Smitty

I understand what you're saying, but I think the mere fact of ranking one member of the conference shows some respect to that member and, by extension, to the conference as a whole. At least the conference is no longer beneath notice. Faint praise, to be sure, but it's a start.

Agreed. Satisfaction with this season will come not only in wins but also in how competitive we are and how much progress is made. Win four but get utterly crushed in most of the losses would not be remotely satisfactory. Win four and be competitive in every game and show improvement throughout the season would be a lot closer to satisfactory. I sincerely hope that we have very good reason to want Todd Dodge back next year. But the bar for this team to clear must be higher than simply no longer giving up 70 to Rice and trailing by three touchdowns at halftime week after week.

ESPN.com has published its post-spring college football rankings, and Troy landed in the top 10 among non-BCS schools. The full story has rankings for each BCS conference and the non-BCS schools with comments. Here are the the rankings only for the non-BCS schools with all comments removed except for the brief comment on Troy. This is a very brief excerpt from the full story. Link to the full story: Post-spring power rankings

This is just one of those false urban legends: from Snopes.com from NASA

Yes. Probably. I admit it, I have not added a wallpaper to my new Blackberry. But I think I know how. I think.

The Russians are really going to object to the ballet being only in English.

A note on this: there is an email going around (when is there not?) about a doctor in south Texas saying things are much worse than we've been hearing. Apparently the doctor in question is real but his message has been overblown and has been edited and added to with each passing posting. The good doctor is scrambling to put things right: Here is a link to a story from one of those websites that tracks down viral emails and tries to find the truth behind these stories: Swine Flu Update from Dr. Gitterle I feel sorry for the doctor. He probably sent an email to friends and family with some helpful suggestions, it got passed on, and others ran with it and wrote that the possibilities of this situation are already starting to become reality.

Yeah, that's what I need. To survive the end of the world AND get shot down in flames by the last woman on earth. Talk about insult to injury.

This no longer has anything to do with pigs. The strain developed in pigs but it has evolved, and now it can apparently be transmitted from person to person. That is the fear of these new strains. It was the same with the Avian flu a little while back - the epidemiologists were hoping it did not develop into something that one person could give to another. This one has made that transition. Then maybe the efforts to contain it worked. I pray that 500 don't die, much less 500,000. But please take this seriously. A pandemic of a new flu strain is one of the nightmares that keep epidemiologists awake at night.

Exactly. Routine varieties of the flu kill thousands every year. But this time we're not talking about the flu that many people get each year. Forget about the flu you got last year that made you feel like crap for a few days. This is not the same flu bug. This has to do with the fear that a large number of scientists have had for decades, based on previous experience, that a new strain of the flu - which is a very fast moving disease - will develop and cut through the population as it did in 1918. It’s not that our medicine is not more advanced, it’s the fear of a rapidly-spreading disease to which no one has immunity. Perhaps the World Health Organization, scientists all over the world, and some local officials have overreacted. They probably have. But so far this new strain has been reported to have a ten percent mortality rate, and that has the WHO and local officials terrified. Think about that number. According to the CDC, five to twenty percent of the U.S. population get the flu each year. That's 15 to 60 million people. Only a tiny percentage die each year. But IF the fear of this new strain is realized (and it is an absolutely huge IF) and it does have a ten percent mortality rate, then you're looking at the possibility of 1.5 million to six million dead in the U.S. alone. Is it likely? I have no idea. But people who do have an idea are very worried, so maybe extreme precautions are in order to prevent even a chance of that happening.

So, you don't want more journalists but you do want more lawyers?

Years ago I knew some professional motorcycle road racers, some of them among the very best riders in the world. The riders I knew did not ride motorcycles away from the track because they said riding on the street was not safe.

You could do multiple culinary divisions, just like barbeque cookoffs have competition in brisket, ribs, pork, and chicken. You might draw more competitors that way, and make them each pay an entry fee that goes to a scholarship fund. A suggestion for two divisions: 1. Ball Park Division - only for hot dogs on hot dog buns. Any means of preparation and condiments. 2. Open Division - any kind of dog or sausage on any kind of bun. You might even be able to get some sort of sponsorships from local beer, bun, and dog companies, with money going to the scholarship fund. Get some local culinary types as judges - chefs, food critics, etc.

My wife and I recently went looking for new phones and settled on the new Blackberry Storm, and we both love it. Good phone call quality, great email capacity, and the Navigator turn-by-turn is awesome. It's taking some getting used to since we've gone from very basic service to this device, but I recommend it.

ESPN currently evaluates Hansbrough as the 45th best player among this year's draft prospects, and they expect him to be drafted late in the first round or early in the second.

As a building college program, which would you rather have: 1. An elite, superstar player, a potential No. 1 NBA draft pick who will give you sensational play and tremendous publicity every night and at the NBA draft, but will only play for you for one year, two years at the most. 2. An upper-level All-American player who will give you solid, excellent play every night and will stay with you for four years before being a late first-round to early second-round NBA draft pick. In other words, would you rather have LeBron James or Chris Paul for one year or Tyler Hansbrough for four years?

A quest worth undertaking. God bless you, sir.

Idaho's Kibbie Dome

story from ESPN

I also had two that I did not enter.

I know how ridiculous it is to suggest that someone like Vito is a threat. Everyone wants the media to report "positive" things. Then do something positive. You want Vito to stop mentioning the 1-11 record? Then damned well don't go 1-11.

The voice of those that perfer the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil school of journalism. If your concept of America and freedom is that easily threatened, then you've got bigger problems to worry about than what a journalist is reporting.

...is pretty much the last question a journalist should ask in reporting a story.

A slow news day? So a 23 percent increase in the cost of the stadium - before a shovel of dirt has even been turned - is not news? I agree with GreenAlums that calling us "Greenies" is unnecessary. Kind of like Galloway calling Cowboys fans Cow-sheep. But this is a legitimate news story and should be reported. Don't get distracted by your feelings one way or the other toward Vito. The headline here is not the reporter, it's that we're having major cost overruns before construction starts. I want to believe the new stadium will be built, want to believe it more than I can say. But this kind of stuff is disturbing. However, it does bring to mind a whole new marketing slogan: The University of North Texas...at least we're consistent.