gangrene

I think our new uniforms look a lot like SLC's...what do you think?

I agree with both of you. Just like we are not even close to being in the position of turning away fans from our gates (and I've seen some on here post things to the affect of "if you don't like it, just don't come to the game") we are no where close to being in the position of turning away media coverage. However, Tim's blog was written very much in jest and those of you that took offense to it need to lighten up. I buy into the theory that Dodge is just keeping practices closed for now in an attempt to limit the knowledge our opponents will have about our team. Once we play a few games and the opponents get game film, I expect and hope that the media will have more access to our practices. I imagine there will still be instances throughout the year in which it will be beneficial to close a day or week of practice so we can work on new or trick plays for a specific game. Reporters and even broadcasters tend to have very big mouths. John Madden is probably the worst. How many times have you heard him say something about what a team was working on in practice during the week?? Michael Irvin blamed Madden for revealing his push-off technique on national television and it was largely because of Madden's commentary on that technique that the NFL created stricter rules for offensive pass interference.

UNT is still riding a wave of positive pub after taking my advice and hiring Dodge. -- Tim McMahon. Sounds like he's not real upset...yet. I do agree that he has several valid points and we all love the media exposure we've been getting since Dodge's hire. It would be a shame if all that publicity dried up for a lack of access to the Mean Green. But I'm sure Dodge knows what he's doing and the media will have more access once we've played a few games.

Oklahoma Halloween costume-

Little David was in his 5th grade class when the teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living. All the typical answers came up -- fireman, policeman, salesman, etc... David was being uncharacteristically quiet and so the teacher asked him about his father. "My father's an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret and takes off all his clothes in front of other men. Sometimes, if the offer's really good, he'll go out to the alley with some guy and make love with him for money." The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other children to work on some coloring, and took Little David aside to ask him, "Is that really true about your father?" "No," said David, "He coaches at the University of Oklahoma , but I was too embarrassed to say that in front of the other kids." ----------------------------------------------------- How do you get an okie cheerleader into your room? A: Grease her hips and throw in a twinkie. ------------------------------------------------------

Hmmm...might Freud suggest a deeper meaning to the fact that you assume the body parts on the flag are those of a male...or even worse...a boy??

It's a good thing Jimmy Johnson and Jim Mora didn't have that same philosophy with Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning. Neither finished their rookie seasons with anything close to a winning record, but the experience they gained helped them become Super Bowl MVPs.

No. As with most every form of advertising, ratings are negotiated and agreed upon (for a specific amount of time) by both parties before a contract is signed. As it relates to internet banners and hyperlinks, the two most common methods of tracking are "click-throughs" (also called click-through rates or CTRs) and "impressions". When negotiating on a CTR basis, an advertiser would be guaranteed "x" number of click-throughs for their contract period. Once that contract period has expired a post-buy analysis would be given to the advertiser as proof of performance. If the guaranteed number of click-throughs was not achieved the advertiser would receive make good weight until the desired level is achieved. TV works the same way. If you bought a spot in the Super Bowl with a guaranteed rating of 35 but it only achieved 25, you'd be owed 10 more rating points as make good.

Just make sure you don't miss and hit a Lexus SUV! I wouldn't want you to get dropped on your head.

Daniel Meager's stats the last two years: 2005: 101 completions out of 202 attempts for 941 yards, 4 TDs vs. 8 INTs. 2006: 53 completions out of 100 attempts for 517 yards, 4 TDs vs. 6 INTs. Ok, since everyone wants to blame DD and staff for the above stats, let’s dig just a bit deeper. Coming out of high school, Meager was ranked anywhere from the Top 5 (as a JR, according to the bio on meangreensports.com) to the Top 85 best QBs (per Max Emfinger) in the state of Texas. There’s no disputing that he was at least a decent D-1A QB prospect. He injured his leg his Junior season of HS (if I recall correctly, he broke it) but returned for his Senior year to lead the (then) 4A J.J. Pearce HS Mustangs to the playoffs and a Bi-District win over Greenville (17-14) before losing to Kimball 37-18 in a Regional playoff game. The rest of this is straight from his bio on meangreensports.com: Completed 129 of 218 passes for 1,720 yards with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions as a senior ... Had 95 carries for 407 yards and eight touchdowns as a senior ... Named first-team all-city quarterback as a junior and senior ... Received District 12-4A First Team honors as a senior quaterback ... Rushed for 397 yards as a junior for 10 touchdowns and 910 yards passing for seven touchdowns ... Named District 12-4A Second Team as a junior ... Came back from his injury and led his team to the second round of the 5-A playoffs in 2003 ... The Dallas Morning News has him listed as No. 63 in its area top 100 at QB Now, let’s compare that with Giovanni Vizza’s (who also played in 4A) HS statistics from meangreensports.com: In 2006 put up numbers of 107 rushes, 667 rushing yards and seven touchdowns along with 218/357 passing (61%) for 3,278 yards, 37 touchdowns to only eight interceptions and a 116.3 QB rating ... In 2005 had 98 rushes for 687 yards and six scores to go along with 127/215 passing (59%) for 2,062 yards and 17 TD ... Rated fifth overall prospect in San Antonio Express-News Top-20 ... Rushed for 141 yards and 2 TD, threw 26-42 for 347 yards and two scores with no interceptions in 2006 state title game versus Copperas Cove ... Member of 2006 4A Division I state champions; first state title in school history ... Named Offensive Player of the Year – regardless of classification – on 2006 All-Texas team by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football ... Named Offensive Player of the Year for 4A Region IV by TexasHSfootball.com ... Team Texas 4A first team by Texashsfootball.com ... 4A second team All-State by Texas Sports Writers Association ... First team All-Region IV 4A by Texashsfootball.com ... Unanimous All-District 27-4A ... Combined 747 yards passing and seven touchdowns in state finals and semifinals ...2006 All-Area Sub-5A by San Antonio Express-News ... Named 2006 week six area Player of the Week by San Antonio Express-News ... 2005 second team All-District 28-4A ... Rated as state’s ninth-best dual-threat quarterback by Rivals.com ... Member of Alamo Heights team named Most Outstanding Team for 2006 in 4A by texashsfootball.com. HS Senior seasons Vizza – All-state Meager – All-city Vizza – 37 passing TDs Meager – 16 passing TDs Vizza – 218 pass completions Meager – 218 pass attempts Vizza – 667 rushing yards and 7 rushing TDs Meager – 407 rushing yards and 8 rushing TDs Vizza – State champion Meager – Bi-District champion Vizza – named 4A Offensive POY and All-Texas team by DCTF and for 4A region IV by TexasHSfootball.com (too many more to list) Meager – named District 12-4A first team and all-city first team All-state vs. all-city, 37 passing TDs vs. 16, 218 pass attempts vs. 218 pass completions...seems to me this is a clear case of anything you can do, I can do better... That’s all I have to say.... Now, if the damn season would just start we could stop sitting around having pissing matches about who did what when, where and why and who’s fault it was because they did it. I’m ready to see what this team is made of and I’ll support them all the way...regardless of who our QB is.

That's kind of like saying unless you're in politics you shouldn't care who's elected president of the US, every American should support him/her simply because he/she is an American and the only people qualified to elect the president are those with degrees in political science (or other politic-related degrees). We are all Mean Green football fans and we all think we know what's best for the team. Luckily, we play no factor in any coaching decision but we will all still have our own opinions, our own preferences are own favorites. I feel that suggesting no one should care who wins the QB job is basically asking everyone to take a step back and be less excited/involved with the program...like we shouldn't be allowed to have or express an opinion regarding the football team...and that's just totally contradictory to the definition of a fanatic. Besides...maybe I drafted Giovanni Vizza for my college football fantasy team!!

I understand all of your excuses, but that doesn't sway my opinion of DM. Winning cures all things...a few victories, 300-yard passing games and a low INT/TD ratio just might make me come around to your way of thinking. Go ahead DM...prove me wrong. I'd love to eat crow if it means that the Mean Green are exceeding expectations. I do believe in second chances but they don't come easily. Right now, I have two years worth of bad tastes in my mouth and I'm craving some Italian cuisine.

1976 vs. SMU in Texas Stadium. I was also there in '77 when we won 38-31. Unfortunately, I missed the victory in 1990 and 1933 was a little bit before my time. Still, I've seen half of our victories versus SMU and hope to increase that to 60% after we wallop the 'stangs this year.

I knew this kind of talk would surface in this thread. Let me ask one question; when was a QB in DD's system ever asked to 'carry the team on his shoulders'? Sorry, but I need to ask a second question; when was a QB in DD's system asked to do much more than hand the ball off and make a few short, accurate passes and attempt to complete a couple of long passes in a game? My point is that DD's system required very minimal passing skills from the QB. Last year, we averaged 21 pass attempts per game...and we were playing from behind most of the time. In three games, we only attempted 16 passes, one game was 17, one was 18 and one was 11. Now, will the argument be that Meager needs more pass attempts to get in a 'groove' or to get warmed up?? Sorry...but this isn't baseball. You don't get warm up throws before each offensive series and it doesn't count if you catch the ball after it bounces. If Meager is our starter the entire year, then my opinion of Vizza just went down the toilet.

I, too, want the best QB to win. However, I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm pulling for Vizza to be that man. Why?? Simply because I've already seen Meager for the last two years and I've been extremely disappointed in almost every aspect of his game. I know everyone will reply with excuses about how the previous regime did not do a good job of coaching Meager and, therefore, we never saw his true potential. That may or may not be true. It may also be true that Meager "skills" may have been underutilized in DD's system. I know what I saw of Meager and I have my own opinion of what he is (and is not) capable of accomplishing. It will take a lot to win back my confidence (sort of like when you catch someone you trust lying to you). Lucky for Meager, my confidence in him has nothing whatsoever to do with his ability to win the starting job. However, I do have confidence in Todd Dodge and I do trust that he will start the best QB for his system and that QB will give the team the best opportunity to win. That being said, if Meager is named the starting QB over Vizza and remains the starter throughout the season, then I'll go ahead and predict that Riley Dodge will be the starter for the next four years.

Don't we have a section for non-UNT sports?

That's correct and why I stated that I am more concerned about the kicking position this year more than ever before.

Because if we don't have someone that can boom the kicks at least to the 10 yard line (that's a 60 yard kick), our opponents could have an average starting field position of the 35 yard line. And we all know how much easier it is to score when you have a 'short field'. If we score anywhere near as many points as SLC did then we'll also have a LOT of kick offs.

I have to admit not having a kicker some 20+ days before the opening kick-off has me just a little worried. It's not just the XPs and FGs I'm worried about either. It's the fact that we now have to kick off from the 30 yard line that has me the most concerned. I like the idea of having one kicker kick-off and another have the XP and FG duties. Maybe Truman Spencer can boom the kick-offs as well as he can punt. Like others, I would like to know just why Woodward is no longer on the team. Does this make the kicking position a priority for the '08 class now?? If so, there are still a few highly ranked '08 kickers on Rivals that don't show any college commitment. Two of the top 25 in the country are from Texas. Randy Bullock is ranked #12 and is from Klein, TX. Mitch Russo is ranked #22 and is from Texas City. Ryan Doerr is unranked and is from Katy, TX. Then again, we could always go scout the women's soccer team or, even better, some European rugby leagues...I'd like to have a kicker that can tackle too.

According to that write-up there were four interceptions...not bad for the first day of practice.

Thanks for the reply. I guess we'll just have to wait and see on this one.

While today's practice featured Meager lining up at nose tackle on a couple of plays, what really surprised me was to see Maurice Holman QB-ing the triple option. I had no idea he was that fast. The move makes a lot of sense in short yardage and goal line plays because he can flat out run over the defenders. It seems Jonathan Ieans has once again found himself in the midst of the QB battle and he looks to be the early frontrunner to win the starting position. One other interesting thing I saw at today's practice was that Todd Dodge had the kickers working on the drop kick. Apparently, we'll opt for the drop kick against OU when we're faced with a 4th down inside their thirty-five yard line. In other kicking news, Woody Wilson seems to have emerged as the starter for kick-off holder...it's nice to know we'll have his sure hands on those windy September afternoon games when the ball just won't stay on the tee.

I was unable to make it to the Kick-off cookout on Saturday and was curious if the issue of helmet stickers was discussed with the unveiling of the new uniform. I, personally, was opposed to the idea when it was initially mentioned but have since changed my opinion to indifferent...not that my opinion matters. Anyway, I was just hoping someone had some insight on this topic because helmet stickers are such a prevalent feature to the uniforms of those that use them.

Walk-on tryouts are Monday, September 10.

Bump...only 29 days left!!!! It can't get here fast enough.