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I'm sorry..."decide" on what, exactly? It is a fascinating topic of study...that's why I pursued it both in my undergraduate and graduate course work...and was, at a time, ready to dedicate a career to Civil War history...more specifically to race relations in Antebellum America (both North and South) with a specific focus on violent abolitionism and slave insurrections. The idea that a Confederate victory, after nearly five years of bloody fighting, would've eventually led to civilized (yes, I noted the irony in this word selection) and cordial discussion on the topic of slavery...and that from this, southern, landholding, slave-owning plantation dependent gentry would've said "yeah, I see both the moral dilemma of slavery and the economic viability in it's abolishment" is BEYOND ridiculous. Slave numbers increased steadily through the 1860 census...slave costs rose with increased demand and plantations were becoming the only vehicle through which an agrarian economy could be profitable. Slaves were in peak demand when Lincoln took office...and were owned (in record numbers) primarily by plantation owners and and other land-owning gentry (fewer slave-owners, yet more slaves). Read, those who would also be making the legislative decisions. And yes, SOME (you want to give me Stonewall Jackson as example, don't you?) slave owners were teaching "them" to read and write...but if they were doing so from about the mid 1830s on, they were in violation of a variety of anti-literacy laws for slaves enacted throughout the South following slave led and slave organized insurrections like those of Denmark Vesey in Charleston and Nat Turner in Virginia. Had the Confederacy won (yes, purely speculative...), baring any foreign influence (invasion, wars...I don't know, terrorism(?)), the most likely event is that the nation would've remained split in two...the North likely would've remained as some semblance of a "Nation" with a central government, so the map would still have a "United States of America", it would just be about 15-20 states. The CSA, however, would not have remained unified under a loose set of articles of confederation (remember, we tried this tact initially...Nation Fail!) and likely each state government would've declared itself independent in time. South Carolina would today have it's own national anthem. The President of Tennessee could declare Dolly Parton's birthday a national holiday. The country of Georgia probably would've gone to war with the country of Georgia over naming rights. One can sugar coat things all they want...the root cause of the Civil War, however, was slavery.

Paragraph 1 - I know. Paragraph 2 - The House of Reps was a northern majority b/c the North had the larger population...and the South actually had a larger proportional representation in the house than their tax-paying, voting-eligible populace should've given them due to the 3/5th's Compromise...apparently slaves were viewed as people rather than property people only when it was beneficial. New Orleans, Mobile and Charleston were some of the most active ports in Antebellum America...handling the bulk of the cotton, tobacco and sugar trade...oh, and all of the very profitable slave trade. Paragraph 3 - show me documents. Paragraph 4 - This argument is like saying the federal government has hindered the surfing industry in Nebraska. The South had next to zero manufacturing because the South saw no need for manufacturing. Statements like this go back to Silver Eagle's revisionist point. Paragraph 5 - There is so much inherent racism here it's laugh/cry - able. Also, I said "some" slave owners were willing to disregard anti-literacy and anti-gathering laws. As for prosecution, you might be right and that it wasn't enforced on slave-owners. A literate and educated slave certainly would've faced consequences. A congregation of slaves, say at an AME church, would've faced consequences. A slave owner had little to no culpability. Paragraph 6 - The first sentence is utter bullshit. The second sentence is taking two separate ideas...opinion and policy...and thinking there is any sort of linkage between the 2. So really, the whole paragraph is more utter, revisionist bullshit. Paragraph 7 - Pretty sure that "northern militia" would've been federal troops...since in the 1850s we still had a "nation"

I don't think I'm alone when I say that Darrell Dickey and the early 2000 football teams are the reason for getting me interested in any UNT sport.

Welp, looks like your kid is wrong too...a whole flock of misguided and confused eulesseagles. And in case you missed it...this was my area of study...and I've had the advantage of studying and researching it in both the North and the South so I've a rather diverse base of knowledge on the topic. More than you can get from a quick google search on the interwebz. So, no, I don't need to "look it up on the computer."

DD did not leave this program in shambles, academically or talent wise. For every bad apple there were countless individuals getting it done in the classroom and graduating. He left us a QB in Danny Meager who was talented enough to make an amazing transition of a mostly run first offense to a passing one, and did it well enough to set a school passing record against SMU in Dodges' first year. He also left us with a national rushing champion running back in Jamario Thomas. Defensively Jeremiah Chapman ended his final season second in all the nation in tackles for defensive ends. Regardless of DD's shortcomings, poor decisions with his staff and public gaffes later on in his carreer, he is and always will be an important figure in North Texas football history. And for that I greatly respect him and expect that he will be in the NT Hall Of Fame someday. Rick

Which is why the defense needs to earn a nickname. Stop worrying about a nickname and stop somebody.

I'll bet Tony see's more than 1 semester of BB with UNT. His mother lives in Dallas and I'm sure she'd like to see her son stay in college a little more than 1 semester. Based on Tony's grades he's not stupid as some have speculated, hence their worry about Tony making his grades. Most students get pushed out of college because they're not smart enough to get good grades, or they don't have good time management skills, and that affects their grades in the long run. Since Tony was able to show up at the rec. consistently and make a 3.2 to 3.5 GPA he might have a brighter college future academically and on the court than many believe. The NBA will always have money to throw Mr. Mitchell's direction. More money than I'll ever make, so what's a few years in college for Tony to improve his BB skills. JJ and staff have done a great job making average player better. It will be interesting to see how much they can teach one of the, if not, the most gifted and talented player to ever step on UNT's campus.

DD was a very interesting coach, who overall doesn't get enough credit for the things he accomplished. However, he was his own worst enemy and IMO far from great. DD lived on one inexplicable good recruiting class led by the best player in recent history, Booger Kennedy. That class I believe 2001 had 8 players rated in a state one hundred. Buckles, Zuniga, Spencer, Carey, Gardner, Brewster, Hall, Kennedy and others were just that talented. DD played a style of ball that he won all the games were he had the most talent but seldom challenged in games were he didn't. One of my pet peeves, is people in particular NT fans who downplay NT's incredible run during the first four years of the Belt. I see constant references to NT won in a very weak league and today's teams are just much better. The facts are that NT was the most dominating team in Belt history and when challenged those that claim that the Belt is much stronger now just cannot make that case. More winning teams now but that is wholly due to more conference games, not the Belt significantly moving up in the football world. The truth is that NT got a lot worse, the conference did not get substantially better. North Texas is the only team that has ever gone through the Belt undefeated and they did it three straight years. No way to prove it, but I think the the middle two conference champions teams of NT could have played with and probably beat any team the Belt has had; Back to Dickey as a coach. In my view, no coach is great that constantly berates his position and employer. In addition, his "Us against the World" style cannot be sustained and his negativity eventually wrecked the program. If DD had worked hard and build on those championship instead of hiring an agent and trying to move on; then NT and he would have been much better off. As far as Vitos obvious bias. I guess it is understandable, but defining greatness has being better than Simon and Dodge is very shaky ground. I don't blame Vito at all for reporting on the alleged racial problems of Dodge. However, I think it is rather naive to assume that all is going to be rosy after that. Dickey apparently treated Vito well and it is too bad he didn't have the same respect for the school and its fans. All that is history now, Dickey will be remembered more fondly as the years past. The hiring of Dodge will always be looked at as a monumental blunder. Both are likely to be in coaching for a long time and it will be interesting to see their progress. NT has a new coach and frankly a lot more to work with than either Dickey or Dodge had, the future should be bright.

This is what most people that bag on DD don't give him credit for...his run brought many, many fans to the program that are still fans today.

With all due respect, and I know this will make some of you very mad, DD had a good team at the right time in a bad conference. The Belt got better, UNT did not progress along with it like we could have.

Dickey did some good things here at North Texas as evidenced by Vito's detailed writeup. I still get tired of Dickey referred to as " the Great Darrell Dickey" in every article or blog that Vito writes and Dickey is mentioned.

good sense of humor, but the bottom line is that compared to most of the mistakes we've had here as coach, Dickey was a real winner. He, along with Mitchell, Rust (for a while), Corkey Nelson (when he was on) and Fry are the only ones who really helped the program by their presence here.

It seems to me that NT has used that last scholarship multiple times. Looks like a good pick-up, I hope NT uses that last ship a few more times.

Sally Struthers

You're wrong. None too surprisingly, though.

Look, we went to school at North Texas. Some of us to NTSU, some to UNT; but, still, North Texas. Now, the arguments for and against Darrell Dickey are stupid and pointless. He did a better job than anyone post-Return To D-IA Era. That cannot be questioned. The problem with us is that our administration cared so little about athletics that it shuttled us down to I-AA right after some very successful years with Mitchell and Fry. They just didn't give a damn about it. Once we rehatched, the D-IA college football world was completely difference. The OU/Georgia lawsuit giving schools the rights to pursue television deals outside the NCAA's reach had occurred. The conferences followed suit. Soon, it became a money-making proposition to the bigger schools. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we were playing Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, ans Southwest Texas State - nowhere close to the reality of what was happening in college football. So, Matt Simon get dumped right in the middle of it in 1995, one year after replacing a high school coach. Program all over the land were already in the midst of multimillion dollar expansions of their football programs. Us? We were playing in a glorified high school stadium. Simon is tossed in favor of Dickey. Dickey had the same lack of resources Simon did. Somehow, he scratched together a set of teams in the early 2000s that succeeded in spite of it. But, it couldn't last forever. There just wasn't anything to offer. People talk Boise, South Florida, Connecticut, etc., etc. Well, the got multimillion dollar commitments for their programs with school administrators on board working in tandem with the private sector grads and their athletic departments. We just didn't have it. Simon didn't have it. Dickey didn't have it. I respect Darrell Dickey for what he gave us, working with what he had. It doesn't matter to me that no one else made him a head coach. He's been employed ever since he was booted from here. Todd Dodge was completely unprepared. It wasn't totally his fault. We just didn't have the scratch at the time to go out and get a real coach. He was Fool's Gold to many...and, he's in a better place now for him. What we have now is an opportunity. We now have the better facilities that everyone else was making 20 years ago. We are paying assistants more than ever. We have great athletic facilities and an administration that is more sympathetic to the cause than any in the past. The only thing left to do is win. We have no more excuses. I won't excuse it. We've been given what we asked for - what Simon, Dickey, and Dodge lacked when UNT returned to Big Boy Play: A real stadium, real coaches, and real support. There are no more excuses. We have now all the things in place we groused about - even green helmets. The only thing, really, that prevents this battle station from being fully operational now is the "UNT logo on the green helmets. But, we can still blow up Princess Leia's planet anyway without it. KA-POW!

it wouldn't, necessarily. but believe or not, preparing RTVF students for careers in broadcasting isn't the sole function of a college radio station. if that was all they were concerned with why bother even having one at all? they can just get graded on recordings they make of themselves in a mock studio. you're the second person to compare some periodical (i.e. national enquirer, people magazine, etc.) to rock/rhythm and blues in an analogy. i think you're missing my point completely. first of all, i don't know how it was for you when you went to UNT, but when i did the faculty was kind enough to actually teach me that there's a difference between literature and journalism. reading people magazine in english lit wouldn't make any sense, but neither would it to read hemingway in a journalism class. as an aside in defense of journalistic periodicals: ANY historian would tell you that if you really want to learn about what regular life was like in, say, the 1860s for example, you would read the newspapers and magazines of the day LONG before you'd pick up a book written in the same time. my point is that it's same sad reduction you make of journalism when compared to literature as you do rock/rhythm and blues when compared to jazz or classical music. i'm also always a little bemused and amused by this prevailing notion in some people that "more complex=better, simple=bad". if it's so easy, why doesn't everyone do it? you make rock n' roll sound like blinking or something. the fact of the matter is, in 500 years, rock/rhythm and blues is going to be just as valid in the minds of music historians as classical and jazz. in 500 years from now it'll all be thought of as antiquated forms of music. but you tell me, if you were going to really try to learn about the life struggles of common people in history through music, which would you listen to, a folk song, or frederick chopin? keep in mind, folk music and spirituals were the rock/pop (what you would've probably turned your nose up at) of the 19th century. i rest my case.

Keep in mind that they are still working the seat selection process for non-MGC members. Their work still isn't complete yet. What a beating. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes and I'm sure they are glad they don't have to go through this extensive of a process every year.

If you want the pretty tickets you need to have your season ticket order in by a specific time otherwise you get the generic tickets. I suspect we're getting close to that deadline to send those orders off to the printers. Also factor in things like the time it takes to put together all the mean green club and season ticket packages and send those out to everyone. It all takes time. If you wait till the last minute then you have problems with simple errors due to people being in a rush and people not getting their tickets before the first home game, etc.

Sorry to bump an old thread. Passed a new one today on 377 in Keller. What makes it noteworthy is that this billboard was TCU Football for much of last year. Glad to see North Texas moving in. Lots of traffic on the road, and the billboards are extremely visible. Awesome buy for the AD. GMG!

damn it! people are now sitting on both sides of us and in front...but it sure does look good with all the filled in seats!

Gotta disagree with you on this one.

Using Vito's definition, I don't think we can call Dickey's tenure great. The run was good for us while it lasted; however, I don't think we can call it "highly important" or consequential. I say this because the run did not leave the program better off. Most of the posters believe Dickey left the program in tatters. Obviously, Dodge did not pull it up. It was more like a blip that happened to occur while Dickey was coach. Someone mentioned Rust for a while. Rust was great when he had Mitchell's recruits, but he was not able to sustain. Greatness requires one to sustain. With the successful run Dickey had, he did not sustain.

If you look at OOC and bowl performance, it's a lot better than anything we've accomplished since and some time before Dickey happened. Back to back national rushing champions. Top 10 ranked defenses. I don't know if you were around in the early 2000s, but there was some serious coaching and talent going on there.

What kind of relationship did DD and Vito have ?

Uhhh...let's tap the breaks. If you want to add the word "just" or "only" or "exclusively" to this statement, cool...but, let's be serious.

Right, it was used as a rep for confederate regiments in Texas, and had a good history behind it. I guess my point is, if your from Texas and want to take some kind of pride in being Texan and want to show your southern pride, what's wrong with the Lone Star Flag. Why would anyone in Texas want to fly the Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia...ie "The Rebel Flag"? Rick

Revisionism exists on both sides of any historical event. What "revisionist" view of the Civil War....particularly the South...are you talking about?

I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis Amber. Shiner and Sam Adams are tops, too.

ipa's are my favorite!!! they certainly aren't session beers, but a great beer to enjoy! keep drinking them...you may develop a taste for them!

Scaldis... if you are lucky enough to find it, grats. Vigne in Denton and Holy Grail Pub in Frisco/Plano carried it on my most recent visits. You can't go wrong with a Duvel if you are in need of something a little "different" or a Belhaven Scottish Ale if you need something even maltier than Shiner. The best quality "chugging" option (besides the freezing cold Shiner at Hooters) is definitely a tall glass of Paulaner Oktoberfest God Bless Metzler's!!!

Usually my two favorite beers are Blue Moon and Dos Equis, but I really like Shiner's summer beer, Ruby Redbird.

His assistant coaches were being hired away "left and right"......but not Dickey. If he was a giant, he would have been hired away from North Texas....like Jerry Moore....who had an 11-11 record here.

So why would that prepare RTVF majors for a career in broadcasting any better than broadcasting jazz? It's all subjective? Is National Enquirer just as worthy of being studied in English lit classes as Ernest Hemingway or Edgar Allan Poe? Of course not. Likewise, Mozart, Bach, and Debussy (and to a lesser degree Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Chick Corea) demonstrate ingenuity, a grasp of how harmony functions, and general compositional skill far exceeding that of Kurt Cobain or Keith Richards. I love listening to some pretty simple stuff, but even those who write and play that music would not try to put themselves in the same class as Mozart (except for the really deluded ones).

Linked is a thread from Cyclone Fanatic discussing Coach Mac. I thought some of you might find this interesting. As usual, when the subject of Coach Mac comes up, we Cyclone fans start arguing. It's great... http://www.cyclonefanatic.com/forum/football/122605-coach-dmac-rivals-com-homepage.html

Pretty interesting. Did you notice one of the recurring themes was about his hiring (assistants) ability? I don't think that'll be a problem with what he brought to Denton.

Thanks for the clarification I thought that was the faculty's job? If I major in jazz, why would I go into a classroom expecting otherwise? If I am a performance (non-jazz) major, most schools consider it the path towards a concert artist. There are exceptions to that, of course. We could dedicate an entire thread to the role of music in music colleges and how it should be. It came up in discussions with my professors, and will always (deservedly so) be a hot topic. I think you'll find that much of the faculty supports (and enjoys!) our musical endeavors when we step off campus, even for those of us that go outside the jazz/classical realm. At least that's how it was and is for me.

--Absolutely agree... The meaning has changed greatly, especially the battle flag, which is the one most often used by hate groups. I too lost a relative [gr-gr-grandfather] who died on some unknown battlefield and lies in an unmarked grave somewhere. The war ended and he never came home and the letters had stopped. I dislike the fact that racist groups use that flag, but they do, so I would never fly it at my house because of that. .

Bout 15 feet, depending on wind speed/direction and how much lift I can get on the... appendage?

Whats the big deal? The Texas Confederate flag that many regiments used to represent themselves during the War Between the States has already been on license plates for years. In fact it's flying in front of every government and school building in the state. It's just that we call it the Lone Star Flag. Rick

I don't know, but this oughtta be interesting.

I'm like a kid on Christmas morning right now. This is going to be fantastic. What'll he do NEXT, folks?!?

If they broadcasted to an area with a population as large as DFW then yes they would. Like I said before, KNTU broadcasts to DFW, not just Denton. DFW is a pro sports town and one could argue so is Denton with the lack of support UNT receives.

Billboards! Something we've debated for years! TCU also has theirs up around FW now as well. Saw three driving in from Granbury last weekend. I love our billboards...but here's something I'd like to point out that you can chew on: They don't say "NORTH TEXAS" on them anywhere...but, there is a "UNT" in the corner. Anyone? I thought if we used UNT on things...like, say, helmets - that people wouldn't know who we were. But, on billboards advertising the new stadium, it seems to be okay. How will people know we're North Texas? The billboard just says "MEAN GREEN" and "UNT."

Totally agree about kudos for putting them up. My reaction was exactly the same.....too busy.

And this meant what? Rick

You mean manipulated by A company called Enron? Yes. Then Enron was brought to it's knees in bankruptcy, force to pay a settlement and it's CEO convicted of several crimes but died before he could serve out his sentence. Rick

Without the oil industry, DeepGreen would never have been able to buy Club Seats at the new Mean Green Stadium. So, thank a greasy old oil refinery for my contribution.

Oil-giant Venezuela tries to limit energy use See, this is what we need to do, destroy and bring down those bastard oil companies and just live with the rolling blackouts as the rationing heats up. Won't August in Texas be fun without air conditioning? Who do you think will suffer the most when that happens? The sick and elderly, that's who. But AARP and the libs continue to blame the conservatives with the Mediscare rhetoric. Ah yeah, lets hear it for the SOCIALIST way! Rick