ROCK THE VOTE NDSU

Apparently North Dakota State is not only a good football team, but very influential in local elections. 8 NDSU football players including Aireal Boyd, Josh Colville, Demetrius Gray, Samuel Ojuri, Brendin Pierre, Antonio Rodgers, Bryan Shepherd and Marcus Williams were passionate about their right to vote and were accused of voter fraud tied to general election ballot measures. This is a misdemeanor. When the news first broke I didn't think this was a big deal. Who hasn't stuffed the ballot to have pizza on the school menu over cafeteria sloppy joe's? But after further examination it appears that this was a legitimate election. It answers my questions on how Mitt Romney became the GOP candidate.



Now it is becoming bigger news by the fact that the University and head coach Craig Bohl are not taking any discipline action. Bohl stated he wanted to let the legal proceedings play out before any action was taken. Now the media and some members of the community are in an uproar over the blatant message that football is more important than doling out the appropriate punishment. Some are even calling coach Bohl a hypocrite. Why is this? He just kicked off linebacker Brandon Jemison for a much lesser charge that was not described in detail. The difference between the two was that Jemison was an injured linebacker that wasn't going to contribute and 4 of the 8 involved in this incident are starters on it's current roster. It will be interesting to see if the backlash is so strong that the players do get suspended before this weeks game.

Ramifications has two thoughts about this. First, it would definitely help the Rams chances this week if they were to be suspended, but playing good teams at full strength lets us know what this Rams team is all about, and it would be nice to beat them with their best on the field. Second, if a rule or law was broken the standard should be the standard regardless of standing on the football team. It's only Thursday and things are getting a little interesting leading up to game time. It also has us wondering what else the Bison have rigged in the past year? Did they tamper the voting poll for their number 1 ranking in the Football Championship Subdivision polls? I had a feeling Phillip Phillips didn't win American Idol legitimately and now I have some questions on whether Barry Larkin really earned his election into the baseball Hall of Fame. The Bison influence could be far more universal than the state of North Dakota.

Watch the press conference HERE.

UPDATE 9.6.12: "The players, which were paid $9 per hour for collecting signatures, allegedly foraged some of them." - Examiner CLICK HERE to read more.