The Fake Lonnie Finch

I like this jersey. Anything that takes us away from the Under Armor/high school look is great with me. The great thing about the Bama, OUs, and Texas' (for all of their Darth Vader/Empire-type faults) is that they don't change their uniforms every few years. The new jerseys with unnecessary striping and piping and weird surfaces blow. I like a straightforward jersey to go with a hard-nosed team. We had that in the early 2000s. Here's to hoping we're on our way to matching and surpassing those days with our normal ass jerseys!

I'm thankful that they're green again! (As to the logo...well, we've been over that When I attended the University of North Texas, I supported UNT football.) Anyway, I'm not going to complain because it's green again. Thank you, Rick, for the green helmets again! I'm going ahead with a season ticket order now. The green helmet clinches it.

Guys, this is a good sign. If, in the span of about half a year, this staff can get those type of results, this thing may take off this year. These guys will be more mobile now. I know it's supposed to be the weakness of the defense, but I really and looking forward to seeing how these DTs work with McCarney. It's supposed to be his area of expertise. Remember when Bob Stoops took over at OU. His area of expertise was the secondary. That OU national title team in 2000 had freshmen starting at corners and a sophomore at safety. I've already argued that coaching, coaching, coaching makes a difference. So, I expect that McCarney will be able to take Abbe, Cantly and the two big freshmen Micah Thompson and Terrell Brooks, and really get the middle nailed down. Throw in junior Kyle White as well. These fall practices really are a chance for him to step up and show what he's got. Think of this, guys - with Abbe, Cantly, White, and Thompson, our front has four 300 pounders to rotate in and out. Brooks checks in at 293. We now have the beef we've needed up front...now, for the coaching. Time for McCarney and Bowen to polish it.

Agree. We've done walk-up for years. Winning does get you more of the fans many here claim not to like - T-shirt/sidewalk fans - but, of course, that's ridiculous. You need anyone and everyone to come in and give it a try whether they walk up or buy a package. The first thing my son said to me last Saturday was, "Dad, how come the tickets are closed?" He's accustomed to walking up with me and thinks its neat to buy them there. My goal is to buy to that way until I can afford to buy into the suites. Although, I really did like the seat in the north end zone. Having been to road games at OU and sat in their end zone, these end zone seats in the new stadium, by comparison, put you ridiculously close to the field. I am tempted to snag end zone seats now while the snagging is good.

Hey, guys...that reporterette was Scrappy about a dozen years ago...why didn't she get an invite to GMG.com Bowl?

And, here's where schools and conferences should be calling hulus of the world and talking about creating sports packages. Texas and BYU seems to building media empires for the 1990s. The trend is looking more and more "what I want, when I want" rather than "you buy this big package with a lot of stuff you don't want, just to get the stuff that you want." Why was channelsurfing.net so popular? Because, people could bypass the crap ESPN and ABC wanted them to watch and get to their alma mater's games instead. My guess is that the day will come when conferences and schools will wise up to the new revolution and make its sports programming available a la carte though Hulu, Blu ray, what have you. Texas and BYU will then be stuck into cable and dish contracts. One of the things that is separating the generations after baby boomers is that we don't follow in lockstep with whatever we're told is "the way to do things." Hey, I don't want to pay for a bunch of sh*t I don't watch. Hello, Hulu. Yeah, but with this package, you have.... Yeah, well, screw your package. I don't watch MTV. I don't give a flying rip about the Big Ten or Texas or BYU. ESPN can go hang itself. It seems to me that some entrepreneurial-type will someday create a college sports hulu thing. Our athletic department and our conference - all non-BCS AQ conferences - should be looking beyond getting a slice of the pie and get to baking a new pie. Quit letting ESPN, ABC, and the "traditional" power tell us what flavors we like and when we can eat it. We choose our own flavors and we eat the pie we want! Bastards!

"When his dad, the head coach Todd Dodge, got canned, Riley bailed for Tulsa." Uh...

Here's the other overplay with Minus 2 Conference (I like this...and the Big Ten is the Plus 2 Conference) and Texas, cable television is also dying. Seven years ago, my wife and I chucked our land line and went cell phone only. Some scoffed at us. Now, land lines are going extinct except for business. Cable TV will be the same way. So, the question will remain, how much more will people pony up for a dying mode of communication? With things like Hulu and whatnot, you're getting a more a la carte selection of viewing. That will mean the days of cable companies force-feeding more channels and higher rates onto people will be long gone. Texas and BYU may be throwing a lot of money at something they won't be able to get anyone but their most hard-up followers to buy into. And, if Texas at the same time wrecks all of its relationships along the way to independence, their fans can say hello to games against Tulsa, New Mexico, Navy, etc. Hey, for years Blockbuster ignored technology before being eaten by it. U.S. automobile industry anyone? Sometime when you're "at the top" you tend to be defensive about/ignore coming trends until they bypass and destroy you. Myopia is a dangerous thing.

Yes. Our agency's book is 80% commercial lines, 20% personal (home/auto/life/health). If you can't PM me, just e-mail the question to kevinc@alliedins.com

Lord, look at all the throw-ins after 15...Notre Dame, Georgia, Texas, Florida, Penn State. Personally, I think Mack Brown is on his last legs at Texas. It's sinful the number of seasons they haven't been able to get a ground game going; freaking amazing considering all the O-line talent they sign. They called in a minor leaguer to replace Will Muschamp at defensive coordinator as well. I also think Notre Dame's coach is overblown. And, although he's a hell of a nice guy, I think Georgia fans gather to pitchforks and torches on Richt if they have another 6-8 win season. To me, the only one of that group who could really turn things around is Muschamp at Florida. I look for them to hit double digit wins again under him. The rest of that group I can see in the 6-8 win range only. The Big 12-2=10 will be a joke this year. I seriously think OU, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and possibly K-State and Mizzou could finish above the Longhorns again this season. You just wonder how long the Orangeblood money will sit back and rest on that 2005 national title memory. I also think this is the final season for the Big 12-2=10 because A&M appears to be growing a pair of testicles. They and OU are the key to holding it together. Texas can claim supremacy all it wants. But, at the end of the day, if it went independent and the SEC, Pac-10, and Big Ten became 14-16 school conferences...that would leave only two or three OOC games for its members. And, those schools sure as hell wouldn't want to be putting money in Texas' (or BYU's or Notre Dame's) pockets just for a game. Hell, Notre Dame was down to having to pick up a game against Tulsa last year...and Tulsa beat them! Texas' Orangeblood money needs to seriously look at that, because that is them if they take their act independent. Home games will be at a premium once the 14-16 team conferences arrive. Especially for the "traditional" powers. Anyone who thinks OU, A&M, Michigan, USC, etc. will take less than 6 homes games just for the sake of a rivalry game doesn't understand that we're in a new "money-first" era in college football. If OU-Nebraska can be junked, any of them can be junked. Without OU and A&M, Texas really has nothing of interest to offer national viewers. They'll be down to scheduling service academies and regional mid-majors. It just won't sell. They've badly overplayed their hand. My guess is, they'll talk independent, but open back channel talks to the SEC and Big Ten. The Pac-12 will be their parachute...but, having already toyed with them once, I think their leverage is gone. The Pac-12 and Big East are still flirting with various Big 12-2=10 schools. Every school in the former Big 12 North knows the those in the former Big 12 South were ready to throw them overboard in June 2010, so they are no doubt listening to any and all comers. The conference is a limping animal with buzzards circling. And, sadly, most of the damage has been self-inflicted. When the Big 12-2=10 disappears, I think you'll see the Mountain West get an invite into the BCS AQ circle. Either that or they will finally have a "backroom deal" playoff system, which will weighed again in favor of current BCS AQ schools.

You guys are getting slow: it took until the third page of the thread for the anti-Spanish/Mexican posts to arrive. *sigh* It's getting harder and harder to draw people offsides. The crack about BYU's redshirt sophomores drew fire earlier than the Spanish stuff. AND, NO LONGHORN DEFENDERS ANYMORE??? Sad. What has become of the old GMG.com? Are we that corporate now that we have a new stadium? Is the mayhem gone? Is it because Tasty and Quoner post so little these days that senseless mayhem isn't even recognized anymore? Will this forum simply breakdown into discussions of nothing more than dry talk of depth charts, strategy, "practice reports" and 40 times? Who are the administrators - Tom Osborn and Grant Teaff Oh, momma! "...and, see, then in the 90s, for a couple of seasons, I got the NCAA to make it a rule where all a-teams' socks had to be the same color, AND that the socks had to be pulled up or it was a penalty...for the safety of the players, of course. We also made it so that Oklahoma and Miami players had to tuck in their shirts, or it was a penalty. I'd have won more games at Baylor, but was always distracted by the mayhem caused by our opponents' players looking so disheveled on the field of play, you see."

What's the question?

Speaking of Queretaro FC...check out this ridiculous goal San Luis scored against them earlier this year at about the 0:25 second mark of the video. F'ing crazy! Left-footed, too!

By the way, my Mexican fútbol preference is for León since my wife is from Guanajuato. But, they aren't in the top division. So, for FMF, I default down to Pachuca because that's where she went to school - and we have nephews and nieces currently in school there as well. Also, because Queretaro neighbors Guanajuato, I've also got some sympathies there with Queretaro FC. As far as Club America - that's the favorite of one of our nieces who travels to the U.S. to visit more often than the rest. She gave me a Club America hat one Christmas. The next Christmas, other relatives bought me a Chivas hat to counter it. So, it's like owning a Dallas Cowboy and a Washington Redskin hat.

I understand where you're coming from. Regionally, we are in conservative waters politically. That much I understand. But, I also understand - which is why I couched this thing in future terms - that we Gringos are not repopulating Texas or anywhere else as quickly as our Hispanic friends. Because of my marital situation, I've been exposed to the immigrant culture here. And, let me tell you, for every immigrant here illegally committing crimes and whatnot, there are 100 more who are dedicated family people, just working, and who have disposable income readily available to spend - i.e., not tied up in accounts. They've got cold, hard cash on hand to spend. My view is this - cut out nobody you can legitimately market to. Budweiser markets to people of all stripe. Turn on the television on Saturday morning - every damn car dealer in the Metroplex is hawking their wares with one male Mexican and one leggy, female Mexican talking at the Mexicans. Grocery stores have ads all over those Spanish stations. Western Union is neck deep in marketing to them for wiring the money back home and making millions, if not billions, as a result. I understand you're going to have some serious rednecks who might see "VERDE MALO" one time and go apesh*t. But, I think those people are less a part of the population than we're commonly led to believe. And, the upside is worth the risk. I know there's a risk. But, in the end, that's business. Rick Villareal has taken some calculated risks. He's making this a business - the way other schools started doing 25 years ago. We love UNT because we are graduates. But, in the end, in the 21st Century, it's a business. The academics are marketed. The athletics are marketed. Not all things in business are guarantees. You roll the dice sometimes. This may look like a dice roll in the context of 24/7 overblown FOXNEWS versus MSNBC/CBS politics. But, I just don't think, football-wise, people really give it a second thought. If we're winning, and the stadium is full, I just don't think people will care whether the people cheering on UNT alongside them are Mexican, Korean, Vietnamese, Yankee, Canadian, or otherwise. Hell, Mr. Bean fell from the sky, and I'd love to have him as a UNT fan. This isn't 1970s Darrell Royal finally recruiting blacks because he's tired of being run out of the Cotton Bowl by Switzer's Sooners full of guys Houston area guys and Texas like Joe Washington, Greg Pruitt, and Thomas Lott and strapping country boys like Kenny King, David Overstreet, and Billy Sims. We live in an area of the country increasing hispanic. They have dollars to spend. They have families they take out to events as a family. We have events, and need of money. If it weren't profitable to market to these folks, businesses all over the United States would be doing it. We happen to be sitting closest to the fire of it, so we need stick our iron in there.

Let me make one final statement about this and other marketing ideas... A salesman sells things. It doesn't matter what it is, he sells it. Remember Slap Chop? Sham Wow? I doubt Vince from Sham Wow ever owned a Sham Wow or a Slap Chop - but he sold millions for those companies. A group of sales people is called a marketing department. A marketing department markets to the public the things its organization has to offer. We've got a lot to offer these days in the way of UNT/North Texas football and all that entails. The UNT/North Texas athletic department has a marketing department filled with sales people. They are doing a hell of a job this year with billboard, radio ads...even in the weekly Frisco newsrag we get at our house there was an advertisement for last weekend's Kickoff Cookout. This is for the future - we have a built in base here. Why not UNT football on Univision, Galavision, or Telemundo? Why not UNT football on KESS/La Kalle 107.9 FM? Can't get a major national TV deal like UT, BYU, or Notre Dame. Screw it. Go regional and get what you can get. If I've got something, that's more than having nothing. An apple tree begins as a small seed, kids. It grows into a tree one day and provides delicious, healthy snack food for all! Doesn't UNT have a Business College? Does it not have a highly respected Journalism/Mass Comm Department (or, whatever the hell they call it these days)? Is it not true that UNT graduates more Hispanics than any other college in America? (Can't remember where I read that, but I think it's still true.) Let's put one and one together on this thing and get two someday in the future. We can be the delicious, healthy snack food of the regional football future...which can someday give us the ammunition (cash dollars, baby!) to take down the rest of the college football world! KA-POW! I'm about to spontaneously human combust!

Okay, how about we throw in a pre-game Haka for the Euless contingent. Now...what to do for the Korean, Vietnamese, Loatian, and Thai UNT/North Texas fans from Garland and Richardson.... The advantage of living in such a culturally diverse Metroplex is that it gives us a wide array of marketing choices - should we open up our eyes and ears to the equal opportunity they provide. It's like one of my friends was told by his dad years ago when they were about to put in a new tile floor for a gay couple: FRIEND: "But, dad, those guys are gay." FRIEND'S DAD: "Yes, son, but their money's green the same as yours." That's America in the 21st Century. People are going to seek affordable entertained on the weekends. Why surrender them to Don Cheto, Sabado Gigante, and the FMF? Let the Mean Green marketing machine get out and chase down Mean Green that The O'Jays once sang about: Oregon whores itself with Nike. UT and BYU and Notre Dame whore themselves for TV money. Are we to sit here chaste while a high profile, easily targetable, and rapidly expanding group sits in our very city, county, region, and state waiting to be loved and entertained? Think about it - all Oregon, Utah, and Indiana have are mainly White people. UT...still mainly White people...a more uppity version of White people, but White nonetheless. We've got a huge target market here with cash to spend and families to bring along! Huge! ¡Gigante!

I think that's right as well. Although, bands are allowed to play through timeouts and between plays, as is music through PA systems. Perhaps there could be a designated Vuvuzela section in the band or among student groups like Talons.

You gotta think on the marketing end of this thing. Now that we're with Nike, they could string together a jersey with "VERDE MALO" on the front for the Mexican Independence Day Weekend Game. Hell, it couldn't be any worse than the uniforms they're already creating to pollute the college football world: Por ejemplo, LSU

Which, broadcasting North Texas football games in Spanish or selling Mean Green Vuvuzelas at the games?

May I also point out that the real Mexican Independence Day is September 16th, which is generally during football season. Cinco de Mayo is a holiday American Hispanics who know nothing of their history think is their Independence Day. So, think about it - we could have a Mexican Independence Day Game at the stadium, replete with piñatas shaped like Chivas de Guadalajara's mascot to bash.

Thank you for the new stadium and genuine, authentic football staff. But, now let's move on to talk of the future. With Texas and BYU getting their own television stations and conferences, we need to focus on expanding our fan footprint, carbon or otherwise. My wife, as you know, is from Mexico and grew up in Mexico. She migrated legally to the United State, and we often, in moments alone, look at her green card. Like many other Mexicans in America with green cards, she has taken a liking to fútbol americano. North Texas (or, UNT) plays the college version of it. Although she, and many others in her situation, enjoy fútbol americano, they still hew towards the music of their roots and homeland - and other music with roots and homelands further south in the Central and South Americas and the Carribean. We're talking here about Mana, Shakira, Pitbull, Enrique Iglesias, Vicente Fernandez, Thalia, Juanes, Los Claxons, Estopa, Kany García, Camila, Paulina Rubio, Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Chetes, Andrés Calamaro, Ely Guerra, El Cuarteto de Nos, Diomedes Díaz, Jorge Oñate, Lucrecia, Tito El Bambino, K-Paz de la Sierra, El Chapo de Sinaloa, Los Tigres del Norte, Intocable, Van Halen, Pepe Aguilar, Aida Cuevas, Tomatito, Chucho Valdés, Andrés Cepeda, Calle 13, Natalia Lafourcade, Jaguares, and Hello Seahorse! just to name a few. So, my question is, are there plans yet to have UNT (or, North Texas) football games broadcast in Spanish - or, to televise them on any of the local Spanish stations? I know from going to cook outs with my wife's family and friends that Mexicans are no different than White people. We all like to drink beer, eat grilled flank steak, karaoke, have sex with our wives, brutalize piñatas shaped like Chivas de Guadalajara's mascot, and watch sports. My thinking is that because fútbol americano is a sport, and there are lots of Mexicans like my wife who are watching Spanish TV stations and listening to Spanish radio stations, wouldn't it be smart to look into jumping ahead of everyone else in America and get The University of North Texas football games broadcast in Spanish? Imagine the call: "¡Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool de campo! ¡Zack Olennnnnnnnnnnnnn! de los Aguilas de Norte Tejas! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol! ¡Gol!" What say you? I'd hate to think we were just going to surrender the Hispanic fútbol americano market to UTEP, UTSA, and Rice. If George Washington hadn't boomed the bold battle cry, Remember the Alamo!, we'd have never wrested control of the Solomon Islands from the Japanese. It's only 21st Century American to have our fútbol americano games broadcast on Spanish radio and television stations in the Metroplex and throughout the United States. Let's jump ahead of the curve on this one before UT starts charging us $24.95 a week to watch our games on their station and BYU sends its redshirt sophomores on their bicycles to try to convert us. ¡Viva Los Verde Malo!

Poi Dog is also pondering. There are many Mexicans in El Paso. Arkansas is a place.

Dude, you could walk anywhere. My 5-year old dragged me up to the corner of the winged end zone seats twice...folks...that's a long ass haul up those steps. If McCarney has the team run those steps twice a day, we'll be national champs this year - print the shirts now!