LongJim

Pooor Aggies Excerpt: "Last week I left you with a thought about some sobering news, which leads me to once again appeal to all of you who have not renewed your season tickets in football, or decided not to purchase football season tickets, to reconsider. In keeping with our long-standing policy of open financial records, the news I was referring to comes from a report compiled by our business office staff, based on audited financial figures over four fiscal years, dating to September of 2003 and projecting through 2006-‘07. For the school year 2003-’04, the athletics budget – i.e., actual expenses – stood at approximately $49.71 million. The projected budget for 2006-’07 is $61.32 million. That’s an increase of about 23.4 percent. Here’s the sobering part and my biggest concern: the projected expenses over which we have no control for the coming year is an increase of 104 percent over the expenses in those same areas in 2003-’04 – rising from $5.2 million in 2003 to over $10.6 million in 2006-‘07. Perhaps you saw the series that ran in the Bryan/College Station Eagle this week about expenses and the “arms race” in Division I intercollegiate athletics at the BCS level in which we compete. When our overhead expenses are rising at a rate four times more than our budget – well, you can see the conundrum. If we don’t have a full house of fans coming to football games, we can’t pay our bills – it’s as simple as that."

After reading the article, I think that's the best tack to take. Guadalupe in Austin has always been a sort of 'evolving' place. Many of the older hangouts stay where they are, but there have been new tenants/buildings/teardowns w/places like Hasting's, etc. coming in. The sky didn't fall, and it's still 'the drag'. I'd like to see Fry maintain much of it's funkiness, but also have a few more modern businesses down there. Can't hurt, and could help.

Cool topic! Big 10 - Michigan Big XII - Texas Big East - Louisville ACC - Florida State SEC - Alabama PAC 10 - USC WAC - Boise State CUSA - SMU MWC - TCU MAC - Toledo Indy - Notre Dame

Rookie

I hear ya, Keith. I think.

Very true. No question. The track really didn't cause much of a problem at all there as far as the view was concerned. Points well taken, and I agree. Fouts really suffers from the low slope of the stands, which could have helped offset the distance of the field to the stands.

Fouts is WAAAAYYY back from the field, but IIRC, so is Floyd-Casey at Baylor, right? I know when I was there, DKR had the track, as well.

It's an obsession. Same for a lot of people here, I'd wager. Hilarious that some of the Aggroids feel they're 'behind'...talk about lack of ROI in their FB program. Frankly, they look like UT did in the '90's. Bless their hearts.

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From Redelephants.com: Bear Bryant - knew how to be nice! At a TD Club meeting many years before his death, Coach told the following story... typical of the way he operated. I had just been named the new head coach at Alabama and was off in my old car down in South Alabama recruiting a prospect who was supposed to have been a pretty good player and I was havin' trouble finding the place. Getting hungry I spied an old cinder block building with a small sign out front that simply said "Restaurant". I pull up, go in and every head in the place turns to stare at me. Seems I'm the only white fella in the place. But the food smelled good so I skip a table and go up to a cement bar and sit. A big ole man in a tee shirt and cap comes over and says, "What do you need?" I told him I needed lunch and what did they have today? He says, "You probably won't like it here, today we're having chiltlin's, collard greens and black eyed peas with cornbread. I'll bet you don't even know what chitlin's are, do you?" I looked him square in the eye and said, "I'm from Arkansas, I've probly eaten a mile of them. Sounds like I'm in the right place." They all smiled he left to serve me up a big plate. When he comes back he says, you ain't from around here then? And I explain I'm the new football coach up in Tuscaloosa at the University and I'm here to find what ever that boys name was, and he says, yeah I've heard of him, he's supposed to be pretty good. And he gives me directions to the school so I can meet him and his coach. As I'm paying up to leave I remember my manners and leave a tip, not too big to be flashy, but a good one, and he told me lunch was on him, but I told him for a lunch that good, I felt I should pay. The big man asked me if I had a photograph of something he could hang up to show I'd been there. I was so new that I didn't have any yet. It really wasn't that big a thing back then to be asked for, but I took a napkin and wrote his name and address on it and told him I'd get him one. I met the kid I was lookin' for later that afternoon, and I don't remember his name, but do remember I didn't think much of him when I met him. I had wasted a day, or so I thought. When I got back to Tuscaloosa late that night, I put that napkin from my shirt pocket and put it under my keys so I wouldn't forget it. Hell, back then I was excited that anybody would want a picture of me. And the next day we found a picture and I wrote on it, Thanks for the best lunch I've ever had, Paul Bear Bryant. Now let's go a whole buncha years down the road. Now we have black players at Alabama and I'm back down in that part of the country scouting an offensive lineman we sure needed. Yall remember, (and I forget the name, but it's not important to the story), well anyway, he's got two friends going to Auburn and he tells me he's got his heart set on Auburn too, so I leave empty handed and go on see some others while I'm down there. Two days later, I'm in my office in Tuscaloosa and the phone rings and it's this kid who just turned me down, and he says, "Coach, do you still want me at Alabama?" And I said hell yes I sure do. And he says, OK, he'll come. And I say, well son, what changed your mind? And he said, "When my grandpa found out that I had a chance to play for you and said no he pitched a fit and told me I wasn't going nowhere but Alabama, and wasn't playing for nobody but you. He thinks a lot of you and has ever since yall met." Well I didn't know his grandad from Adam's housecat so I asked him who his grand daddy was and he said, "You probly don't remember him, but you ate in his restaurant your first year at Alabama and you sent him a picture that he's had hung in that place ever since. That picture's his pride and joy and he still tells everybody about the day that Bear Bryant came in and had chitlin's with him. My grandpa said that when you left there, he never expected you to remember him or to send him that picture, but you kept your word to him, and to Grandpa, that's everything. He said you could teach me more than football and I had to play for a man like you, so I guess I'm going to." "I was floored", he said. "But I learned that the lessons my mama taught me were always right. It don't cost nuthin' to be nice. It don't cost nuthin' to do the right thing most of the time, and it costs a lot to lose your good name by breakin' your word to someone. When I went back to sign that boy, I looked up his Grandpa and he's still running that place, but it looks a lot better now, and he didn't have chitlin's that day, but he had some ribs that woulda made dreamland proud and I made sure I posed for a lot of pictures, and don't think I didn't leave some new ones for him too, along with a signed football. I made it clear to all my assistants to keep this story and these lessons in mind when they're out on the road. And if you remember anything else from me, remember this, It really doesn't cost anything to be nice, and the rewards can be unimaginable."

Whoop!

Because from the looks of it, an 9-3 Notre Dame team that finishes at #8, gets an automatic at-large bid, while a theoretical 10-2 Florida St./Miami/Tennessee (who dropped their conference championship game to the #1 conf. champ, in both the regular season and conf championship game--while beating ND in the regular season) at #7 is only "eligible" for an at-large bid. In addition, the 9-3 Conference USA/WAC/MAC/SBC champ ranked at #12 (who lost to ND, Florida St./Miami/Tennessee) would also receive an automatic bid over the #7 using this scenario!

I bolded interesting stuff, and what I thought are ridiculous concessions to the Domers. Sorry if this has been posted before. ************************************* From SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: BCS coordinator Mike Slive acknowledged last week that he and his colleagues need to do a better job of explaining the bowls' new "double hosting" format to the general public. Judging by my inbox recently, I'd say he's right. The general impression I get is that most college football fans are aware that the BCS is undergoing changes this season but are either unaware or utterly confused as to what those changes are. And if the fans are confused, you'd better believe coaches and players are as well. So, as a personal favor to Mike -- and as a public service to the college football populace -- I will now attempt to explain the sport's impending postseason makeover in a quick, easy-to-follow fashion. Call it The 10 Things You Need to Know About the New BCS: 1. The national title game is now a separate entity from the four existing BCS bowls. In the past, the BCS championship game rotated annually among the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange and Rose bowls. Starting this season, the title game will be played after those four bowls but will continue to rotate among the same four cities. This year's championship will take place Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz., site of the new Arizona Cardinals stadium, to which the Fiesta Bowl is moving from its old site, Sun Devil Stadium. Following the 2007 season, the game will be played in New Orleans, home of the Sugar Bowl; the next season, in Fort Lauderdale (Orange Bowl); the next season, in Pasadena (Rose Bowl). 2. The No. 1 and 2 teams will not play in one of the existing bowls. Think of the title game as a fifth BCS bowl, even if it won't have a bowl-sounding name. (Organizers have yet to announce it, but the game is expected to be called the BCS National Championship Game.) It is not a so-called "plus-one" game, where teams would advance to the title game by winning their bowl games, an idea that had previously been discussed as a possibility. There will simply be two additional BCS berths, bringing the total to 10 -- the champions of the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC, as well as four at-large teams. 3. It will be easier for teams from "non-BCS" conferences to gain access. In the past, teams from the Mountain West, MAC, WAC, Conference USA and Sun Belt had to finish in the top six of the BCS standings to be guaranteed a BCS bowl berth. The only such team to meet that standard over the past eight seasons was 11-0 Utah in 2004. Starting this season, a champion from one of those leagues, or an independent, can earn a guaranteed berth either by finishing in the top 12 or by finishing in the top 16 if one of the major-conference champions is ranked lower. If the new standard had been in place last season, 10-1 TCU would have earned an automatic berth because it finished 14th while ACC champion Florida State, at 8-4, was 22nd. 4. More teams will be eligible for an at-large berth. In the past, teams that did not gain an automatic BCS berth -- either by winning one of the six major-conference titles or by meeting other criteria for a guaranteed bid (a top four finish for major-conference teams, top six for others) -- were required to win at least nine games and finish in the top 12 of the BCS standings to be eligible for an at-large berth. Starting this season, teams that win at least nine games and finish in the top 14 will be eligible. Notre Dame, meanwhile, is guaranteed an at-large berth if it finishes in the top eight. 5. Notre Dame will be guaranteed an at-large berth if it finishes in the top eight. Seriously. 6. Fox is taking over for ABC as the BCS' primary television partner. If you're thinking to yourself, "Hmm, that's strange, I don't remember seeing much college football on Fox in the past," you're absolutely correct. As of now, the network of Homer Simpson and American Idol is not scheduled to show any college football games during the regular season, but will be airing the national title game and Fiesta, Sugar and Orange bowls for at least the next four seasons. (The Rose Bowl retained its own separate deal with ABC.) As a result, the majority of promotion for the BCS games will take place during Fox's NFL telecasts, the games will be announced by commentators not normally associated with college football (Thom Brennemen, for one), there will be lots of funky graphics, and ... 7. The BCS games will be spaced farther apart. The only constant in the BCS schedule over the next four years is that the Rose Bowl will be played in its traditional Jan. 1 time slot. The timing of the other games is up to the discretion of Fox, whose first priority is its NFL broadcasts. This year the Fiesta Bowl will be played on Jan. 1, the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2, the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 3 and the title game on Jan. 8. Besides the later title game, it's not that different a lineup than in years past. Depending on how the NFL schedule falls in future seasons, however, at least one non-title game could be played as late as Jan. 5. 8. Besides the title game, there will be three other new bowls next season. Cities continue to fall all over themselves for the right to host a bowl game. Joining the mix this winter will be the International Bowl (Toronto), the Birmingham (Ala.) Bowl and the New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque), brining the total number of games to 31. It will be 32 if the financially strapped Houston Bowl can resurrect itself by June. With the sport changing to a permanent 12-game schedule this season, the NCAA recently ruled that 6-6 teams will be eligible for the postseason, and wins over I-AA opponents now count toward eligibility. There will now be 62 (possibly 64) spots available for 119 Division I-A teams. The last time I-A played a 12-game schedule, in 2003, 69 teams finished 6-6 or better. 9. Numerous conference bowl partnerships have changed. Nearly all bowl contracts with conferences expired after last season, and several leagues reshuffled their lineups to maximize potential revenues. For instance, the Big Ten will now send teams to the Insight and Champs Sports bowls rather than to the Sun and Music City bowls. The SEC added a tie-in with the Liberty Bowl, the ACC with the Music City and Emerald bowls. Also, in a new twist, the Big 12 and Big East will "share" partnerships with the Gator and Sun bowls, with each league sending a team to each bowl twice over a four-year period. 10. We are no closer to a playoff. The five-bowl BCS model is in place for at least the next four seasons. There has been some speculation that the new format, in which the title game is played a week after New Year's, could lend itself to an easy transition toward a "plus-one" model beginning in 2010. There remains little to no movement among university presidents, however, toward examining a full-scale playoff model. So get ready for more controversy when four teams finish 11-1 this fall

Well, I don't know if I'd put them THAT far down, but you're absolutely right about them not being what they used to be--particularly the fajitas.

Right there with ya, brother! Gotta have the chips and sauce goin'.

Julio's--Great tortillas, ok food. Paseo--Very good Tex-Mex. Worth the visit. Mexican Inn--Eh. Overrated, IMO. Some of my favorites: Chuy's (River Oaks Blvd./IH 30 @ Channel 11/North Main)--best refried beans anywhere, tortillas made from scratch, very authentic Tex-Mex. Cheap! Dos Molina's (25th west of N Main) Very good Tex-Mex. Huge portions. Great salsa. Caro's (Bluebonnet Circle S of TCU) Puffy tacos, strong magarita's, ice-cold beer. El Rancho Grande (North Main) Has slipped a bit, but their fajitas used to be some of the best in the city. Upscale--Los Molcajetes (Western Center @ Beach) Real Mexican food w/some flourishes.

Absolutely true. Sadly.

I have to say that I like Houston's pick, too. Bush is a great player, but I don't think he touches the ball 30 times a game, and I don't think he's going to be the difference maker everyone projects him to be. He'll get his yards, and scores, but I don't think he's a player that takes an NFL team to the "next level".

What??? WHO TOLD YOU THIS??!? BLASPHEMER!!! HERETIC!!!

Baylor has installed TT's Air Raid offense for this year. They will be serious contenders for a bowl this year.

Yes, Startlegram said the same this morning. Wonder how much Chow liked/disliked the pick...

This, to me, is great news.

Safe pick. Bush will be a highlight reel, but I don't believe he will be the impact player everyone expects him to be. Interesting that Norm Chow passed on Leinart to pick Young.

I'm guessing CB or WR.