The Fake Lonnie Finch

I agree. But, recall, cost controls were promised by the party which pushed it through. What we are talking about is insurance. Insurance involves underwriting risk. If something is too risky, the insurance is going to be more costly; or, not offered at all. The problem is that "insurance" and "guarantee" are not interchangable terms or ideas. What one party hoped to do was provide a guaranteed level of coverage for all without allowing underwriting to occur. It's not possible. Without underwriting, the "insurance" is "guaranteed" to go up in price. The numbers are already projecting to raise only about of quarter of the money needed to make this thing - as put together - work. So, where do you think the money for the other 3/4th is going to come from? The government simply priting money to cover it, as has been so popular in Mexico, Central America, and Latin America? Ready to see the dollar fall to the value of the peso? Raising taxes across the board? A tax that would have to lnclude the middle class? During a molasses-like "recovery"? Hmmm. Can they just borrow money from Social Security as they've done before for other social engineering bits? The politicians who pushed this have painted the country into a corner. It really is pathetic.

Why would the Republican Party want to be a part of putting the the country one step closer to complete socialism? So which is it: (1) Democratic Party stop fighting for programs that lead the country toward socialism? or (2) Republican Party stop fighting programs that lead the country toward socialism? Why do you think Democrats are elected in their districts? Their constituents believe in those things they espouse. Why do you think Republicans are elected in their districts? Their constituents believe in those things they espouse. You think a chuck of politicians from either party are going to suddenly stop believing in and championing their causes and politial philosophies? Nationalized health care is not, "Hey, we need a traffic light at this intersection" type of legislation. Democrats are right to champion it if they support. And, Republicans are right to fight it if they oppose it. Why would you want it any other way? Without opposition, you have what they have in China, North Korea, Cuba, etc. Is that what you want?

It's a screwjob. No, actually, it's really a push to single-payor/true socialism. If you buy your own insurance for your family, as we've done for years, it's nothing but a kick in the nuts. The middle class is always handed the bill. Met with the owner of five pizza franchises this afternoon. In order to avoid the penalties of Obamacare, the owner of the five franchises is splitting the company into three separate companies so he won't have to fire anyone or cut back hours. Stupid. The whole law is stupid. It will never fund itself. Ever. You can't have an insurance program - P&C, Health, any line - that isn't allowed to underwrite the risk and expect it to be fiscally viable. This country needs more business owners as legislatures and far less lawyers. I'm afraid it will never happen. Our congress and the succession of Democratic presidents we are about to endure will legislate America into the type of social and economic morass into which Mexico and the Central and South American countries perpetually find themsleves.

And, Zach Orr as he chases the tackle record, right? Crazy how DT is so polarizing to some. I long ago admitted I was wrong about him. Don't understand why others can't. Derek didn't chose the team around him or the circumstances. Everything he earns and achieves is well deserved because of those of us who didn't believe in him for so long. He's earned the right to have his achievements celebrated. I see football for what it is: a team game. Derek is one of 26 starters comprising the offense and defense and special teams players (kicker, punter, holder, deep snapper included here). Coach McCarney will be the first to tell you that Derek didn't always have I-A/FBS-level talent around him. But, you know what, Derek probably wouldn't. The kid never complained, pouted, threw twitter tantrums, transferred, or quit. Many kids in his situation do. I think you cut this kid and his blood is Mean Green; and, likely Meaner and Greener than most of us. I'm sorry I ever doubted this good, hard-working kid.

The two guys he's chasing on the chart have made it to the NFL...I think that says something. I think he's drafted.

There were not enough people who appreciated what Derek has done here. He really is a good player and, for sure, the type of kid you want in your program. When we signed him, I openly scoffed at the idea of signing a kid out of Glen Rose with only one other offer, and that from a lower division. But, look, he's made a believer out of me.

NT's All-Time I-A/FBS Leaders in Tackles: 1. Craig Robertson: 381 2. Brad Kassel: 365 3. Burks Washington: 351 With 74 tackles on the season so far, Orr sits at 318 tackles for his career. He needs 15.8 per game to catch Robertson in the regular season; 12.7 with regular season + bowl game; 10.6 regular season + C-USA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME + bowl game.

Brelan Chancellor is already the NT career leader in: Kickoff Returns: 118 (and counting) Kickoff Return Yards: 2,864 (and counting) Kickoffs Returned For TD: 3 (...and counting!) In All-Purpose Yards at NT, he now trails only: 1. Lance Dunbar: 5,375 2. Patrick Cobbs: 5,222 3. Brelan Chancellor: 4,911 -Brelan Chancellor is now a mere 89 yards away from joining Partick Cobbs and Lance Dunbar as the only Mean Green players to reach 5,000 career all-purpose yards. He needs 77.8 per game to get past Cobbs; and 116.3 to get past Dunbar. Punt return yards in a season: The record is held by J.T. Smith who had 380 punt return yards during the 1976 season. This year, Chancellor has 177. He needs 50.8 punt return yards per game to break Smith's single season record.

Among NT QBs at the Division I-A/FBS level, Thompson is now: Passing Attempts 1. Steve Ramsey: 1,015 2. Derek Thompson: 913 (needs 25.6 attempts per game to pass Ramsey) Passes Completed 1. Derek Thompson: 554 2. Giovanni Vizza: 532 On a 3rd and 5 from the Louisiana Tech 38, Derek Thompson completed a 35 yard pass to Darnell Smith to become UNT's all-time leader in completed passes among I-A/FBS-level quarterbacks. Passing Efficiency 1. Scott Hall: 132.26 2. Riley Dodge: 125.71 3. Derek Thompson: 125.4 Touchdown Passes 1. Steve Ramsey: 69 2. Scott Hall: 50 3. Derek Thompson: 37 (needs 3.3 to pass Hall at #2) Passing Yards 1. Steve Ramsey: 7,076 2. Derek Thompson: 6,531 (needs 136.3 per game to pass Ramsey) Completion Percentage 1. Riley Dodge: 64.7% 2. Jordan Case: 61.6% 3. Giovanni Vizza: 60.7% 3. Derek Thompson: 60.7% (now tied with Vizza; could still catch up to Case) Career 200 Yard Passing Games 1. Steve Ramsey: 20 2. Derek Thompson: 18 (has a outside shot at getting past Ramsey) Career 300 Yard Passing Games 1. Derek Thompson: 7 2. Steve Ramsey: 6 During the 3rd Quarter, on a 3rd and 10 from the Southern Miss 39, Derek Thompson completed a 14 yard pass to Brelan Chancellor to become UNT's all-time leader in 300 yard passing games among Divison I-A/FBS quarterbacks. Career Total Offense (Passing + Rushing) 1. Derek Thompson: 6,786 2. Steve Ramsey: 6,568 During the 1st Quarter, on a 3rd and 8 from the Southern Miss 44, Derek Thompson completed a 15 yard pass to Brelan Chancellor to become UNT's all-time total offense leader among Division I-A/FBS quarterbacks. All of Derek Thompson's record setting plays this season have come on 3rd down with 5 or more yards to go.

...so, they started to call my cell phone. I mailed a check, but they haven't posted it yet. However, I'm making to most of the opportunity until it does post. Everytime they call, I hand the phone to one of my kids, who are fluent in Spanish, and tell them to answer it and speak to the person on the other end in Spanish. It's been pretty entertaining. If you have kids who speak Spanish, Chinese, or some other language, try this. (P.S. - I'm not saying to forget to pay your credit card bill. I'm just saying that if you do, make the most of the opportunity.)

...and I ate there with my family a few years ago. My kids were very young and ate happy meals. I had the quarterpounder meal thing with french fries and a coke. My wife does not like to eat unhealthy food much, so she just drank tea. I can't remember what my sister-in-law and nephew ate. Sorry. I hope that you will eat there, too, this weekend, before and after our victory. Also, if you've never been to Mississippi, there are some parts that look as crappy as the crappy parts of Texas. But, I think, not as crappy as what you see in Louisiana. Still, I've never been treated poorly in either state. Stores and restaurants in both states will sell you food and snacks if you have money. The gas stations in both states have gas in case you need a fill up. Finally, don't feel badly about Mississippi not having as many Mexicans as Texas has, either in total population or per capita. They lag behind Texas in that department. Just suck it up and do the best you can. English is spoken through the state, so you shouldn't have a problem communicating with the locals. Go Mean Green!

Among C-USA Starting QBs: QB Rating 1. Shane Carden, East Carolina: 152.3 2. Derek Thompson, North Texas: 137.0 Attempts 1. Shane Carden, East Carolina: 306 2. Eric Soza, UTSA: 242 3. Derek Thompson: 224 Completions 1. Shane Carden, East Carolina: 228 2. Derek Thompson, North Texas: 152 Completion Percentage 1. Shane Carden, East Carolina: 74.5% 2. Derek Thompson, North Texas: 67.9% Yards 1. Shane Carden, East Carolina: 2,325 2. Derek Thompson, North Texas: 1,680 If this trend keeps up, the C-USA Championship Game will feature to two best quarterbacks in the conference.

Perfect!

That could be true as well. Texas hasn't read them very well or fit them into their offense well out of high school for a few seasons. As much as they hollered to rid themselves of Greg Davis...well, they got what they wanted: Davis gone. The problem is, it has meant confusion and less than stellar output from the offense in the years that followed. Green, how's your son doing, by the way? Is he able to make any of the games?

What he said. Although, pleased with seniors like Abbe, Orr, Thompson, Chancellor, etc. They really are forming the backbone. I think maybe part of Dodge's problem was micromanaging things. I always point to the high school WR coach who confronted a DB on the sideline during a game because the DB came off the field and cussed. I mean, look...in the heat of battle, people might cuss. Frankly, that level of micromanaging behavior was a pretty bad sign...especially when the on the field product was getting its ass kicked. To a certain degree, a player has to be able to show frustration. Better to have the kid cuss it out on the sideline instead of on the field to an official or opponent/get a personal foul from acting out frustration on the field. Todd Dodge was a good man. But, the way you run a high school program and a college program is night and day different. You're not going to come from a lilly-white, wealthy suburban high school and tell a roster full of kids from less than lilly-white, wealthy suburban high schools that you can't let an f-word fly out of frustration during a game. It's like Todd and his original high school coaching staff were speaking a foreign language to the players. Oddly enough, with McCarney, I have to kind of stand close to my kids during the coaches caravan things because Coach Dan will let fly with the "Hells" and "Damns" a la Barry Switzer, old school style. Gotta try to cover their ears if a Hell or Damn is eminent.

I love UNT. I really do. But, I predicted TCU would cough it up in the Big 12. That they are peeling recruits off of us tells me how successful they are at recruiting against the Texases and Oklahomas. I think Gary Patterson is a great defensive coach. But, they eeked out 7-6 record last year (one of the wins versus Grambling), going 4-5 in the Big 12. They are already 1-3 in Big 12 play this season. Their 3-4 record this year includes a win over FCS SE Louisiana. I'd be shocked if they ever rise above the 6/7 win mark again. They have upgraded their stadium, so...they can watch the losses mount in style?

While I was in law school, there was a stink about a kid named Kejuan Jones, a running back at Tulsa Hale who turned up his senior year at perennial power Jenks. HIs mom had tried to get a job at Union High, the other big high school football power in Oklahoma at the time, but they wouldn't. She went to Jenks, Union's archrival, and they gave her a job. Same thing with Atlanta Falcon's Dominique Franks. Started high school at Owasso, "transferred" to Union. Unfortunately, it happens everywhere. Or, fortunately...depending on which side of the fence you sit upon. Football coaches - high school and college - use players, whose bodies are as breakable as any other mortal. Unless the high schools and colleges are going to pay the medical bills for life for these kids who play for them and rsik injury, I say let them transfer around.

TCU's recruiting method uncovered:

I feel a little bad for Terrell inasmuch as he was caught in kind of a philosophy shift by the Texas offensive coaches. At one point, they took big receivers and tried to mold them into tight ends. They had one big hit - Jermichael Finley. Other than that, it was mainly miss, so they scrapped it not long after Terrell hit campus. We graduate plenty of talent at WR after this season, so he will - with a lot of work and effort - have the oppourtinity to make 2014 his showcase. All this shows me is what a great job Coach Grant has done with the guys who were already on campus when Terrell arrive. Can't really complain about that. Like the DL, WR was once a weakness that is producing greatly in 2013.

Is it too late to file a complaint against Bob Stoops for what happened in the season opener back in '07?

For the record, I hate each and every one of you; and, I live daily with the satisfaction that the feeling is mutual. In addition, because we are winning, I care all the less about any and all opinion expressed herein by any and all posters - friend or foe. Winning is all; message board friendship is nothing. I am ready warden...let it flow! P.S. - Derek Thompson is your daddy...all of ya'll's daddy!

We won. So, we're happy. No team plays the perfect game. The kids are giving great effort. No one is blowing us out. We have been in every game, even the losses, with a realistic chace to win all of them. As long as everyone is giving this type of effort, I don't see much room for complaint. Having the run game fixed has - and, will - cover a multitude of sins: Be able to run on offense, stop the run on defense, play effective and mistake free special teams = winning football in any era. I feel sorry for the people who don't accept wins as wins, and instead want sexier wins. Sorry, this isn't a sexy team; it's a tough team. And, I'm happy that we choose tough over sexy when it comes to football. Finesse football is for fags.

NT's All-Time I-A/FBS Leaders in Tackles: 1. Craig Robertson: 381 2. Brad Kassel: 365 3. Burks Washington: 351 With 72 tackles on the season so far, Orr sits at 316 tackles for his career. He needs 13.1 per game to catch Robertson in the regular season; 10.9 with regular season + bowl game; 9.3 regular season + C-USA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME + bowl game.