gangrene

Same with mine, Kyle Russo, although I take partial blame - I wasn't a very good adoptive parent and rarely posted anything about him.

Ok, I found where I read it - DIRECTV TO OFFER ESPNU IN ITS CHOICE™ PACKAGE As part of the agreement, DIRECTV will also launch ESPNU HD by the end of the first quarter 2010. Additionally, ESPN Classic will be repackaged into the DIRECTV SPORTS PACK. That also explains why EagleMBA just started receiving the signal...it was added to the Choice package, whereas it was part of the Sports package before. Unfortunately, this means that those of us who are DirecTv customers will have to watch the Ball State game in SD, or find someone with Verizon Fios.

Unfortunately, I believe that is correct. I recall reading somewhere that DirecTv plans to begin carrying ESPNU in HD in Q1 2010.

That's strange it just showed up recently. I've had ESPU on my DirecTv subscription for a couple of years now, along with CBSC, Big Ten Network, MTN and all the Fox Sports nets. I'm still waiting the SBC channel. If you're an NFL fan, you can't beat the NFL Sunday Ticket for coverage, but don't expect to get the new NFL network's Red Zone channel any time soon...DirecTv sells that same basic idea as an option on the NFL ticket, called SuperFan. An additional note, Versus (which airs the NHL, Tour de France and some college football games) and DirecTv are in a contract dispute that may result in that channel being blacked out on August 31, if the two parties do not come to an agreement in terms. I'll be an unhappy subscriber if that happens. Little known fact - as of July 2009 most all networks film in 720p. Only a few actually film in 1080i (HDNet and HBO are a couple). What you see when your TV tells you it's 1080i is actually just an up-conversion of the 720p network feed.

Good luck on that! The last time I was able to convince non-UNT loyalists to attend a game was the Tuesday night Troy game back in '05. The low-scoring (13-10 loss) and relative uncomfortableness of the Fouts field bleachers left them vowing to never again attend another North Texas football game.

How do I feel? It can't get here soon enough. We can hear a thousand different opinions on how good/bad the team is in practice, but you never know for certain until we play real games. Let's get it on!

Although I don't personally know you, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your wife too. My mother was diagnosed with cancer about 1 1/2 years ago. She had surgery and radiation treatments and has had several good/all clear check-ups since. I know a bit about what you must going through right now and I know it's not easy. To have the additional burden of a seemingly unexplained or unprovoked job loss is outrageous. One of the main things that helped my mother get through her trying times was the overwhelming support she received from her coworkers and supervisors. It does sound like her employee rights were violated and I would recommend that you either contact the EEOC directly or consult an attorney regarding this matter.

Oh Lord, please let the season start soon!!!!

Riley stats vs. Ball St - 23-29 for 216 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. He'll also have 7 rushes for 56 yards and 1 TD.

The only rational explanation for the sudden use of TEs, FBs and lining the QB up under center is that the coaching staff is reading this board! Of course, I'm kidding. Glad to see that some tried and true, traditional elements of college football past can be incorporated into the Dodge spread offense. I think Mosley can be very effective, either blocking or running, in short-yardage situations...he's one of those guys that "falls forward" when he gets tackled.

Yeah, you're probably right. I wonder if they had a FB and TE in on those five plays too?? I'd like to see Micah used as the lead back on short yardage plays.

Actually....this is the big news I got from the article: Does the fact that the offense was stopped on three consecutive plays from the one, while the QB was under center, mean the coaching staff will scrap this "experiment"??

Monday tip: How will Thomas fare at FIU?

No problem...I was just giving you crap!!

Bleh...maybe we need to hire a full-time, football-only psychiatrist to evaluate the mindset of potential recruits and provide weekly "discussion" sessions throughout their UNT football careers????

Is that Chris' brother or is your real name Sam Smith?

And that pretty much summarizes how social networking works. I've been preaching that we need an advertising campaign (which would include internet/social networking/viral campaigns) for the last few years. Everyone (including RV) seems to dismiss all thoughts of advertising without even a second thought, as being too expensive (because they can't think outside of the TV/Radio/Outdoor box). The fact is that interactive advertising is still evolving and remains a cheap, but effective way, to accomplish marketing goals. If anyone in the Athletic Department would care to investigate, they might find out just how much they can really afford. We have some very good marketing and advertising professors that could assist in any efforts. I think a viral campaign for the stadium could be very effective.

I'm not sure about wins, but if we score less than 18 points per game, can we trade the dodge clunker in and all get a $4,500 government voucher? Actually, I think two wins and several "competitive" games gets Dodge back for year four....in fact, RV basically said as much already. Hopefully, we'll win 6+ this year and it will be a moot point.

From the live chat: Jason Bruner, 6'9" 311 deep snapper...really???

Well, it was a hell of a lot better than our campaign...oh wait...we didn't have one, did we?

Wow! I'm vacationing in Montreal and have been traveling the last two days. I log in and find out that we have three new players! The news about Stradford sucks but this is great. I remember when Flax committed (was excited) and then de-committed (was pissed) last year. I guess I stopped following him then because I had no idea he never enrolled at Houston. For a minute, I thought I was reading an old thread. Anyway...great news on all three!! GMG.

I can't say I am the least bit surprised. I'm still questioning why everyone in the media (several had him listed as a starter) were so confident that he'd be able to play this year anyway.

LOL, that, seriously, sounds like a great plan! I just read in the article that Ralph McIngvale, brother of Mattress Mac, is on the committee. I wonder if he's still mad at UNT?? It sure would be great if they could try to out-donate each other at their respective universities.

Like it or not, they are getting good publicity for it. Most didn't like the "Pony Up" campaign (myself included) but it had everyone talking about it and that boosted the awareness of SMU football in Dallas last year. SMU is having a pretty decent 2010 recruiting class and they were actually competitive in many of their games last year. We love to hate SMU but don't blink or they'll be what we claim we want to be....the team of DFW.

I have absolutely no problem with someone cheering for whichever team they choose for whatever their reason may be (unless it’s SMU – just kidding, even that’s OK in my book). Probably 50% of UT fans never attended Texas, yet they feel a deep emotional bond with the school because they watched them growing up, or maybe a family member attended. Maybe they wanted to go and couldn’t afford it, or maybe their skin was the wrong color, or maybe they were relocated to Austin (because of a job and now have a sense of Texas pride)??? Point is – it doesn’t really matter the reason, you don’t have to be a former student to cheer for or...wait for it.....donate money to a certain school of your choosing. If that was the case, we’d be about $1.5 MM lighter in the athletic budget. I think too many people get caught up in who/why people cheer for Texas (Texas Tech fans are especially bad about it). Maybe it’s jealousy, I don’t know. I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone that wanted to root for UNT from doing so simply because he/she never attended our university. Now...this little bit about belittling the university you did attend (again, for whatever reason), is totally unacceptable and Craig Miller-ish. I’ll agree that that kind of attitude is becoming of someone who is trying a little too hard to be accepted by a crowd to which he does not belong. The douchebag label is appropriate.