FROM THE PUBLISHER
Thank you Bison Nation
I
Mike Dragosavich
Publisher, Bison Illustrated
would like to start this column by saying:
“whoooaaa yaaaa!” How awesome is all of
this? I mean, think about it. For me, it’s a dream
come true across multiple channels. Not only
do I have the chance to publish this magazine, but I
had the opportunity to grasp the Bison tradition and
standards first-hand 11 years ago as a player.
I am going to share with you a third-person story
I think is funny and truthful about my experience
with NDSU. (Don’t make fun of me for using thirdperson; Richard Sherman said it was a good idea...)
and seven layers of denim, the six-foot-five, sweaty
punter was hoisted and crowd surfed pretending to
be a fish and reeled in by the world’s greatest punter
fisherman, No. 22 John Majeski.
What some would think was just a silly prank turned
into one of the most defining moments of Drago’s
life. This performance opened the door to the hearts
of the community and the result of all the amazing
response put a solid stamp on the fact that Drago has
found his home.
My Story
A long, long time ago there was this String Bean, goofy
guy named Dragosagonovich, or Dragrosanovich or
something like that. (Let’s just call him Drago) ma de
a trip to a town he thought was in Hollywood, where
the sequel for “Fargo 2: The Revenge of the Wood
Chipper” was being shot.
Special thanks
to my team at
Spotlight Media,
NDSU’s Sports
Information
Department, all
advertisers, and
all of you out
there in Bison
Nation!
This city slicker wandered the plains for a year as
a wide receiver, wondering if women driving pickup trucks and chewing tobacco were a normal
occurrence or just a freshman prank. As he grinded
away at making the squad catching footballs, a need
was in place for a backup punter. With aero dynamic
ankles, this Drago kid kicked a couple footballs for
fun and caught the eye of the coach, who took quick
notice (considering his incredible achievement as
All-American Punter in the 80s).
Drago didn’t think there was punting in the 80s, but
he didn’t care and thought “Wow, that’s cool, Coach
Bradley.” Evolving into a punter, Drago earned a
new nickname from the “Try and Unsuccessfully
Block the Punt Practice Team”, “Meat”, because of
how much they would actually block Drago’s leg
instead of the ball.
It was a 1-in-32 shot to become an NFL punter.
Now, the trick was how does this guy finish school
and pursue this venture. Once again, in came Bison
Nation.
This time in the form of a couple of Heroes of the Herd,
Dr. Dennis Izzo, Carolyn Schnell and Dr. Fischer who
went beyond the call of duty and spearheaded a way
to get Drago a degree. At some points this seemed
more impossible than making the NFL.
Within a year, a new person was born. He became
Drago, the strong-legged punter with a hard working
attitude and a new free time initiative program to
adjust to. With time that would have been spent in
meeting rooms, String Bean began putting his Mass
Communications major to work.
On a cold night in the fall (duh), Drago, or Bill the
Janitor made an appearance as a dancing custodian
at a NDSU men’s basketball game. The game was
full to the brim with fans and after five consecutive
minutes of improv-comical dancing with a broom
10
Addiction. It’s the only word that could describe
Drago’s emotion to Bison Nation. This addiction
fueled his need to succeed. After a couple more stints
of humility and some booming punts, Meat, now had
a shot to go to the National Football League. (No not
as a halftime performer, although, that would have
been pretty hilarious),
B I S O N I L L U S T R A T E D • F E B RUA RY 2 014
In the NFL, Drago, or as the New England Patriots
called him — Ivan Drago — the foreign punter from
Russia, which they made him pretend to be for an