Quoner

Or Pedro Serrano.

Those that can do...those that can't get PAID to make predictions. Snore! Unless you are wired into your local bookie, do you really pay attention to what any of these guys have to say? Some can be fun reads, but seems have some sort of team or conference bias that they really do not want you to know about, but which come through loud and clear to most folks. Anyway....I'd love to get paid to do that sort of thing and not have anyone take me serious either. Pretty much like at home with the bride. GO MEAN GREEN!

You laugh - but that's what did in the Houston Comets.

Yes - excited to see you guys and bringing a few first timers.

Why let the Big East enter a nine year-old?

Completely agree on the LA comparison. And you know what, they are who most folks point to as the laziest, worst fans in America. Another common stereotype exists between those fan bases, but I can't put my finger on it. Roy Williams may be involved somehow. UNT90, thanks for engaging this debate. There's no malice and I'm really enjoying it. I don't expect the Rangers to ever sell 104,000 tickets for a game, but I don't think 30K averages in a pennant race is too much to ask for.

I enjoyed hearing how much meat the Stephens put away during the radio broadcast. No leftovers on the rack for those man beasts!!!11!

OU's guys changed into leotards and ballet gear. Just to switch it up.

I was just stirring the pot for my own amusement. I'll be good. Maybe Vizza engineered the great AD robbery over the summer down there.

The Rangers have won a playoff game more recently than the Cowboys. The product Jerry has been putting on the field since 1996 is far more inexcusable than anything Hicks has done, but no one demands he be held accountable. And those Red Sox fans do know the roster. they see them on ESPN all the time. They call the team we. They buy the Stephen King books. they (shudder) see that Jimmy Fallon movie. They invest into this way more than you would expect because they want to feel like part of a winner. Maybe I'm wrong and a Houston person can correct me, but even when the Astros are way out of it, they draw at least 25K. People backed them when they weren't winning and went nuts when they won. This town wouldn't do that unless the Rangers were up 10 with 2 outs to go in the ALCS. If Cowboys fans didn't go out of there way to put down other sports and tell you what a great football town this is, that'd be different. But they're not good friends. They don't make noise. They're not an intimidating crowd. They revel in the sideshows and excess that the owner creates to blind everyone to the fact that the product sucks. If Parcells hadn't injected limited life into the thing for a few years, we'd probably have the same record as the Texans since 2001.

Hackers? http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/m-foo...giovanni00.html

And their owner runs the team like an Alzheimer's patient who lost his wallet (and scouting budget). TAMU and Texas baseball both have great attendance numbers - as do many other smaller schools through Central Texas. This seems to be a regional problem.

I agree with you on the TCU/private stuff. They want title winners in every sport - nothing else matters anymore. College football has become the best example. There 120 teams and 5 BCS conference titles to go around, but everyone thinks they should finish #1 every year. I'm not here to defend Tom Hicks -- my hatred of him is well, well documented across the interwebs. However, for the past three years, I got to watch a team of players go from AA to the majors and succeed, and that has trumped my hatred for that moron. My anger is directed at the thousands of people who emailed, called talked radio or used message boards to discuss how they would show up if there was a good to above average team. Well, here it is. I'm not just talking about the monsoon games - that makes sense. There was a lack of turnout for most of August when the thing was right there within reach. Attendance may finish around what it was last year, but it's telling that it never improved at any rate close to the team. If there were no other baseball fans in the town I also wouldn't complain, but many folks, especially in the 18-31 demographic, decided that did like baseball - just winning baseball. That is why you see 400 Red Sox hats at most football games nowadays. They want baseball - but only baseball that will win a title. They didn't just say screw it, they used a third cousin or loose Boston tie to replace the contending void the Rangers gave them. Just like thousands of North Texas grads adopted the college team du jour during their time in Denton because the team sucked. I know it happens and I get why it happens, but you know where it doesn't happen: a good sports town. I know I am kicking several of you in your Cowboy-loving crotches and I'm fully prepared for the responses, but let me repeat it one more time: This. Is. A. Bad. Sports. Town.

One evolves, one is constant.

And that is my problem with Dallas. For years, the official complaint was "git sem pitchin'!" People claimed they would support the team if they showed they could be competitive and pitch. Well, this year it happened. And most of the fans spent all season looking for an excuse to jump off the bandwagon. Every month the talk radio hosts who mostly didn't watch the game kept dying to point out the "catastrophic moment" by reading box scores and checking standings. Never mind that the Rangers were competing with the three best franchises in MLB for their playoff spots (Angels, Yankees, Red Sox) with a bankrupt owner holding the entire empire together with duct tape and loan papers. That doesn't matter - all that matters to the idiot DFW sports fan is seeing a team win a title to validate their ignorance of sports. There's no appreciation for the process, for growing with the team, for appreciating what is there. It's a lie of "hey, I'll just be happy if we win," which lasts for three weeks, and then the demand for a title comes quickly after it. It's why people can't wait to tear apart a Mavs team that just reeled off 8 years most fan bases would kill for. It's why no one appreciates the Stars run of excellence since 1997-1998. It's why Texas and OU get every bandwagon fan possible. And yes, it's why North Texas can't keep it's own fans in house to wait for a contender. The response to this is always "we don't git a team worth supporting," and if that is your goal, no, you don't. If the Chicago Cubs played in this town, they would have moved to Vegas 5 years ago because they don't win! Everyone blindly throws their faith and money behind a horribly mismanaged football team that more than happily leaches off the local economy without contributing anything but sunshine, bullshit and a history that validates one of the dumbest fan bases in the NFL (and I like the Cowboys). You can call this a sports town or a winners town or whatever, but I call it a host of quick-fix, low self esteem losers looking for a quick fix. It also pisses me off because it is why our program won't ever get the support it needs until we run off 3-4 ten win seasons in a row. Flame away.

Too many people rooting for bye is what got the Nathan Tune thread shut down.

I'm still out there - but there's really no fun in being one of the folks who just hates you guys for no reason when we don't play. The unity will die in a few years, but for now, hands off our recruits and best of luck against the Frogs.* You stuck up, collar-popped, elitist, BMW-leasing knob-gobbler

If you could have come to this conclusion just a little bit sooner, Troy Phillips would be putting the finishing touches on his book proposal: Redemption: The 2009 Mean Green Story - as told by the beloved local beat writer who saw it all. You took down an honest man with your stubbornness.

I'm no math wizard, but are you saying we only have 200 fans?

If you ever want to test someone's knowledge of football, get them to talk about TOP. It's the batting average of football stats.

TCU

We all knew what was coming. Well, maybe most of us. Sure, things are better, but we were playing what I argue is the most complete team in college football so far this season. I wouldn’t pick Texas, OU, Penn State or USC to win a game in Tuscaloosa, so how can I hold a loss by North Texas against the coach or players? Yes, I grumbled a bit with the play-calling while watching the game, but we came out chucking the ball – almost to our own detriment. We were going to see if we could move the ball and expose what the offensive coaches thought were the largest holes in a very complete defense. Maybe they could have game-planned like this was the national title came, but the chuck it three yards and a cloud of dust gave birth to a new hybrid offense: The Spread Dickey. It runs clock! It might break a few plays! It’s non-inspirational to deluded fans! And you know what, an absolutely perfect day of execution would have netted us a 45-17 score. No one was hurt. Riley rested. The team got to improve their execution of core plays against SEC players in a glorified scrimmage. Is it fun? Heck no, but it is the curse of the money game. Dodge may not be Hayden Fry yet – but no one is asking him to be. All we want is a Wade Phillips-esque .500 or slightly better this year. Have you ever opened a program or media guide and counted the $1,000+ donors? It’s depressing. Until we can fill more than a quarter of a page with names, these games are just part of the deal. Enough of me lecturing everyone. Most of the fan base seems to get this. The weekend was what it was (tired phrase alert!) I only had 3 pages of threads to sort through this morning and most of it was standard fare. My first two recaps have been overstuffed, so I’ve boiled the weekend down into one main topic: Meangreenbob sure stole the show this weekend. He seems like a good guy. He loves politics and "Merica! He doesn’t usually overreact. He knows American history! In short, every parent's dream. Unless your son plays football for North Texas. We had warning sings something might be coming when the addition of water to cloth inspired one of the best threads of the young season. He also gave the team a nice back-handed compliment for the Ohio game, so it was pretty much a wash. Still, Ohio was a stressful loss and it’s hard to think clearly when your heart is broken. Then, Saturday came. I can only assume you were left alone to watch the game in a dark cell with only an aged bottle of George Dickle whiskey, a computer, horse tranquilizers and an old TV with a UHF antenna to keep you company. That led to these glorious posts: Jesus Christ will return before this school will ever be competitive at this level. Lets dominate 1AA..........if we can? Bob's consistent on religion, so I can only assume this was strategic hyperbole – like when Paul demanded castration in Galatians 5:12. Then, you accused the team of not trying at all. Never mind the size difference and the fact that it was obvious the kids were giving the effort – it’s more fun to accuse them of loafing to explain the talent gap. That way you get to type words and feel better –everybody wins (except the athletes working, the coaches, the athletic department, the fans, the student body, the folks who traveled to the game and maybe Brett Vito). Bringing it back to the Bible, maybe this is like when Jesus throws out the money lenders at the temple? Then, it was time for back-handed compliments to Nathan Tune again. He earned the start by executing a horrible game plan Yes, Dodge said we would try to win these games – but I’ve been trying to train my dog to do the peanut butter trick for 5 years whenever I say the word “dandelion.” In a perfect world, he would open the fridge and even figure out how to work belts. Some great ideas are just not meant to be. Bob also called for the AD to hand back the fans money from traveling. I’m pretty sure they could come up with the $943.67 that would require. Still, when you logged on this morning, you calmed down some in this thread. I’m going to just believe that you were drunk or possibly high on the spirit. Maybe you have split personalities and Evil Bob got to spend the weekend with the keyboard. I don’t know you. If I ever meet you, I’ll buy you a beer. But if you want to rant about things, maybe take some of it offline. Start a blog(but update it more than once a month. People hate that). There are concerns to be had right now – but the bigger question for the rest of the year is whether or not the offense can show the same growth the defense has against other mid-major teams. Ball State has arguably been the worst team in college football so far (with apologies to our friends at WKU), so we’re going to need 4-5 more wins to show things are on the right track. We have an offense that traditionally puts up yards but not points. That is your storyline for the season: can Dodge and his cohorts create an offense that strikes fear in Belt opponents. I say maybe, Charlie and Kram I assume say yes and Fake Lonnie says no. I suggest we all say a prayer to whatever version of FilmerJ’s prayer promises victory this week.

Can we keep the tired threads about the North Texas chant to another forum then? Maybe the VOY board or Narnia?

Hey! That kid in your avatar is looking at tits!

What a cool guy! BAMA TUFF!