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Excited to see him play football for the first time ever.

It has already been pointed out, accurately I believe, that only HCF's (hard core fans) want to go to practice, and that those guys will show up to games anyway. This, in spite of the fact (allegedly) that the athletic department hates its HCF's. Frankly, the only thing that opening practice will do is free up board space for those that constantly publicize athletic department faults to post something else wrong. But, GMG

. . . for which we will compensate and steal a second game from ULL, ASU, or WKY.

Went to Sports Authority today looking for this: Success Saw and couldn't pass on this: Double Success Don't know if others have seen this shirt anywhere else but I thought it was pretty sweet.

First a preface, then some responses. Climate science, by its nature, will always be uncertain. That's why there's so much fluidity in the specific numbers in this debate, and why your local meteorologist has such a hellish time putting together an accurate forecast for more than 12 hours out. In this, climatology and meteorology share a great deal with the "softer" sciences such as psychology, politics and sociology. All are statistics-based, and thus cannot rely on the solid totems which the simpler, less creative sciences such as chemistry, physics or biology can rely. The extent to which humans are causing the problem is rightfully up for debate, but anyone who believes that we can produce tons of CO2 every second, spread it around the world, and it will have no impact simply defies all logic on the matter. What goes in (or up) must come out. Now, as far as political motivations go, they should be divorced from this matter, on both sides. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen, so we must look past it to the facts at hand. Finally, a clarification is in order. When these problems first came to light, it was termed "global warming" simply because that was the first apparent effect. Scientists now know that this was incredibly short-sighted, and that "climate change" is a better description of the term. Some places will get hotter, some colder. Some will get less rain, some will get more. But what will be evident is that the extremes will become "more extreme." That's where the discussion lies, not in whether or not it's "hot enough for ya" this year. And yet here you are, berating someone for opposing the absolute fact that nuclear energy must be a part of our solution to the current climate change" problem (which it is, get over it hippies), rightly praising the need for the free market to be involved in the solution, and then stating that the government should have a limited role in bringing other types of energy, such as nuclear to the core. Big flaw in your argument is that you've clearly never heard of the billion-dollar bailout called the Price-Anderson Nuclear Indemnity Act (where big government expressly takes over the risk of nuclear sites in order to allow them to be built) or the fact that nuclear energy, due tot he expense of building plants, is not competitive with other types of energy without massive federal bond guarantees through entities such as the Tennessee Valley Authority. Should nuclear play a huge role in lowering emissions? Absolutely, and even Kyoto acknowledged this. Can nuclear do that without government support? No. Full stop. Who has done the most to support the development of nuclear power of late? Barack Obama. Absolutely true - except for the fact that this "peak" should be cooling the earth more, not warming it. As far as the period between March 2011- May 2011? "For March–May 2011, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was 0.53°C (0.95°F) above average—also the 10th warmest March–May on record." Scientists would concede as much. Climatology is exceedingly difficult to predict, and a lot of the work fails to satisfy the 95% accuracy requirement found in the social sciences. But what about global warming (which, as noted, is simply one symptom of the disease)? Just taking the absolute numbers, the temperatures over the last 20 years fall in-between a 3 and 5 range. What does that mean? Again, just looking at the numbers, there is only between a 0.27% and a 0.0000684% of the temperature anomalies being caused by random chance. Call me crazy, but if it's between two bets, one with a 99.9999426% chance of paying and the other with a 0.0000684% chance, I know which bet I'd take. As far as the confirmation bias you point out, I first have to counter that if you believe that almost every climate study in the last 20-odd years has been afflicted by the same bias without it being detected, I suggest you reconsider. Such conspiracies (for that is what they are) are impossible to keep secret, are obvious to even jaded minds, and most importantly, are never present. Humans just aren't capable of that level of consistent deception. An even better counter is the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Report, commissioned and paid for by the brothers Koch. If you believe that the Kochs told Berkeley to confirm that global warming exists and that it must be stopped, then I have lakefront property on Mars I think you would be interested in. I hope you don't go to the doctor, then. I'd find it funny if a patient stated that they don't respect my expertise in the field and that they wanted every doctor in the world to concur on their diagnosis of a bloody nose. These people are experts for a reason, and are entitled to deference in their fields of expertise. Neither you nor I are at all qualified to be having such a discussion, but unlike your assertions, mine are backed by the people who actually do this for a living. Show some respect if nothing else. ...and scientists rightly changed their "beliefs" when thy were proven to be wrong. The availability of new date showed previous beliefs to be wrong and continually confirmed a new paradigm. That's what happened from the global cooling debacle of the 70's to now. The old science was disproves, the new is continually confirmed. Unlike religion and politics, science doesn't care if its basic beliefs are challenged, in fact it relishes it. People who don't understand the distinction are simply to obstinate to be worthy of civilized discourse. Oh, and if 97%-98% isn't a enough of a consensus on the overall truth of the matter (taking your important qualifications into account, the scientists involved have dismissed them and still concur that climate change is happening), then what do you require? Fortunately for your decision, there's only about 3 other options that you could have.

My wife and I randomly went into Rally House in Arlington Highlands today and I was surprised by the amount on North Texas gear they had. Just an FYI for those who live on this side and can't make it to campus often. http://img213.imageshack.us/i/imagextu.jpg http://img69.imageshack.us/i/imagednl.jpg http://img36.imageshack.us/i/imagecto.jpg Sorry I couldn't directly attach the pics. I am on my iPad.

Felt like Jamize gets a little overlooked here. I expect him to get several reps in tonights preseason game, so everybody keep on the look out. Goodluck Jamize! Make Mean Green Nation proud!

I blame the UNT dancers for global warming. They're so hot, the Mean Green Brigade won't even wear their full uniforms! Thank God we've got those giant fans to help keep us cool this year!

From yyz28: 'Climategate' has been misrepresented by science deniers. See factcheck: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/12/climategate/ The data are consistent. Consistent enough to convince the vast majority of scientists expert in climate science. And your evidence for this is...? Personal incredulity? Finally, you blame "the left' for the decline of nuclear power. That's BS. The arguments against nuclear power are being made by the same kinds of science-deniers that argue against anthropogenic climate change & evolution. They have their own reasons to oppose nuclear power and those reasons have nothing to do with science.

The 2002 and 2003 teams were far from awful. Besides 26 straight wins in any conference was great, NT never went undefeated in conference even in the Southland. I wouldn't call the 2001 to 2004 Glory years, in fact I don't know anyone other than Vito that has ever stated that. Although, I like Mac's attitude; I would like him to win some meaningful games before he starts downplaying the 4 straight Belt championships. I thought his quotes were a little strange because he has been very careful to praise the Belt but went the opposite way with his quotes about those teams only having success against the Belt.

yyz28 writes: Is there any source you respect? NOAA, FactCheck, AAAS? Anyone who disagrees with your philosophical (for it's not scientific) position is wrong. You find the typical trash in personal emails that can be taken out of context. The incident was investigated by numerous organizations and no suggestion of wrong-doing was found: That's from Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy ) but they provide links to primary sources. Thanks for the demonstration of your motivation in denying anthropogenic climate change. Thanks for the graph. Now, can you find one for the relevant period since the mid-1800s? I'll help - http://www.roperld.com/science/GlobalWarmingGraphs.htm The idiot protesting a modern, efficient, safe nuclear power plant is no different from a Christian fundamentalist trying to worm id/creationism into the public school classroom. Both are reality deniers. Both have motivations that have nothing to do with the science.

You're darn right it was. That 6-7 year rise got them to the point that they could recruit enough legit FBS level talent/depth to finally take down an OU on the big stage. We were playing OU and getting beaten when we clearly weren't ready. Boise didn't play a team with as much talent as an OU or UT until 2005, when they traveled to Athens, Georgia and got their brains beat in. That was 6 or 7 full seasons into their rise. A year later, they got OU on a neutral field and caught lightning in a bottle, made a name for themselves and kept building until now---6 years later just had the second most players drafted to the NFL in all of college football. I'm not trying to take anything away from Boise. They did what we couldn't do, sustain the success....but as monkeypox said above, they scheduled brilliantly during their rise. Before that Fiesta bowl against OU, Boise had been a regular "BCS Buster" candidate for 3 out of 4 seasons due in large part to them beating the teams on their schedule with equal or lessor talent. They scheduled in 10-11 games of that nature every year. Every year, we had to listen to all the talking heads in the media debate their SOS. One side would yell, "they don't play anybody!"...the other side would answer, "They can't help who they schedule and the big boys are scared of them!" It used to make me sick. We scheduled in 3-4 games against teams with more talented rosters every year. Boise absolutely could have played more games against BCS conference teams, but they chose (smartly) not to. For goodness sakes, the OUs of the world are absolutely not scared of playing a Boise St on their home field with their own conference refs calling the game. Maybe they are now, but they sure weren't back in 2004/05.

Yes, because Factcheck is always bias free. I don't need anyone's spin or "fact checking" to read the emails. Clearly Phil Jones at best improperly reported data or at worst completely faked it. The most damning email of them all was the one from MacCracken to Jones, with Obama's chief science advisor, John Holdren, copied: "In any case, if the sulfate hypothesis is right, then your prediction of warming might end up being wrong. I think we have been too readily explaining the slow changes over past decade as a result of variability--that explanation is wearing thin. I would just suggest, as a backup to your prediction, that you also do some checking on the sulfate issue, just so you might have a quantified explanation in case the prediction is wrong. Otherwise, the Skeptics will be all over us--the world is really cooling, the models are no good, etc. And all this just as the US is about ready to get serious on the issue. We all, and you all in particular, need to be prepared. Best, Mike MacCracken" ...I guess the point is that we can all put links into this thread that back up our point of view. When you actually READ the e-mails and not just articles and factcheck's summary, you find some pretty bad stuff in there. The data is HARDLY consistant. The scientific conundrum for climate change alarmists, in my opinion, is how “global” temperature measurements are gathered in the first place. Many of the techniques for gathering temperature data are obtained via archaic methods virtually unchanged for decades. The fact temperature data is extrapolated via antiquated methods from disparate data points spread out across the globe, and then corrected for bias, or what is perceived as bias, and then boiled down to a single global mean average–one number, is hugely problematic from a scientific sense. The “extrapolation problem” is further exasperated by the fact temperature readings from satellites typically don’t correlate with the bias-corrected thermometer data given to us from such folks as NASA, NOAA and the IPCC’s CRU (Climate Research Unit). Policy is now driving science, instead of science driving policy! This is, in effect, political dogma, not science. The scientific “consensus” on global warming is not based in scientific evidence; it is based instead upon a “predetermined outcome” whose goal is the enactment of stifling taxes and regulations that, at their heart, kill economic productivity in the American private sector and American competitiveness in global markets. This was actually the goal of the Kyoto Protocol–stifle emerging markets and thwart American economic productivity. Think of it as a global Ponzi Scheme (ETS – European Trading System) implemented by a Cloward/Piven-like strategy of overwhelming the bureaucracies of competing global markets with crippling “green” regulations, taxes and fees. According to the “climate change” alarmists, the very building blocks of life on earth (carbon, CO2, water, etc.) are a “threat to our health and welfare.” I couldn’t think of a bigger government revenue generator than the ability for the federal government to tax and regulate the atoms and molecules that make up life itself. This has nothing to do with our “health and welfare,” but it has everything to do with total power and control over the masses.Recently Chris Horner reported that the EPA has once again reasserted they believe “greenhouse gases pose a risk to our health and welfare.” This from a pro CO2/Warming website. Do any search on Tempruature history and you'll find evidence that the planet has been considerably hotter at times in history, without our CO2 production. ...interesting, the most rapid warming since 1900 was also before 1940. So, clearly the warming during that time wasn't all about CO2, and there have been far more emissions post 1940 than pre. My evidence is history and the fact that despite emissions, the current trend is down. Yes, its the evangelical conservative who is holding up nuclear power. ROTFLMAO!

Looks like Voertmans has some Nike gear..including hats..looks like you can get free shipping in their website www.neebo.com/unt

I believe Jimmerson will win the starting RB job. I think he will perform very well. That is all.

And yet another breaks down into "we need free tickets."

I think "family weekend" is designed for the families of UNT students to come visit for the weekend, not for families of mean green fans to come to the game. Come for homecoming - watch the parade on the square, eat at Denton County Independent Hamburger, go to Beth Marie's for ice cream.

Let's see, $1000+ for Cowboys season tickets, likely with a poor view, or $600-$1000 for a quality HDTV with an amazing picture for the next 10 season and close up views, for ANY sport, tv show, or movie you want to watch?

Does the top shirt say , "Turnovers " on the back ?? Bottom one is pretty sweet

LOL!!! Not even close. I don't mind spending good money on a nice T.V. I figure I'll have it for a long time.

I agree... We need to pack the stadium for that one...

I agree that we need more fans to attend games; I don't think opening practice to the general public will get more people to attend home games.

Rick, People who attend a college practice are going to attend that teams college games, no matter how bad that team may be. This doesn't affect attendance. I could care less about seeing a practice, and I'm at every home game. This is not a decision maker for 10 people, much less 1,000.

We face those issues because the we haven't ever won in football. And by won, I mean wins that matter to casual fans. That has never happened. Don't believe me? Take a look at "The Glory Years" thread. I don't care if you have the coaching staff personally greet every fan at an open practice and take them out to eat afterward, that won't increase attendance one iota. I don't care of Coach Mac closes every practice and even closes the Spring game if it means a conference championship and wins over Houston and Kansas St this year. The only thing that increases attendance are wins THAT MATTER. I think Mac completely gets this. This is such a minor issue, I don't even know why it continues to be discussed.

I've asked the question for the last 3 years, but have never gotten a response. Last year would have been ideal w/ all the incoming freshman we had. It gives teams bonding experience & chemistry. History shows that teams who get to participate in these summers events start out much better than those who don't. If my memory is correct , MTSU played this past summer & FAU, Denver the year before I don't know if it's money or not, but I would guess even a trip to Canada would be pretty expensive As far as marketing this team so far , epic fail. If I wasn't such a huge fan I would have no idea how good this team is expected to be. IMO season ticket sales should have been made available to the public as soon as Benford was named Head Coach and/or Tony Mitchell announced he was staying. Had a co worker (someone who has only been To 1 UNT game) call ticket office right after TM said he was coming back only to be told to call back months later. Sorry, that can't happen. You have to capitalize on the opportunity. It's not too late to market Tony Mitchell and this team, but if we aren't making an effort for near sellouts it will be a huge dissappointment I think the students will show up for BB like never before , but we need to get the word out to the alumni & the DFW

Maybe the prospect of competing with Taylor, Chris, and Hardwick was more than he could take. I feel very comfortible at this position.

Exactly.

This week Sports Authority has a buy one, get 2nd at half price sale on stadium seats. The ad shows the cheap, crappy seats, but they actually have the ones from "The Stadium Chair Company" on this sale - and they have them in GREEN. I did have to go to two different stores (in Houston) since there were only two green ones at each store, but I got four of them. http://sportsauthori...code=TSA-120812 http://www.stadiumchair.com/

Can't wait 'til football season. I'be been so busy this last year..we just moved into s new home with a media room and I bought a 3-d projector with a 100" screen. I haven't yet had time to install it or I'd post a picture. I'm looking forward to things slowing down a bit so I can be more active on the site again. But, that may be difficult with a 7-month old.

All 5 of my HDTV TV/Monitors in the household are LCD Vizio's. The latest two are 3D models that are more like a computer.

You're upset because you can't buy a Romo shirt from a UNT website?

Now if only any of the f'ing UNT retailers had an up to date website where I could go and buy a shirt like that right now.

I don't know. You could take the kids to see the parade on homecoming. The only unique thing I've seen on family weekend was a visit from Radio Disney. I'm sure there must have been other things I've missed.

Best chance for a good family outing is probably family weekend. I'm gonna try and bring my boy for HC.

...and that's why Dickey isn't here anymore. Despite the DD success in the early days of the Sun Belt he failed to convert that momentum into building the program and Out Of Conference wins. 2001 - Miracle season. Go bowling for the first time in 40 years, but we were also 5-6. 2002 -Great year. Win the bowl against Cincy 2003 - Great year. Beat Baylor, go bowling, but couldn't beat Memphis. 2004 - Good year. The rest of the SBC was pretty bad, go bowling, but we got exposed in the bowl against Southern Miss. Things like "stealth recruiting" and "buick ball" made sense in 2000-2002. But as the program began to establish itself, DD failed to make upgrades to the coaching staff, play calling, and recruiting practices. I think DD got a raw deal being fired mid-season after he'd had a heart attack. I think RV could have waited six weeks and the team would have ended up with 1 or 2 more wins that year. Dodge was a total failure. He had the personality to be a head coach, but is assistant coach choices did him in from day one. Mac got a huge break playing a bad Indiana team at home. But I feel like he's a guy that use momentum from wins like that, where DD couldn't capitalize on a better win over Texas Tech.

I thought Stock wasn't playing this year ?

Where did the "Glory years" tag come from in the first place? Mac didn't exactly say anything that many didn't already know and feel. That run was against new schools to D1 football and before Troy joined. Honestly, we have not had any glory years in ages. UNT's facilities and salaries were on par with everyone else in that startup league. True, there were 26 consecutive wins against these startups but we didn't dominate anybody. Outside of the worst conference in D1 football, as Mac accurately pointed out, we were awful. We will eventually get there with a new stadium and a better regional conference. Not convinced it will be under McCarney, who doesn't exactly have a storied history at Iowa St himself. Maybe it's just me but i'm embarrassed to suggest to anyone outside of Denton or this message board that those start up years in the Sunbelt were glorious times.

You're crazy..

If you are eligible to contribute to a 403b, you probably don't have $3m in an IRA as well.

Same issues brought up by the same people every year.

1st conference game. Set the tone for the rest of the season. Chance to go into Houtson with a winning record If we can't beat Troy , I won't have much confidence vs ULL or ASU. Huge game

I am beginning to wonder if the goofy decision by Todd Dodge to waste an entire year of Thompson's eligibility on a single series that year will come back to haunt us. We will know more by mid-season, but this young man is looking pretty impressive both on and off the field.

You keep bringing up that if people get to attend a practice/scrimmage it will translate to the turnstile turning more. You are directly linking attending practice = more attendance. You keep saying we're "desperate" for fans while needing to open up practices.

I believe it's always right before the 1st home football game ? Question , no info

Petty...petty...petty! Everyone knows the rules that Coach Mac has in place...Anyone who cared could post an equal and/or longer list for the university programs that hold "closed practices" and scrimmages...who cares? Time to move on folks. Get over it and move on. If you just cannot live without seeing a practice, it seems Adler has posted exactly how you can do that...there are even places where there is shade. My guess, it's more about complaining and whining than it is about getting oneself out to actually watch some random football practice.

That is the part of Mac's speech that I really thought about... I'm glad he said it, because no one else in his position has, and the way he said it fired me up too...made me think that equal success under his watch will be seen by him as more of one of the initial steps up the ladder to bigger and better, rather than any sort of pinnacle for the program. I did feel a little "small time" almost though, as I have referred to that period as the "Glory Years" countless times. I can't wait for waht Mac's version of the "Glory Years" look like...I might not be able to handle it as the "Glory Years" of the early 2000's were pretty damn exciting! It is a good time to be GREEN! Go MEAN GREEN!!!!!!!!!

There is no doubt that during the time I have followed North Texas football, '01-04 were the glory years. But that's largely relative to how bad we have been in the years immediately preceding and the years following. There have definitely been years that North Texas has been far better from a national perspective. But everything that we have ever done in the past is despite countless obstacles . . . as you mention, terrible facilities, low salaries . . . also apathetic administrations, less-than-stellar support from the community, historically bad officiating (see Texas '88). Now that most of those obstacles are out of the way, there is no reason why North Texas's glory years--on a national level and for a prolonged period--should not be ahead of us.

Maybe a tad different way of thinking here...but I think the biggest victory in recent memoory had to the THE OPENING OF APOGEE STADIUM!!!! :goodjob: :thumbsu:

Yeah, I was in Lubbock for both the '97 and '99 win. My buds were in shock both times... Loved kickin' their asses at home.

It's got to be the golf NCAA national championships