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Well, with the momemtum we will have coming off the win @ Alabama, I think Indiana should be a bit worried.

FIU doesn't scare ValleyBoy because I will be at the game Thursday night and the Mean Green have never lost a game that ValleyBoy has been at.

Coaches show tonight...YES! OK, but let's not forget my adopted player...OUR STARTING DEEP SNAPPER.....drum roll please....TROY KOKJOHN! I always wish they would announce the special teams as well although I know many of the players on the special teams are sort of "fluid" from week to week, but we do have some regulars...like punter, place kicker, holder & deep snapper. These guys are "starters" or "first teamers" as well....at least in my book. "I love me some special teams". It has been sort of a tough love the last few years, but I am thinking this year our special teams will make a positive difference in the outcome of some close games.

But the repercussions can last a lifetime.

Now this is the kind of music I'm looking forward to hearing in the new stadium. It is so DAMN loud y'all won't believe it! I just spoke with Mike Gallop the team's equipment manager and he said the first one really caught them by surprise inside the teams lockerroom. And there's this crazy ghost-like freight train echo immediately following each shot. Sounds like a Scott Davis pass zinging overhead. A special thanks go to coach McCarney for stopping by and visitingng with me and the new Cannon Crew. And a huge thank you goes out to all those who helped put today's event on, including Meangreenfreak and SoundMan. Both of these guys are currently working on getting the Bell and Model A up and going again. Without great alumni like these I don't know where we would be? Rick

Haikus are for bad news. Look it up; it's in the thing.

Greetings Everybody, Here's to a good game on the 10th, and a great opening to your stadium. Two of us are making the trip up for the game and will be joining my aunt, who teaches school in Denton, for the game. So I'm looking for three tickets. Unfortunately, my ticket search via the North Texas website offered us tickets in the back corner, near the endzone. Tickets via the UH website are even more expensive and the visitors section are pretty bad seats. Stubhub has some available for exorbitant prices. Ebay doesn't have any available. Does anyone have 3 tickets for good seats you'd be willing to sell? Alternatively, any suggestions on finding good seats on the internet? Lastly, what kind of crowd are you expecting?--if the games not a sellout, I'd be game to pick up tickets outside the stadium in the hour before the game. Thanks so much. Feel free to email/pm me. barrettestess@gmail.com

He may have had surgery, but I am still convinced that at least it's partly that his future is so bright.

When Sydney Graham started yelling "Go Mean Green!" back in the mid-60's, she was talking about the DEFENSE. We should never forget that.

MeanGreenSports

Thank you for the kind words, I had a lot of help, especially from Alex Balic finalizing and cleaning up my dirt dobbin welds on the fabrication. I don't know why but I forgot to get a group shot of all those who have contributed with Boomer. Maybe prior to or after a game some time? By the way I also learned there is going to be pyrotechnics set up inside the stadium as well which should make for a great atmosphere on game day. Rick

As a D-1 program FIU has never won their first game of the season. They are not as scary good as some would have us believe. The question we will answer is are we as scary bad as some would have us believe. I think the gap between the two programs is a lot closer than what is perceived. And I prefer my green go go juice with a splash, a dash of bitters and a twist.

We have a lot more weapons on offense than we did last year. We are patching together a line, but I have a feeling that the o-line that shows up Thursday will be just as good (maybe even better) than last years. Oh, and we have the same OC that we had last year, so no learning curve there for anyone. All we have to do this year is just get a bit more push and/or aggressiveness in the DL, and more push from the DE's, and we win about three more games than last year. We'll be as good as last year in the LB corp, and better in our DB play.

I happened to be there this morning in the parking lot. It scared the absolute crap out of me each time it went off. It is unbelievably loud. Just deafening. Well done Rick, well done.

Bad seats? There are none at Apogee. Seriously, I walked around and tried to find some. They don't exist. This ain't Robertson.

Does your aunt live in Denia?

yes.

How about everyone in Apogee Stadium's first game ever!

I know know what GMG.com needs! A fry street construction cam! I know of a certain construction company that may have a webcam they might not be using anymore.

For some Fry street will never be the same. They enjoyed people urinating on the sidewalks, running into the drunk high school kids with their skateboards, the college drop outs still wanting to act like they are actually college students, the vomit on the sidewalks, each and every weekend, etc., etc. To be fair, some of us will also miss the great hangouts like the State Club, the Tomato, etc. But, Fry Street has long ago lost it's "luster" as unique and attractive place to hang out. It has pretty much become a "dump" and in it's present and recent past forms was doing no one much good. One may or may not like some of the ever-so-evil to some corporate money that is flowing into the area, but it is beginning to move forward with redevelopment and may one day return to a vibrant and economically sound area for both the city and the college students. Fry Street long ago stopped being a great place to hang out. It's time to move along. Very happy to see the re-development beginning.

You mean it's being given a much needed facelift? Fry is a dump right now. It needs to be upgraded

http://www.meangreensports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=205251629&DB_OEM_ID=1800 Kyle White was a Dodge signee.....so I have no idea why he wasn't on scholarship. Anyway, guess he was off, and has now earned his way back. Congrats to all three of these guys!

You have obviously seen quite a bit of these guys in practice, but I really have very little idea of what to expect from them this season. The secondary should be the strongest we've seen in years.

So, let's say 5,500 season tickets. How many are reserved for students and how many seats are in the wings? I think visitors get about 500-1,000.

dean...unless you want to pay a huge price, NO ONE on this site will see you their seats for the first ever game at apogee...ain't happening! there are no bad seats/sight lines in the stadium...buy your uh allotment...help out your school and sit with you fans.

Join the MGC and get season tickets anyway. You'll get a parking pass AND you'll be able to invite friends to come to the games with you.

I think your best bet would be to get tickets from the UH athletic department and sit with your own kind....hope you enjoy the stadium.

So, are you smoking your green kool-aid now...? Anyway, LOVE the optimism!

Congrats to Trent Deans, former Sherman Bearcat. I thought Kyle White was a Dodge recruit also & was already on scholarship: http://www.meangreensports.com//pdf4/374854.pdf

Judging from an article in the Houston Chronicle, it appears to me that there are a lot of decision makers at aTm higher than the AD that are driving aTm's impending departure. It's about money--obviously--but there are interesting comments in this piece. Maybe Byrne is tied up in a closet somewhere, but he sure isn't the one ramrodding this deal. Ags ************************************************************************ After Texas A&M took the bribe, er, accepted the generous "incentive" from Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri (divorce settlement funds from Colorado and Nebraska) to remain in the Big 12, school president R. Bowen Loftin said what an educator should say about why his Aggies did not jump to the Southeastern Conference. In a letter to Aggies, the first major factor Loftin listed against the move was concern about "the demands placed on our student-athletes, in terms of academics, time away from the classroom." Unless Tuesday's earthquake along the Eastern Seaboard shifted Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia a few hundred miles west, academics don't mean as much in Aggieland as they did a few months ago. Then again, are a few missed classes by some athlete-students really worth depriving Alabamans, Mississippians and Georgians of the Aggies mystique that people in Texas have taken for granted for so long? Of course not. Oh, I know that the word "athletics" isn't anywhere in the school's official mission statement, but come on, so much of its identity is wrapped up in how its athletic teams fare. One way to improve image is to hang around a better class of people. Those scoundrels in the SEC are the class of the college football world. Perhaps they will be nicer to the Aggies than the burnt-orange crowd in Austin, where DeLoss Dodds sometimes sounds like a certain boxing promoter. "That's America," he told the Chronicle's David Barron about Texas' $15-million-a-year Longhorn Network. As Loftin pointed out in a statement Thursday: "Ultimately, we are seeking to generate greater visibility nationwide for Texas A&M and our championship-caliber student-athletes." Aside from accidentally putting student before athlete, he is on point. Visibility trumps tradition, right? The last time Loftin used "ultimately" it was about the above-the-table "incentive." "Ultimately, by remaining a member of the Big 12, we were able to more than double our financial return to the levels being offered by other conferences," he wrote. He brought up money again in Thursday's statement. "As a public university, Texas A&M owes it to the state's taxpayers to maximize our assets and generate additional revenues both now and well into the future," he said. That's America Amen. Athletic departments are supposed to be profitable. Well, ultimately, they aren't. But school presidents aren't required to tell you that. That's America. Anyway, the $20 million a year the Big 12 guaranteed A&M in TV revenues is more than the SEC gives each of its teams. And what about the departure tax that will be part of A&M's divorce settlement with the Big 12? It could be as much as $30 million, but maybe A&M can do as good a job negotiating this year's payout as it did with last year's payoff. I would love to talk to A&M athletic director Bill Byrne about this, but he is more difficult to get these days than the Longhorn Network. I pay a couple of grand a year to receive nearly every television channel known to man, but those riveting UT volleyball games this weekend aren't on any of my screens. Byrne's silence probably has something to do with his post on the school's website a year ago about A&M having made the right move (for a long list of reasons) by staying in the 10-team Big 12 instead of going to the SEC or then-Pac-10: "We are receiving the same financial dollars (we) would have received by going east or west. Plus, our operating costs are reduced. Our estimates said it would cost us an extra million dollars a year in travel to go east or west. … And, we won't have to pay as many exorbitant fees to get non-conference teams to come play us in Aggieland." According to the school's president and athletic director, a move to the SEC could hurt athlete-students' academic performances and might be worse for it financially. Overreacting a tad? Is the Longhorn Network that much of a game changer? Why not just crank up the Aggie Network? "When we built the 12th Man Productions facilities, our plan was all along to eventually put together an Aggie Network," Byrne wrote a year ago. "We are better positioned than any other conference school to do it." Oops. When Dodds read that, his hair must have stood up on his head like Don King. So Texas beat the Aggies to the punch with an ESPN partnership and the Aggies' feelings are so hurt they will make a move that could be a worse financial deal and will be a more difficult academic situation for athletes? Need I even get into it being much tougher for them to win conference and national championships in the SEC? Only in America. jerome.solomon@chron.com

It would be great to see White be a contributor this season. He is a large dude

I was thinking just turn it a bit and aim it right at the opposing team...

Could we please point the cannon to the southeast after each game and give the Denia neighbors one shot each game?

There has been a rumor about a game this week. Actually, I think that a lot of people are waiting to see the "new" team under Coach Mac. There will be lots of talk after the FIU game, that is for sure.

I believe that number is closer to 100% increase now, so over 5000.

It's been reported that we sold 2,745 last year and that this year we've seen a 70 to 80% increase thus far. Going with 80% that would put us around 5K? One day we'll hopefully get to where 10K is the baseline.

Why stop at calling out football for not being good yet? Why not just start firing shots across all of our programs? Look, I love the basketball too, but you know it's not a zero sum game and that being good in football would help us be better at basketball, right?

fixed

That's because this forum is full of a bunch of OLD GEEZERS, who resist any change. You guys know its true, whats the average age of this forum's posters? Some where in the 40's?

I think this grenade is not lobbed at the heroes of the Mid-Cities the way you all took it. If I had to guess, it's probably not meant to go much further than DFW airport.

That wouldn't be a very loving thing to do...

I don't think anyone is waiting for 12-1 anymore, but the last few years are a credibility gap. SMU tried to launch their campaign before the turnaround just a few years ago and it fell incredibly flat. If we show any progress (5-6 wins this year), that combined with the stadium makes a compelling case to show everyone it is time with a full blitz moving forward. Honestly, unless a player at a school I don't care about is putting up video game numbers (like LT did back in the day or maybe Keenum), I don't think he sucks in the casual fan anymore. I think all things considered, Lance has already generated and will continue to generate more than his share of press this year.

We're so close in agreement here, but just split on one small point. I see this as a timing thing. I don't think there is much we can do with much of the roster outside Dunbar to educate a casual fan -- and he's being used on most of the materials and is getting a decent share of press all things considered. I think the storylines for our team and program have to come out during the season and a coordinated effort of hitting our local and national media -- along with their hometowns -- is the best way to do that as things go the way we hope they all will. For most casual fans, this is just a collection of dudes until they do something on a field - no matter where they read about them. NFL camps have the luxury of telling stories from college and previous career experience -- we just don't have that yet, but we will and I hope they leverage it well in the years ahead.

I agree with the basic concept your "Marketing 101" idea (although I really question your apparent sports marketing professor), but as much as I personally love Chase Baine, seeing him catch a few balls is not going to make me say OMG if I am not already a current fan. I don't think the Cowboys win any new fans at San Antonio training camp, but they let the current fans deepen and expand their relationship with the team. Once we win a few games and build the base a bit more, I totally agree it's the time to start looking at doing that, but I'm not going to begrudge anyone for not giving me that experience now.

Not that I don't see the point being made, but do practice updates really add fans or just further wet the whistle of the diehards? I can't imagine living near a team I don't care about and being sucked in by their training camp/practice stories.

Looks like the map created more questions than it answered for some, but I think I found my exact route in and out. FFR has a great point...you might just want to park at Fouts and walk over for the first few games until all this gets sorted out. Fouts parking will be tons closer than parking at most D1 stadiums during game days...closer than parking across Central Expwy for SMU, closer than the 1 mile + walk to get to OU's stadium, closer than one would park at Iowa (according to a well placed source...never been there myself), closer than you would get at Oklahoma State, and on and on and on. Maybe some would have closer parking at these places with multi-thousand dollar donations or game day paid spots, but parking at Fouts is free, right? Even with parking spots assured, Fouts just might be a great option. getting out should be easier as well for the first few games. Good suggestion FFR. The "good news" is that this will all get sorted out in due time...so, patience folks, patience...enjoy the ride as it's to a brand new beautiful stadium.

OMG!!!

Look what it's taken for TCU to just enter the local conversation. On the plus side, Newy and Dale will be dead soon.