.  They have been down for a few years now.  As for this week I think the game will be close.  This is going to be a huge rivalry game for both Luther and St. Olaf. 

Honest question. Should Coach Killian and St Olaf have higher expectations? Their facilities are good and they provide a good education. What do the locals/admin think at this point? No disrespect, but competing with Northwestern and Luther seems like the Oles could be so much more.

I haven't followed the Norse in years.  Just looked at their record and yikes.  I think you are bringing up a very good question.  Two years ago we lost to Mac, but we did win in the aggregate.  It's been over 12 years since the Oles had a record over .500.  Prior to Meidt the Oles were about a .500 team.  I really think OJ had something going when he was the coach.  I know the school did not make it easy for him at times, but he thrived.  Losing him hurt, and the stories that I heard about the circumstances are quite frustrating.

What is St. Olaf in football?  The history shows them to be about a .500 team.  I can talk about academics and other issues around St. Olaf for football that make it a hard place to win consistently.  The truth is St. Olaf should be better in several sports.  That is going to take some serious commitment and planning by the stakeholders.  It has seemed for far too long St. Olaf wanted to try and copy every other school in how they operate hoping it would bring a measure of success to the programs.  What works at one school won't always work at another.  There is a formula for schools like St. Olaf to be successful, but I am not sure the leadership at St. Olaf wants to find that path.  Right now St. Olaf is without a permanent AD.  I think everyone knows that situation.  Hopefully the new one can find the right formula to guide the athletic department in the right direction.

St. Olaf had a nice win last week.  They have been down for a few years now.  As for this week I think the game will be close.  This is going to be a huge rivalry game for both Luther and St. Olaf.