oldguystudent

Beer in the parking lot is the answer my UNT friends. If you have enough, that seven points on the scoreboard will look like seventy-seven! We win every time!

I'm ready for the next tailgate: Oooh! Ouch! Don't tailgate too hardily or you'll end up as part of the Tulsa offensive line!

I'm BBQing brats and wings today to pretend that there's a football game today. I'm a sad, sad man.

Playing at Ohio State after a devastating embarrassment at USC? I'm pretty sure OSU's gonna' come out hungry and angry. They do NOT want to lose at home to an SBC team. Heads would roll so far the UNT soccer team might be able to pick up a few for practice. I don't see an upset. I would surely love to though. I've got some reaaallly obnoxious OSU alumni in the neighborhood.

I have no knowledge of UNT and its relationships with alumni. I can only give my own experience. When I went to the super-regional series in Baton Rouge last June to watch my beloved UC Irvine Anteaters, I tried to give a couple hundred bucks to the athletic department. They snubbed their noses at me (rudely I might add). I guess my money's no good unless it's got a few more zeros tacked on. I will always be an Irvine fan, but if I ever make it big, they'll never see a dime from me. Given that experience, I think UNT athletics should be keeping in touch with alumni from the day they graduate. I think they should be gracious when some 22-year-old kid throws 'em twenty-five bucks, because someday that kid will be a serious earner, and he won't forget how he was treated when he was struggling. I was impressed by the alumni party at the first home football game. That's something Irvine would never do. With them, you're either buying a new building that you get to put your name on, or you can take your money up to Dodger stadium. My feeling is that UNT (and most certainly UC Irvine) just have a "piss off" attitude towards alumni unless they're a big fish. By that time, that fish has moved on and doesn't really care anymore. Again, take this last sentence with a grain of salt, because I haven't been around long enough to know what goes on in the minds of the powers that be in UNT athletics.

Just discovered this thread. As a guy who went to a baseball conference school, I'm here to tell you that college baseball is fun. It doesn't bring tens of thousands of fans out, a good crowd during the regular season might be 2,000 people, but it brings passionate knowledgeable fans. In the immediate area, we've got very capable competition in TCU, UTA, Dallas Baptist, Oral Roberts, Rice, and Texas. If UNT were to bring in a baseball program and schedule enough decent OOC series, it's not too far fetched to be in the postseason before the first recruiting class graduates. The NCAA regionals are always a fun event (I've been to the regionals in Austin and the Supers at LSU. Unfortunately didn't make it to Omaha when UC Irvine made it there), and the NCAA makes some effort (not enough) to put teams within reasonable traveling distance for the first round. I know that Texas is first and foremost a football state, and I love the fact that I'm going to a school with football. That's established, but don't forget that Texas is also a hotbed of baseball talent. Regional recruiting would have a shot at being really good if, and only if, UNT were able to present itself as seriously dedicated to the sport. Irvine's been building and expanding its stadium over the past few years in $2 million increments, and it's been having no trouble bringing in top recruits from the SoCal area. The stadium is not quite up to snuff to host a regional, so we've gotten screwed in the seedings the past couple years. Getting the stadium up to about 3,000 seats is in the next construction phase. What really brings those kids in though is the top caliber coaching staffs that have been hired (John Savage, now coach at UCLA, Dave $errano, now coach at Cal State Fullerton (don't get me started on that money grubbing back stabbing jackass), and now Mike Gillepsie, not a popular guy around these parts, but a serious CWS winning coach who's well known in SoCal.) You don't necessarily need top notch facilities in baseball. You need top notch coaching and the knowledge that the scouts are gonna' drop in every once in a while. I dunno. Maybe I just channeled my lack of football experience into baseball, so I'm a huge fan. I've never much liked basketball (Oh we UC Irvine Anteaters of one victory in my four years there), so baseball was it, and I loved it. (Does it make me a geek if I admit to listening to almost every regular season UCI game on internet radio?) I would be at many games if UNT had a team.

Southlake Carroll.

If a new stadium will get me a less than 4 week gap between home games, then I am solidly behind the idea. I eagerly await the next home game and hope that in future years, we can have more than 4 1/2 games a year in Denton.

On one hand, that makes a lot of sense since current students would be paying for a stadium that they wouldn't be able to enjoy. On the other hand, it seems a little unfair to impose a fee via student vote on kids who are currently sitting in middle/high school. I dunno. No easy answers when you're talking $60 Million. As for the rest of the money that doesn't come from students, nobody liked my Friscoesque ideas of imposing a hotel tax or a toll on 35 (toll actually compliments of governor Rick Perry). This leaves three options for me (having almost all my civil knowledge of funds raising from the fine, fine people in Frisco City Hall)... 1) Let the university issue a bond...backed by student fees. Therefore, the students aren't being forced to pay for the stadium as the university itself is ultimately responsible. 2) Tear down the university union and replace it with an Ikea, a Super Target, a Lowes, a PGA super center, and a giant mall with crappy stores and an ice rink in it, and watch those sales tax revenues come flying in! 3) Sign a long term contract with Jimmy Buffet to perform annually at the new stadium, thus bringing in thousands of old people in RVs who will soak Denton County's liquor stores dry. Watch the collateral revenues fly in!

Just to be clear, I never stated any opinion on the number of bowl games. I simply looked at the number of eligible teams vs the number of slots, and going by last year's numbers only 4 eligible teams would be left out. I merely find it surprising.

What's that in the local currency? 3 packs of Jello and a couple young brides?

For my own personal comfort, the seats in the new stadium will be thiiiis wide.

Oregon's got green uniforms. Perhaps we should follow their lead and strive for a color combination each week that is even more gawdawful than the week prior.

Wiki says he lives in Flower Mound. Does he ever show up at Fouts?

Two weeks in and I make Quoner's list. Should I be flattered, insulted or just plain frightened? In other news: Someone looking down at SMU Well, they are due south of me. I look down on them from a map's point of view. A joke about how we can beat the BYE week - or at least cover the spread This is no joking matter. I'm giving the points and taking the BYE Gratuitous Cowboys talk and reaction Hey! Did anyone see that the Cowboys are playing the Eagles tonight? I can't believe they signed Don Henley to an extension! POLITICS - Happy 9/15! If Sarah Palin really is Tina Fey, I'm all in favor of drilling. A request for JayDub to get well soon The mylar balloons are in the mail. Utah State mockery (careful though, they are outscoring us 41-35 in three games) Of course they're worse than us. The real score is in the tailgating...UNT -- 5.5% beer, USU -- 3.2% beer A call for Dodge to be fired Perhaps for some halftime entertainment, Dodge could be fired from the UNT cannon onto a big, wide-cast, super-forgiving safety net.

Maybe they're counting on spill over attendance from the Cowboys Thanksgiving game? I'll be there unless it's 20 degrees outside. Nothing better to do that day.

I would think that if you look at the number of post-season bids, national seeds, and national championships, that it is comparable.

I'm from the west coast.

My team plays in the Big West and most OOC games are in the Pac-10. It's a rough schedule out west in baseball.

Well now I know anything's possible. The Oakland Raiders won a game today...on the road...against an NFL team. If that can happen, then UNT can win several games this season.

I just looked at last year's standings and counted 72 teams with 6 wins or more in FBS. Now there's 68 slots to fill? Good lord. Eventually every FBS team will be in a bowl game, no? As a side, I'd love to go to Shreveport for the Independence bowl if an SBC team got in. The stadium there looks like it's in worse shape than Fouts, but when the game's over, one can go throw a few dice around and throw back some frosty beverages until 6 in the morning. God, I can't wait until I start working again and have disposable income!

Oh dear lord, can we please in the name of all things decent skip the swimsuit competition?

I suppose that's true. I'm just learning all this football stuff. Prior to coming to UNT, I've been mostly a college baseball fan, and the SEC is egregious in scheduling really easy OOC games.

Is the SBC the only FBS conference that receives but a single bid to the post season? With FAU, Arkie State and Troy getting so much better, is the single bid status going to change anytime in the foreseeable future?

That is true, but it's not the fault of USC. My point is that they're not intentionally scheduling body bag games at the beginning of the season. Just to be clear, I'm no USC fan. I used to live in that neighborhood, and the student body there was, well...the acronym University of Spoiled Children is quite appropriate.