TheTastyGreek

You are an accomplice to crimes against humanity. You show no remorse. The authorities will prosecute you aggressively. And you will deserve it. You are obviously trying to plant the seeds for an insanity defense. Suddenly, I realize there may be hope for you. I will testify as a character witness when you are inevitably brought to judgment and made to atone, both for what you did yourself, and what you sat back and let happen through your inaction. - - - - - - - - - - People, I don't want to make this about Jimmy Johns. Frankly, I don't like having to think about the fact that I live in a cruel, evil world that allows a place like Jimmy Johns to persist and peddle any of the foulness they have on offer. This is about Rick Villarreal, a man who may be in crisis, and who is putting himself at great risk. A man who presumably once yearned for succulence (with respect to sandwiches), but has settled for just plain suck (in the form of Jimmy Johns). We can show him how to raise the bar of standards and expectations, in one tiny place we can control and help out directly. We can put a tasty sandwich within RV's reach in 10 days or less, people. If you can help... If you've ever wanted to make an impact, but didn't know how... I hope you'll do what you can to help us fund this initiative. If anyone has any questions that I didn't cover... Let me know, and I'll try to address them.

When I think back on this disappointing weekend in UNT Sports history... There's one image above all others that will haunt me as a symbol of all that's wrong and seemingly hopeless about this program. For anyone who didn't read Christopher Walker's post in another thread... We may disagree about our prospects for this season. We may disagree about Coach Mac, about our quarterback situation, about our future as an athletics program. We may disagree about the best way forward. We may disagree about support and commitments. We may even disagree about how to be angry! But no matter who we are and what subjective opinions we may believe, there's one undeniable, objective fact that we can all agree on... Jimmy Johns is terrible. Absolutely godawful. A poison pit of despair. A sandwich of last resort for those who have given up on life. A culinary white flag for a man without hope. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - People, a man eating Jimmy Johns is a man who doesn't realize that there are better alternatives out there, or doesn't feel like he's worthy of those better options, or doesn't think that he has the budget to enjoy those better options. A man eating Jimmy Johns is a man who has, for one reason or another, resigned himself to the absolute lowest level of sustenance. Something that barely even qualifies as a sandwich fit for human consumption. The bottom level of competition in the Sandwich Championship Subdivision. ...and Rick Villarreal was a man eating Jimmy Johns. Something must be done. Something WILL be done. And we will do it together. GoMeanGreen 2015 Crowdfund v2.0: "Buy Rick Villarreal a decent sandwich!" Friends, if we can show Rick V. that he can expect and demand more out of a sandwich... Maybe it will show him that he can demand more out of other important things in his life and career! If we can change the way he thinks about his standards in sandwich purchase and consumption, maybe it can change his standards elsewhere. So, I am pleased to announce that we are doing a public crowdfund to purchase Rick V. a gift card to Which Wich, the best franchise chain sandwich shop in the Metroplex area. FAQs: How much money are we trying to raise? There are several potential levels of successful funding. Among the thresholds we're trying to reach are: (All totals include sales tax) $5.72 = One sandwich of choice (not including specialty sandwich "The Wicked"); no beverage (complimentary water available).$8.93 = One non-Wicked sandwich of choice, plus a chips and drink combo (soda or tea, unlimited refills - same visit only).$20.04 = Two Wicked sandwiches, plus two chips and drink combos (so Rick can enjoy this sandwich in the company of a friend, co-worker, or loved one).$22.76 = Two Wicked sandwiches + chips and drink combos, with 2 desserts (cookie, brownie, or rice krispie treat).What happens if we raise more than $22.76? Most employers have ethics guidelines that limit the cash value of gifts that employees are allowed to accept. Though the amount varies from company to company, most set the bar at $50. Less common, but not unheard of, is a $25 limit. To make sure Rick can actually accept this gift, we're going to play it safe and set the maximum value of his Which Wich gift card at $25. If we succeed at raising more than $25, any additional money will be used to purchase a second Which Wich gift card, this time on behalf of Dan McCarney. Though we don't have any eyewitness evidence regarding Coach McCarney's sandwich consumption habits... We'll hope that the delicious taste of a Which Wich sandwich (and possible sides/desserts) might also inspire Coach Mac to believe that he can expect and demand more than what he may or may not be currently settling for in the realm of sandwich options, or any other areas that may fall under his supervision. If, somehow, we manage to raise more than $50, additional funds will be used to purchase a third Which Wich gift card, this one on behalf of UNT President Neal Smatresk. The same philosophy applies. If, by some strange miracle, we manage to raise more than $75... Any additional money will be applied to Which Wich gift cards of no more than $25, assigned and distributed to UNT Athletics Department staffers, starting in reverse-alphabetical order (keep your fingers crossed, Patty Wells!). If, somehow, we raise over $1,350... Any and all additional money will be spent to buy a Jimmy Johns gift card on behalf of Tony Benford, redeemable only at those Jimmy Johns locations historically proven to spread salmonella and/or e.coli. Why should I donate money to feed Rick V? The guy makes way more money than I do! The goal here is to inspire Rick. It's a small step, but one that could potentially change his whole perspective on life. Also, given that Jimmy Johns is proven to be a festering pit of disease and death... Rick V may, in fact, be suicidal. Look at how the state of our athletics program has impacted all of us emotionally. Now, imagine it was all on your shoulders. If we're handling things this poorly, who knows what mental shape Rick V might be in? Whether or not you like the man, or believe he ought to keep his job... Basic human decency says we ought to reach out to someone who has lost the will to live. And a man eating Jimmy Johns is not a man who values his own life. OK, I'm sold. How can I donate? This turned out to be a bit tricky... GoFundMe has a $500 minimum goal, and that amount is way, way above where an initiative like this deserves to be potentially funded. Other options like Kickstarter offer no-minimum goals, but screen and eliminate crowdfund campaigns they deem inappropriate. And, because that potato salad guy seems to have ruined it for everyone... Kickstarter's screening process makes it seem like a dead end, too. So, we're going old school with this. I'm an old fashioned guy, and we'll raise money the old fashioned way. My wife helped me decorate an old cigar box with green construction paper, and you can donate directly into the fundraising box this Saturday (9/19/15), before or during the Rice game. The top and sides of the box are decorated with spirit branded fake currency (from the UNT chocolate bars that were available at Albertsons once upon a time) and with ticket stubs from football games that UNT lost. The underside of the lid features a special message of gratitude... But you'll have to donate to see it! How can I find you? Anyone who knows what I look like can find me in my usual seats (Section 104) during the game. Anyone who doesn't know me? We'll be flying my custom Greek UNT battle flag during tailgating before the game (Google the Greek flag, then look for a green version flying over a black pickup or a grey Honda Pilot). Stop by, say hello. Anyone under the tent that's a guy will smile and point you in my direction (or be holding the box while I socialize in the parking lot and/or travel back and forth to the toilet). Anyone that's female will probably sigh, shake their heads, and point you in my direction anyway. What is the deadline to make a donation? You should probably make your donation in the parking lot before the game at our tailgate tent. You can also make a donation in the stadium, provided you recognize and know where to find me during the game. You can donate up until the game ends (or until I get fed up and leave, or my wife gets overheated and bored, whichever may come first). Any other guidelines for making a contribution? Yes! Because the purpose of this effort is to inspire change... In that spirit, only donations of change will be accepted. No paper currency, please. Definitely no checks, and no credit cards. Dig deep in your pocket, but only your pants pocket, and give until it hurts and/or until you run out of coins that you're carrying. How will Rick (and potentially Coach Mac, President Smatresk, and others) receive their gift cards? Right now, the expectation is that I'll come home from the game on Saturday, cry, shower, and cry some more until I fall asleep and dream of sweet vengeance against Rice. Sunday, I'll wake up, go cash in the collected coins, and buy the gift card(s) at the Which Wich location nearest me. I'll mail them out on Monday, and presumably they should arrive in Denton by the 24th or 25th. Rick should probably pack a bag lunch through that week, though, just to be safe. Please note: I will cover all postage expenses. 100% of your donation will go towards buying inspirational sandwiches (or sides, beverages, and desserts, at the discretion of the recipients). This method of crowdfunding has the benefit of ensuring zero transaction fees, and I will put a big rubber band around the top of the box to make sure that no coins fall out in my car on the way home from Apogee. What comes out of your pocket all ends up in the mouth and stomach of Rick Villarreal, or another UNT Athletics official, as outlined above. Is this a joke? Is this supposed to be funny? In reverse order... Yes, this is supposed to be funny. But NO, this is NOT a joke. I'm completely serious. And, I'm going to let my money do the talking. That's 81 cents, people. Cash money, straight from my own pocket. It's already in the box. That means that we're just $4.91 from the minimum viable threshold to make this endeavor a success. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We often find ourselves asking: "What can I do? How can I change this situation for the better?" I'm not a rich man. Most of you reading this are equally unlikely to ever make a donation that can build a facility, or pay for a buyout, or anything that people usually equate with a potential clear and positive impact on our program. But, what we can do is send a message, in the form of a franchise chain sandwich shop gift card. We can tell Rick Villarreal to expect more. To demand more. To not settle for the crap he's eating, and to set the bar higher. That he can do better, and that we INSIST he do better. That he not settle for the level of defeat and failure symbolized by a Jimmy Johns sandwich. And if enough people happen to have some spare change on Saturday... We can send that message to Dan McCarney. And President Smatresk. And Patty Wells. And, if we dream big enough and dig deep enough... We might just be able to poison and eliminate Tony Benford, too. A grain of sand can start a landslide. A drop of rain can break a dam and cause a flood. Maybe, just maybe, a decent franchise chain sandwich can be the little jostle that shakes this whole thing up. Maybe we can wake the sleeping giant. Maybe we can be the next Boise State. So grab your sock full of pennies. Open up your ashtray, and clear out the change in there. Flip up your couch cushions. Do it for North Texas. Maybe we can inspire the change we need with the change we have. If nothing else, Rick V. can eat a decent sandwich, for crying out loud. See you on Saturday. Bring some coins with you.

Well, they shouldn't be hurting me, either. Who fixes their side of the problem first?

I have never, ever been so insulted in my life. Pistols at dawn, sir. Pistols at dawn.

"Could be in trouble offensively", Brett? Talk about a gift for understatement. On the positive side... You can safely hop off a certain bandwagon, as it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. As a personal aside, I'm sorry our team embarrassed in front of your friends and frenemies in ink-stained wretch land. Someday, we'll all learn never to believe in anything, ever.

King DL1, Cerebus, Me, Mad Dog, now Harry... I think we just need a quick lament/firing demand from Evan, and we can punch every square on the bingo card. AND IT'S ONLY WEEK 1*!!! * - It's actually week 2 everywhere but Massachusetts, but roll with the fiction.

Billboard campaign?

Apologist. And, who deleted that other thread?? Way to ruin my birthday, guys.

I didn't lock anything tonight... Until now. So, I'll handle the reply here. One of the forum rules is to not argue with the admins about forum policy. This is your warning, and this is getting locked as soon as I'm done typing. Don't like how the forum runs? Complain to Harry, or go elsewhere for your internets. Voluntarily, or otherwise. There will be no second warning, for you or anyone else tonight. Also, for the record... Your admin team includes: One guy who started a thread tonight demanding everyone other than Scrappy and whoever sweeps up the Super Pit be fired, immediately Another guy who bumped a thread pointing out the complete failure of our AD to grow our season ticket or MGC club memberships, and also seems to be throwing a LOT of heat towards administration and coaching. ...and me, who had an entire website (technically, two!) practically dedicated to the ousting of Todd Dodge, and has spent the past 3 years campaigning for the firing of Tony Benford. We're not shutting down complaints, we're shutting down asshole behavior. Bitch by the rules, and you can go buck wild.

The only thing getting fired is that poor, poor dumpster that Courtland keeps torturing.

Sports is dumb, and I don't think I like it anymore.

I'd rather read your opinions on basketball than watch McNulty play QB.

Probably pretty glad that he won't have to sit through those October games, I'd wager.

I don't think this bandwagon is rolling anywhere anytime soon, gang.

#LBK1T

Let's all just agree that the next time it looks like Something Interesting might happen in a Rangers game... Anyone who isn't watching will just have to hear about it somewhere else, or after it's over and official.

What if tonight's podcast was 45 minutes of streaming video, all Brandon removing his shoes and socks, and walking around Harry's office barefoot? Question, no info.

Should be plenty of good seats available, no matter when you make it up to Denton. May want to bring a book or something, though.

I don't think RV blamed Tulsa for 5 games directly in this podcast, but it was heavily implied. IF he's still trying to claim CUSA membership and the Tulsa series for the 5 game season this year... Here's a timeline of why that's nonsense. We have a max of 4 OOC games each year. If you sign contracts on 3 road games, then you know you can't have a 6 game home schedule (8 game conference schedule, 4 home, 4 away). We've known since at least June of 2008 that we'd be playing on the road at SMU in 2015. We've known since at least July of 2009 that we'd play a road game at Iowa in 2015. We've known since at least July of 2010 that WE moved the Tennessee road game to 2015 (to open at home for Apogee's first year, even though we opened on the road at FIU anyway). At that point, it was NOT POSSIBLE to have a 6 game home schedule in 2015. We were already locked in to 7 road games, out of a 12 game maximum regular season schedule We joined CUSA in May of 2012, invalidating the Tulsa OOC series. But, all that meant was that Tulsa would no longer be our FIFTH home game in 2015. It had no impact whatsoever (and couldn't have, due to the three contracts known of in 08, 09, and 10) on us having or not having a 6th home game this year. Now, again... RV didn't blame the Tulsa series (directly) for a 5 game home schedule in the podcast. He just brought up Tulsa when the subject of a 5 game season was mentioned, without directly tying the two together. BUT, he has done so in the past, like this writeup from Vito from back in February of this year. Money quote: There's no need for a JFK conspiracy timeline. We knew for at least 2 years before the Tulsa contract got voided that we couldn't and wouldn't have more than 5 home games in 2015. This has been inevitable for half a decade, and we didn't do anything to fix it. The alternative would have been two money games in 2011, and a 5 game schedule for the opening year of Apogee. There was a 2003 contract with Alabama specifying day and date for 2011, so this was inevitable. The honest way to deal with it would be for RV to publicly admit he knew what he was doing, and he traded a 2011 5 game schedule for a 2015 5 game schedule. Or, to avoid signing the Iowa contract while the potential rescheduling of the Tennessee game was still up in the air. Or, to move the Tennessee game to a future year without a guarantee game booked, and then to NOT book a 2nd guarantee game for that year. It isn't your intention to play 6 home games when you knowingly sign and/or renegotiate contracts that guarantee 7 road games. Saying it's your intention is nonsense.

Well, with respect to the basketball comments... Either he doesn't know that he's wrong about basic facts that he apparently uses to convince himself and others that things aren't really so bad... Or he does, and he's intentionally misleading/lying about them. So, does RV actually know that he's wrong about the basics, and he's making up nonsense on purpose? Or does he not realize he's full of crap, and he's making decisions based on a factually incorrect understanding of our program? I'm not sure which scenario is more depressing.

Cakewalk. This game should be so easy, I'm already planning a series of complaints about how we basically started the season with TWO bye weeks.

You just bumped out my old signature.

Basketball tidbits: Not accurate. Johnny had a winning season in his very first year. Took a team that was 4-24 the season before and had a winning season IMMEDIATELY. Not accurate. Benford only won 16, still didn't crack .500. We already have. We're going into year 4 of it, and because of how we've let ourselves get derailed, the next guy may as well be starting from scratch. ---------- The fact that it's even something being discussed going into a 4th year is inherently proof that we're not serious about our basketball program, or making a sustained identity of success around it. WKU fired Matt Kilcullen and Murray Arnold and Ken McDonald, because they REALLY believe that they couldn't go backwards. And all of those guys won NCAA tournament games in their first year. Our coach LOST 20 GAMES, and here we are 3 years later talking nonsense about needing to see some results. We're not serious, or this "discussion" would never be happening in the first place. When you're on track, you don't let an idiot derail you. Anyone can make a bad hire... WKU made 3 of them. But they fired them all, and that's why they're a legit program and we're not.

I just don't have a lot to say that hasn't been said already. We're going into basketball season with a failure of a coach, and we're going into football season intending to start a quarterback (seems like a great kid, not his fault if he's actually our best option) who doesn't appear likely to lead us to success, or even entertaining near-success. I'm out on basketball entirely, and I'm out on non-home football (luckily, only 5 games!) until McNulty shows something (or gets replaced by someone who can at least generate some on-field excitement). I'm skipping SMU to go to a baby shower in the afternoon and a fish fry in the evening. And I'm not posting much because I don't take much happiness from it, because even arguing about any of it is stupid and pointless. Anyone who doesn't realize where we're at... It isn't for any lack of evidence or discussion. I thought about posing a question for RV. But, I don't really care what he has to say. About any of it. Don't talk, just show me at least 2nd winning season out of the past 11 in football. Don't talk, just get rid of our embarrassing disgrace of a basketball suit-wearing-guy (can't really call him a "coach") and try to salvage anything possible from when we actually seemed like a real program with potential sustained success and pride in that sport (though, it's probably a year or two too late for that). Don't talk, just put a damn 6th game on the calendar and don't make any bullshit excuses about Tulsa. I don't care what Rick V. has to say. And, more and more... I just flat out don't care that much about North Texas sports like I used to. Maybe I'll start caring again if I see something (ANYTHING) that makes me believe it's worth the emotional investment. But, nothing he says on a podcast or in a newspaper article is going to make that happen. Prove it, don't say it.

Speaking of not being able to pass...