UNTLifer

Oh, I'm not complaining based on what the rest of the world pays, I just find it funny that the public will complain about $2.00 a gallon for gas, but will drop $1.25 for a bottle of water.

Gas Prices. Who's tired of paying over $2.00 a gallon? Let's think about this. It is a dangerous resource to aquire, sometimes requiring drilling through the ocean's floor to pump the sludge up to a boat for it to be shipped to a refinery. The refinery refines this product in to usable form that is is shipped to our corner convenience store for us to pump in to our vehicles. All of the above steps are extremely dangerous and require expertise. Why doesn't anybody complain about spending $1.25 for a 20 ounce bottle of water?

You sure that's not a typo and you meant to say: "...runs into walls when chasing rum with a coke...?"

Here's the entrance exam. 1. Calculate the smallest limb diameter on a persimmon tree that will support a 10 pound possum. 2. Which of the following cars will rust out the quickest when placed on blocks in your front yard? A.66 Ford Fairlane: B. 69 Chevrolet Chevelle: C.64 Pontiac GTO 3. If your uncle builds a still that operates at a capacity of 20 gallons of shine per hour, how many car radiators are necessary to condense the product? 4. A pulpwood cutter has a chain saw that operates at 2700 rpm. The density of the pine trees in a plot to be harvested is 470 per acre. The plot is 2.3 acres in size. The average tree diameter is 14 inches. How many Budweiser Tallboys will it take to cut the trees? 5. If every old refrigerator in the state vented a charge of R-12 simultaneously, what would be the decrease in the ozone layer? 6. A front porch is constructed of 2x8 pine on 24-inch centers with a Field rock foundation. The span is 8 feet and the porch length is 16 feet. The porch floor is 1 inch rough sawn pine. When the porch collapses, how many hound dogs will be killed? 7. A man owns a house south of Ruston and 3.7 acres of land in a hollow with an average slope of 15%. The man has 5 children. Can each of the children place a mobile home on the man's land? 8. A 2-ton coal truck is overloaded and proceeding 900 yards down a steep grade on a secondary road at 45 mph. The brakes fail. Given the average traffic loading of secondary roads, what are the chances that it will strike a vehicle that has a muffler? 9. A coal mine operates a NFPA Class 1, Division 2 Hazardous Area. The Mine employs 120 miners per shift. A gas warning is issued at the beginning of 3rd shift. How many cartons of unfiltered Camels will be smoked during the shift? 10. At a reduction in gene pool variability rate of 7.5% per generation, how long will it take a town that has been bypassed by the interstate to breed a country western singer?

And, you La. Tech lost to SMUt.

Just like your avatar, your view of the world is blurred.

Would this be referred to as the LJ Error?

Let's see, you are posting on this board at some ungodly hour and have a young lady over at your place. Seeing that you decided to post over spending time with her, I would say that you have either lost all sensibility or are really addicted to this board.

What percentage of the student body lives in the Metroplex? 75%, 80%, 90%? You're telling me that our students won't commit to driving 30 to 40 miles the Saturday after Thanksgiving for our game, yet many of them will jump on the alumni for not attending for the same reason? Anyone for a wrinkled $100 bill?

DRC Summer is the time to relax, swim, vacation and earn a college scholarship. For some anyway. DRC/Gary Payne Denton High basketball players Chris Johnson, left and Walter Coleman shoot around on Wednesday at the Purple Pit. The players are preparing to play in the Great American Shootout summer basketball tournament today. More than 2,000 kids will showcase their talents at the Great American Shootout in Denton area gyms this weekend, many under the watchful eyes of college coaches and scouts; others, simply trying to hone their skills and improve as a team before next season. Summer basketball may appear to be just for fun, but at times it can be more important than playing during the school year. “Sometimes summer ball can get a bad rep, but sometimes it’s more important than the high school season,” said Ervin Davis, head coach of Dallas Showtyme Silver and graduate assistant for the North Texas men’s basketball team. “Summer is huge for coaches and scouts because you can pay to go see a ton of prospects in one place rather than traveling just to see one. It’s a tremendous opportunity to showcase your talent. There is a lot hanging in the balance in these summer tournaments because a lot of these kids won’t get to go to college without basketball.” That’s one of the reasons Mike Kunstadt, founder of texashoops.com, began putting on “shootouts” in Denton and San Antonio. “The biggest reason is because of what you saw the other night,” Kunstadt said. “Eight or nine Texas kids got drafted in the NBA draft. The amount of talent and potential in this state is amazing. It’s good for kids and it’s a good business to be in.” Teams from as far away as Illinois and South Florida will arrive this weekend with players trying to join the ranks of recently drafted Deron Williams, Jason Maxiell and C.J. Miles. The Utah Jazz drafted Williams, who played for the Fort Worth Lions in the Denton shootout, along with Miles. The Detroit Pistons selected Maxiell, from Carrolton Newman Smith. “If you really look at the last 10-15 years, a lot of guys that play high-level college basketball and in the NBA have come through the Denton shootout,” said Kunstadt, adding T.J. Ford, Kenyon Martin and Greg Ostertag to the list. College coaches such as Texas Tech’s Bob Knight and North Carolina’s Roy Williams have been fixtures at the shootout in recent years. The July dates make it easy for the top-notch coaches to get away and see some of the best players in the nation up close. “They [college coaches] simply have the time in the summer,” Kunstadt said. “There are no college basketball games in the summer. They can’t really go out during the school year because that’s the middle of their season, too. They’re worried about winning basketball games, not recruiting.” UNT head coach Johnny Jones has taken advantage of having a top summer event in Denton and signed several players who participated in the shootout over the last few years, including Justin Barnett, Michael Sturns and Quincy Williams. Harold Stewart and Justin Howerton, two members of UNT’s 2005 recruiting class, also played in the tournament. “Tournaments are extremely important because you get to see a lot of teams in a short amount of time, Jones said. “You get to evaluate a lot of kids playing against good competition. You don’t always get that in high school.” Getting those coaches to notice his players is what makes the effort worthwhile for Davis. “I get to see a lot of kids grow up and get scholarships and succeed beyond high school,” Davis said. “That means a lot to me.” Davis, who is joined by his brother and former UNT superstar Chris Davis in coaching Showtyme, deserves some kind of reward for the work he puts in. For Davis, as with any other coach running a summer league team, it is nearly a full-time job to take care of everything surrounding the squad. “It takes 20-25 hours a week to do,” Davis said. “You have to deal with the financial side and getting the money to go to the tournaments, plus we practice maybe three times a week.” But it’s worth it. Dallas Showtyme has built up a pretty impressive list of alumni in recent years. From last year’s team alone, Showtyme had Marquez Haynes sign with Boston College, Jonathan Amos with Toledo and Stewart with UNT. Miles is also a former Davis pupil as is Sturns. “It takes a lot of these guys’ own time and money so you’ve got to give them a lot of credit for what they do,” Kunstadt said. “These teams travel all over the country during the summer and that’s not easy.” This weekend’s shootout is one of four tournaments Showtyme will compete in this summer. The Denton Bronx and head coach Michael Thomas, son of former Denton head coach Henry Thomas, take a different approach to summer league ball. It’s not all about getting noticed by scouts for the team composed of exclusively Denton High School players. “We do it to try to keep the mentality of playing together going throughout the summer and get better at the team concept,” Thomas said. The idea paid dividends last year when Denton won 20 games and made the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. “That was the first time we had all the seniors there and playing on the summer team and they turned the program around by making the playoffs last year,” Thomas said. “I’ve been around him [Henry Thomas] and his system my whole life so the kids are getting the same in the summer as they do during the school year.” The same can be said for this year’s squad despite the departure of Henry Thomas. Newly hired head coach Harold Jackson said he will keep the same system in place as he helped install it alongside Thomas as an assistant coach for the past four years. Improving for the school season is a goal shared by many area teams. Liberty, Argyle, Ponder and Ryan will all have teams competing this weekend as well. “I don’t know if it [summer ball] is more important than the school season,” Kunstadt said. “Playing for your high school team is still an important learning experience, but as far as college goes, the summer is very important.” Regardless of the reason, summer basketball appears far more useful than working on a tan. Whether the extra effort turns into a college scholarship or a state championship, proof that it is worthwhile will be on display beginning today. JAKE FLOYD can be reached at 940-566-6873. His e-mail address is jfloyd@dentonrc.com. Pool play schedule for area teams Friday Denton Bronx vs. Colorado X-Press, 3:25 p.m. Argyle HS 1 Liberty Warriors vs. Weatherford Kangaroos, 4:50 p.m. TWU 2 Denton Ryan Raiders vs. Dallas Longhorns, 4:50 p.m. Ryan HS 2 Fort Worth FIRM vs. North Texas Wildcats, 6:15 p.m. Denton HS 2 Saturday Denton Bronx vs. Richardson Mustangs, 10:15 a.m. Crownover MS 1 Liberty Warriors vs. All For One, One For All 1, 10:15 a.m. Strickland MS 2 Denton Ryan Raiders vs. Midlothian, 11:35 a.m. Ryan HS 1 CenTex Heat vs. North Texas Wildcats, 11:35 a.m. Denton HS 2 Denton Bronx vs. Katy Tigers 1, 3:25 p.m. Crownover MS 1 H-Town Wolves vs. Liberty Warriors, 3:25 p.m. Strickland MS 1 Denton Ryan Raiders vs. Lufkin, 4:45 p.m. Ryan HS 3 Kansas Elite vs. Ponder Lions, 6 p.m. Strickland MS 1

Yes, at Eagle and Bernard where the RBar is located. Ran a close second to NY Subs for the best subs ever.

And possibly unhappy that if La. Tech qualifies for a bowl you get to travel thousands of miles away, when we get to go to New Orleans.

Yes, across I35 on the north side of the new AC.

You can choose to live in the past, the present or dream of the future. I see you, like many short-sighted La. Techsters, choose to live in the past.

Beating La. Tech gives us respect? Outside of it being an OOC win, a win by North Texas over La. Tech shouldn't be that surprising considering our preseason rankings and how we've finished the last few years. If you were in the Belt you would finish second to us and wouldn't have visited any bowls. The WAC bowls are ridiculous. The Hawaii Bowl will automatically take Hawaii if they are bowl eligible, if not the bowl will select teams. Same with Boise State and the Humanitarian Bowl and Fresno St. and their bowl. La. Tech could win the WAC and not even go to a bowl.

How about the article on branding in the online addition of the North Texan? At the end of the article on all the new branding/wordmarks is a picture of the UNT star with the blue and copper FFR loves so much.

Ditto

Recruit speed and athleticism. Athletes will find a way to contribute. Don't forget, one of our greatest linebackers ever was a high school quarterback.....Brad Kassell. True, we lose JQ but will still have Muzzy, Jackson, Covington, etc.., so WR will be fine. I agree that both DL and OL need to be our target. They are difficult to find, and the athletic/big ones are typically signed by the BcS schools.

Don't worry, George W's son will do just fine.

So from the looks of these photos the tennis center will be located to the south of the practice fields. Is this correct? I thought the original plans were for it to be to the east of the dorms.

Humor is just lost on some people.

Great logic and don't forget about all the publicity Troy got at the end of the year for winning the SBC! What, they didn't win conference and get the automatic bowl invite to New Orleans? What happened? They got in to another bowl because two teams got in fights at the end of the year and skipped the bowl games as punishment?

Denton High still practices at the old stadium on Fulton and Ryan practices at fields on their campus, so this could be an option, then again, as Baby Arm! stated, rain in August?

I like his logic of stating that Byerly looks good on paper but doesn't have the game experience to replace Hall, yet he lists three receivers that will replace Kerry Wright and none have much in game experience. Plus, did Wright really hurt us with his 8 catches for 70 some odd yards? He also mentions we will be coming off a "beating at the hands of Louisiana State" but doesn't mention the same in regards to the MUTS returning from Alabama. His one truth is that the MUTS and Coach Andy are the ones that must live with the pressure to win, something they have shown the ability to do in the last 4 years.

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