gangrene

Don't forget DCTF picked us to go 7-5 last year.

Thanks for the heads up...I never would have known without it.

San Francisco - Yes! I'd have to make a longer vacation out of it and drive to Tahoe for a couple of days of skiing. Boise - No. Does Idaho even have an airport??

Agreed....now about those board statistics!!!!??? Anyone, anyone?

Yes, and yes. It only takes Brett a couple of hours to correspond in his blog about a hot topic on GMG. The biggest difference between Brett and GMG members is that he actually gets paid to type his comments (plus his grammar is better than most GMG posters). Love him or hate, he often follows up on many GMG rumors and either confirms the truth in them or dispels the rumor.

In Dave Campbell's Texas Football. It will be on news stands Monday (it's based on post-Spring practices).

The pony board talks like it's already a done deal.

I would like to know the answer to this as well. Without knowing how much money we need to fund the stadium, we have no goal. Without knowing how much money has been contributed, we have no idea how much more we need. Without knowing how much more we need, most are discouraged from contributing at all. With comments like this from the athletic department, the frustration reaches boiling point: Uhhhh...no. That's exactly what I do NOT want to do. Besides, even if we do designate our funds specific to the stadium, how will anyone ever know that's where the money ends up going? There is no accountability and no way for us to track the funds. It's like donating to the Katrina relief fund. 97and03, thanks for the follow up.

Well, I certainly hope this is good news but it certainly isn't the first time the BOR has taken out a loan: Fitch Rates Univ of North Texas System Rev Bonds 'AA-' Business Wire, Sept 28, 2005 The System consists of a university located in Denton, Texas, the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth and the South Dallas campus, all in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The metroplex is located in a growing region of the state and projects a doubling of the 5 million population by 2030. Outstanding Debt (8/31/05): -- $1,040,000(a) Board of Regents of the University of North Texas System Revenue Financing System Bonds, series 1997; --$24,620,000(a) Board of Regents of the University of North Texas System Revenue Financing System Bonds, series 1999; --$13,020,000(a) Board of Regents of the University of North Texas System Revenue Financing System Refunding and Improvement Bonds, series 1999A; -- $32,735,000 Board of Regents of the University of North Texas System Revenue Financing System Bonds, series 2001; -- $55,985,000 Board of Regents of the University of North Texas System Revenue Financing System Bonds, series 2002; -- $9,010,000 Board of Regents of the University of North Texas System Revenue Financing System Bonds, series 2002A; -- $30,610,000 Board of Regents of the University of North Texas System Revenue Financing System Bonds, series 2003; -- $6,185,000 Board of Regents of the University of North Texas System Revenue Financing System Bonds, series 2003A; -- $4,950,000 Board of Regents of the University of North Texas System Revenue Financing System Bonds, series 2003B (Taxable); -- $23,400,000 Board of Regents of the University of North Texas System Revenue Financing System Commercial Paper Program. Prior lien obligations: -- $5,910,000(a) Board of Regents of the University of North Texas Consolidated University Revenue Bonds, series 1994; --$515,000 Board of Regents of the University of North Texas Health Science Center General Tuition Revenue Bonds, series 1994; -- $9,005,000(a) Board of Regents of the University of North Texas Consolidated University Revenue Bonds, series 1996. (a) Portion of outstanding debt to be refunded with series 2005 bonds. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. COPYRIGHT 2005 Business Wire COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

I'm not worried about this story. Yes, we headline the brief story, but it's not a very long article at all. It's in the "Quick Hitters" section towards the beginning of the magazine...sort of buried in between some ads and some pictures. I honestly did not even see it the first several times I looked through the magazine. It's far from a feature article. We get mentioned in maybe three paragraphs of an 8-point font article that mentions how Alabama, Washington State, San Diego State and Toledo received worse penalties. It also mentions SFA's and TSU's three scholarship penalties. Would it have been better if this article was never written? Yes. Will it provide more negative publicity for North Texas? I seriously doubt it.

I think everyone's ideas are great. I am certainly not opposed to direct involvement with the athletic department. My main concern is that there is virtually no communication between the athletic dept. and those of us that want to help fund the stadium. We make donations and have no guarantee or assurance that it is being used for its intended purpose. Therefore there is no accountability. We have no idea how much money has been contributed to a "stadium fund" and when we complain about a lack of progress we have nothing to substantiate our claim. That is why I proposed some instrument for tracking donations that would be separate from the athletic department. If we were able to compile a large enough sum we would have more leverage when making demands for construction to begin now and for more sharing of stadium plans. Until we get organized and raise some money, we're more or less just pissing in the wind.

Great! It looks like we have a few takers. It's a looooong way from 10,000 but we've got to start somewhere. KRAM1 - would you mind researching how we could set up an account and make the information available to everyone on gmg? I'd also like to see some sort of a counter that could possibly update the donation total as funds are contributed (an idea that has been mentioned on gmg before) as well as show who contributed what. I hate high pressure but sometimes a little pressure is necessary. We have a LOT of complainers on this board who want to give opinions on how the stadium should be built but very few seem to be willing to contribute any money directly to the cause. As greenjoe put it (and I'll paraphrase his statement), it's time put up or shut up.

Well, you can't blame me for being the spoiler this year! In addition to Brett's comments, the North Texas ad looks great. It's the poster style, like last year, with the 2008 schedule, a picture of Casey Fitzgerald and a list of 2007 accolades, including the top six nationally recruiting class ranking among non-BCS programs that ESPN gave us. In addition to Riley being ranked amongst DCTF's top 75, he was named to the 2007 "Super Team" on the first team offense...but not as a QB. He's listed as a "utility" player (I thought that was a baseball term?) while Andrew Luck (Stanford) took the first team QB position. I've had a couple of hours to read my copy and I was pleased to learn that we are currently recruiting no fewer than 12 players on the DCTF Top 300 list. Let's hope we get 10 out of those 12. Also, one of this year's opponents, Rice, has two players on the All-Texas offense; WR, Jarrett Dillard (1st team), and QB, Chase Clement (2nd team). It's no wonder DCTF predicts that game to have a combined 100+ points. That game could pale in comparison only to last year's game against Navy. OK, I promise...that's all I'm going to write. You can get your copies on Monday, June 16.

I ask this about once a year and I never seem to get a reply. Is there any chance we can get the Board Statistics section functioning again? By my count (no I'm not really counting) we have 10,794 members yet our Board Statistics section still only reports 3,029. We have almost 11,000 members now! I know those aren't all UNT alumni/Mean Green fans and I know this probably isn't realistic but...if 10,000 of us could contribute $750 over a one year period, we could raise $7.5 million toward our "stadium fund". From all the reports I've heard, $7.5 million would surpass our current purported funding of +/- $6 million. One would think that would easily be enough to break ground on this project. Once the construction begins I'd hope many more donors and/or sponsors would come forward. I know $750 sounds like a lot of money to some of you, but that's over one full year. Let me do the math...$62.50 per month.... a tank of gas, a cable bill (mine's actually twice that), one or two dinners at a restaurant, etc. etc. There is power in numbers and that's one thing we, as UNT graduates, definitely have on our side. Many can contribute a little and we can all reap the benefits. I'm envisioning a Lambeau Field type situation (where the community owns the team). If everyone contributes, it should encourage more university pride and association. In addition, I would expect increased attendance as those that contributed would be more interested to see where their money went. Honestly, I'm tired of the stadium funding talk and I'm ready to do something about it. I'm not as blessed in the finance category as Boone Pickens or Mark Cuban so I need everyone's help. We need to bond together and do our part. Fouts was built in 1952, so I'd venture to guess most of our living alumni didn't contribute to the cost to build Fouts. We'd be fortunate if our new stadium lasts 56+ years but I'd hope that this would be the last football stadium fund to which most of us would have to contribute funds. Well, that's my pie in the sky idea...for whatever it's worth....now let the commentary assault begin....

I understand the question but I don't think we have a single easy game this year, so whoever we play each week will be the toughest game of the season. I rank all of the 2008 opponents #1.

I'll try not to divulge any spoiler information (I did last year and heard about it). Interesting tidbits I found - In a DCTF writers' poll (excludes Brett Vito), one writer voted us as the Texas (college) program to make the biggest leap forward. A different writer voted us to win the SBC (but we were far from the consensus). Our projected record is worse than last season's bold 7-5 prediction but better than last season's 2-10 outcome. We had two players make the pre-season All-Texas College first team offense and one named to the second team defense. Our projected two-deep roster consists of 14 Sophomores (6 starters) and 8 Freshman (1 starter). OK, I'm ready for football season now! How many days is it until August 30??

I agree with you but I seem to recall getting excited about a JC DB last year...

I wonder if we could work out an exclusivity contract with Southlake Carroll to play all their playoff games in our new stadium??

Newfan, Thanks for the info!!

According to the Official Bayou Bowl 2008 website the game was played last night. I can't find a box score or any indication that the tape of the game will be telecast, but I'm curious to know how our boys did. Anyone go to the game at Stallworth Stadium in Baytown, TX? Ok, I found an article in the Baytown Sun. Texas won 24-14. While the Texas team had three interceptions, there is no mention of Hill (nor was Feeley mentioned in the article).

Washington State.

Well, I am glad he's going to ULM instead of SMU.

Looks like Casey's draft value is dropping. At any rate, #31 in the country is still pretty terrific. Athlon's Top 100

That's my question too. I repeat, I am not opposed to a larger stadium with the exception that the higher cost will delay construction further. Personally, I'm very tired of all the talk and no action and am growing leery that anything will be built in the next few years.

I thought it was because he was just told to go deep every play to try to sell the pass....when everyone else in the stadium knew it would be a run. You don't need a playbook for that.