Smitty

Nice kick coverage.

Lost a fumble. Real test for the defense now.

Nice performance by Cam tonight. Who, by the way, was featured on a Mean Green World wallpaper this year.

How many people had "middle of the third quarter" for when we'd give up the first points of the year? What a defensive turnaround.

Throwing a shutout at halftime. Somebody take my pulse cause I think I died. My, oh, my. I don't care who we're playing, that is an outrageous turnaround for this program. Long, long way to go, but wow! Some critical mistakes that need to be corrected, but a fantastic start to the season. And thanks to Royce Hill for validating my choice of using him for a computer wallpaper this year.

For those with Time Warner cable in Dallas, the North Texas vs. Ball State game is on Channel 784 in HD, Channel 179 in non-HD.

I understand the question. Two problems with a Riley Dodge wallpaper this year: 1. There is very little artwork of him for me to work with. I only use action shots from UNT games, and I get them from the athletic department's website. Obviously, there is nothing of him at quarterback for UNT yet. 2. It's premature. I prefer to use photos of players who have performed on the field for North Texas. Riley hasn't yet because he hasn't had a chance to. However, I sincerely hope there are ample reasons and photographs to allow me to create a Riley Dodge wallpaper for the 2010 season.

Hello everyone. I've been away from the board for awhile because I launched a new business that, combined with my fulltime day job, has taken up all my time. But I did want to prepare new computer wallpapers, cellphone wallpapers, avatars, and userbars for the upcoming football season, and they are now ready at my website, Mean Green World. I've got four new wallpapers. I went with a rough, grunge design for a variety of reasons, mainly because I really like grunge design. There is also one general wallpaper with a UNT logo. Here is one of the wallpapers: I used Cam Montgomery, DaWaylon Cook, and Royce Hill for two reasons: first and foremost, those were the best photos available to me. I have only the images published on meangreensports.com, and these were the best images. Second, those athletes were featured in 2009 previews on meangreensports.com. I've also done two new wallpapers for cellphones, one with the proposed new stadium and one with the grunge Mean Green logo. I have also added two new sizes, 320x480 (iPhone and Palm Pre) and 360x480 (Blackberry Storm), and I created the two new designs and eight of the old cellphone wallpapers for the new sizes. There are also a few new avatars and two new userbars, including one for the new stadium and one for Mean Green Club Members. As always, everything is free. Mean Green World has no official connection with UNT, but the athletic department is well aware of Mean Green World and supports what I've been doing. The photos are by Rick Yeatts, and my thanks as always to him for his outstanding work. Also, the athletic department now has its own computer wallpapers for download. Enjoy! Smitty

I've sent it to you.

This is pretty close to what the North Texas helmet looked like in the Flying Worm days:

Unless it's Joe Theismann's broken leg. I can watch that all day.

Now it's being reported that Carradine's hands may have been tied. TMZ

Was she pro se or did she actually find a lawyer willing to take this case?

And how long will it take for some kid to kick-in the television screen?

This was introduced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference at University of Southern California's Galen Center today. From the Associated Press: Project Natal

I thought it had something to do with a big barbecue announcement.

Maybe it's not genetic, but it is not a choice for the vast majority of humans. And equating being gay or lesbian with engaging in criminal activity is ridiculous. If it is a choice, then tell me if you made a choice for your sexual preference? Did you sit down at some point and say, "Well, it's time to make that sexual-preference decision?" Did you consciously decide to be gay or straight? I know I did not choose. I am hard-wired for women, and I never had a choice in the matter. It was never a question for debate or discussion. And if we straight people did not choose, then what makes you think gays and lesbians did choose? You may find the occasional exhibitionist who literally chooses to play for both teams, but the vast majority of people have no choice. Every gay man I have ever known did not choose to be what they are. They did not choose to be bullied, beaten, insulted, and shunned. But I have known gay men who fought their sexual nature, fought it for years at terrible costs, both physical and psychological, to themselves and their families. Men who got married and who had children and who tried for years to convince themselves that they were something they were not because the people around those men could not accept them for what they were. Those who did not choose to be straight can enjoy the very tangible benefits of marriage, but those who did not choose to be gay are barred from those benefits? You want to have your religious-based "marriage" and make it unavailable to gay people, fine. But as long as there are tangible benefits to "marriage," it should be available to everyone.

The No. 9 team on his potential BCS busters: FAU.

The Mooyah's by the Quadrangle closed. There is now a restaurant called Bella in that space.

My office is in the uptown section of Dallas, and from our building you can easily see the new Cowboys stadium and tell clearly what it is. What a monster.

In Denton, Denton County Independent Hamburger Company on the square is the best. In my opinion, it is the best burger the DFW area, and it's been great since I can remember. In Dallas, Snookie's is good. Very good burger and fries. Uptown Bar & Grill is rated highly but I think it's a little overrated. It's okay, but nothing special. Houston's has a good burger but it's too expensive, although Houston's definitely has the best french fries I've ever had.

Did Texas Tech lose that many players from last year's team? A bit surprising they are not in the Top 40. I know they lost Harrell, Crabtree, and several others.

I'm sure PC is a big player in this, but is it the only thing? Is it maybe a power-trip? The Morning News had a story yesterday about a former Marine who has a big Marine Corps decal on the back window of his car, and his Home Owners Association is threatening to have his car towed and fine him if he doesn't remove it. That's not PC, that's just being power-wielding jerks who can flex their muscles. I know of lot of people on this board have had run-ins with HOA Nazis, but this instance is ridiculous. Patriotism shouldn't be sticky, by James Ragland, DMN

Actually, there were some interesting facts behind that lawsuit. First, the woman wasn't just burned. She suffered third-degree burns, was in the hospital for a week, had to have skin grafts, and underwent two more years of treatment. But what stunned the jury was McDonald's admitting that they knew their coffee was dangerously hot and that they were well aware of the risks of heating their coffee that much and of keeping it so hot (180-190 degrees.) An expert testified that at that temperature, the coffee could cause third degree burns in three seconds. There had several hundred cases of burns involving McDonald's coffee - including third degree burns - in the years before the incident, and McDonald's said they had no plans to change their procedures. McDonald's officials testified that they knew their coffee caused serious burns but they refused to do anything about it. Jurors, who said they entered the case thinking this case was no big deal, said they were shocked by McDonald's callousness. McDonald's had settled many cases like this one - they had settled one case for $500,000 and this Plaintiff had originally asked for just $20,000 to cover her medical expenses - but for some reason McDonald's refused to settle and took this one to trial. And they got burned. The jury awarded the Plaintiff $200,000 for her damages. Then they found McDonald's was willfully and maliciously endangering their customers and so hit them with punitive damages of $2.7 million. I think the judge later reduced the punitive damages to under $500,000, even though he agreed with the jury's verdict. I'm not saying the verdict was correct or that people should sue over spilled hot coffee. There is a reasonable expectation that hot coffee could burn you. But apparently McDonald's callous attitude - we make it really dangerous, we know it's really dangerous, and we don't care - was over the top.

I live in Uptown (and some of the robberies took place in the building in which I live) and I can tell you this had people really scared, especially the way the crooks absolutely took over people's homes. Fifty-one robberies? These guys ruined a lot of lives, not to mention the paranoia and distrust that is still with a lot of Uptown residents. These criminals were doing extensive surveillance, and the idea that these creeps were watching us, walking our halls, waiting for an opening is very disturbing. I don't know if this sentence won't prevent someone else from doing this. But it sure as hell will prevent these creeps from doing it again anytime soon.