FirefightnRick

Absolutely, it's a War Trophy and I enjoyed hearing some of our fans explaining it to MTSU fans after the game was over. We currently are the only ones left with the tradition by the way. Rick

The tortillas flew at MTSU at the end of the game. Carry on!.......the tradition that is. Rick

By the way, inside on the second page of The Daily News Journal's Game Day section(the one with the cartoon) is an article by Adam Sparks titled: "Smart Football a must for MTSU...Mistakes have proven costly against Mean Green". Indeed! Rick

There was a lot of banter going on between MTSU fans and us all day. All of it was in fun and with that I wanted to point out a couple of them. One thing that the Murf paper always does is have a colored cartoon of their mascot doing something to Scrappy on the front page of their morning sports page. It's kind of corny but cute just the same. The 2002 version was better than this years in my oppinion. Another thing that we all noticed was that the First Tennessee Bank sponsored a T Shirt give away. 10,000 MTSU Blue T shirts were given out to give them a chance to have a sea of blue. One thing though that was cool about the shirts. On the front it had MTSU's and NT's logos, including our new one with the "Son of Worm" on there. But the back of the shirt explained that this weekend was MTSU and the Bank's Salute to all "First Responders" including Fire, Police and EMS. This is how it reads: "Today, we're saluting the bravery of the Fire, Police, EMS and all first responders" Then just below this it read: "(By the way, you may want to stick around. The boys from North Texas might need you)". Here's our F5 with his new sleep shirt on: Season Opener: September 10, 2005. Go Blue Raiders! I thought it was a clever idea, a good way to get more Blue into the stadium and a great promotional item as well. The shirts probably cost the bank possibly $4 each or less? But probably the best smack'um going on was the efforts of our very own Emmitt. Emmitt made two signs before the game and everyone within eye sight got to read them all night long. One said something about(Emmitt correct me if I'm wrong) ......"GOT RINGS?" That got a lot of people in Blue wound up real quick but it was pretty funny I must admit. The second one just said simply: NOW SERVING:.......#26! Every time someone yelled at us or at Emmitt he would just hold up either of the two at the direction of the yelling. We kept telling him to put the one about #26 down before he freakin jinxed us, but he just kept flashing it all 4 quarters. It was sort of like a crystal ball thing I suppose at the end. All in all everything was done in fun and as I posted earlier we had a blast. Rick

I'll take boring over losing any day. Rick

They go out tomorrow. If you would rather save the shipping and pick them up saturday let me know. Rick

It will be the "Son of Worm" at the 50. But as of Friday nothing had been done yet. However, not sure anyone has noticed but the Mean Green Club deck is no longer a deck. All the wood has been ripped up and replaced with concrete. Half of it is done. The other half friday was framed up, steel tied in and ready to take concrete, which I was told would be poured today or Tuesday. It will be a stepped terrace version instead of one level. It looks very nice, but I sort of hate to see it and question why because it looks like a very expensive, permanant project for the future site of a parking lot. Maybe the new stadium is a little further down the road than previously thought? Rick

What? We have known what the new jersey's would look like since May. The addition to having Mean Green on the jersey is a much better addition than having North Texas on the chest and helmet as in the past. Since I picked up the new green jersey's friday I'm pissed I didn't order one myself. This is by far the best jersey we have had so far. The new number font is strange at first, but it's unique like Tt's and stands out from a distance. In fact, that font belongs to North Texas and North Texas only. No other school can use it as I was told. This year's jersey has the New Balance logo on the right shoulder and the SunBelt Conference 30th anniversery on the left, both embroidered onto the jersey. The "Mean Green" on the chest is embroidered as well. All the names and numbers are sewed on as well. There is no screening on these new jersey's. As for the helmet, I like the new font and the fact that the lettering is outlined in black. But the lettering needs to be larger as they are hard to recognize from a distance. If you didn't go saturday you'll understand this against Tulsa. Also, I expect another change next season to the correct color of green for everything if the team's uni's are to follow in line with the new branding. They didn't get it all ironed out in time this year to change to the new color. Rick

Any chance we can get Emmitt a Talon scholarship for grad school? Or should that read, a grad scholarship for Talon school? He needs to take someone to school up there regardless. Rick

Voertman's, hands down! They even have a larger selection of flags plus they came down in price on their NT Battle Flag, $29.99 each. Rick

What is stranger to me is dropping TCU from 30th to 65th and for Tulsa dropping at all after playing OU to the wire until the final 4 minutes. Tulsa is not the 100th ranked team, no way. Rick

Jeff, did Sandra leave you or something? Rick

LOL! You know, he could be on to something here. Every school has it's niche. No reason why NT couldn't become known on ESPN as having one of the more creative student bodies nation wide? Rick

JohnDenver Again, from his vantage point on the side line saturday night, I have to thank JD. I spoke with SPJMo after the game outside the lockerroom and he was all smiles. He and the rest of the team were very happy to come away with a win. Rick

Thank you JD. Rick

I fully understand why The Emerald Express played most of the night. Everyone may as well get used to it. Patrick IS the leader of this team this year. After a tough return after kickoff he was back in there to start the offensive series. He will be on the field most of the time this year due to his leadership. SPJMo will get his chances also, but it's even more nice to have him come in knowing that he's very fresh. One funny part of this game during the 3rd quarter was when a group of Blue Raider fans next to our seciton kept yelling..."THE RUNNING BACK IS GOING TO GET THE BALL!!!!" as if the defense didn't know it already? It was one of those "Thank you captain obvious for the heads up" type of funnies I suppose. Rick

Gross did have a nice night but I couldn't believe he couldn't outrun Holman, who many within the program say's is one of our slower LB's. Rick

Hmmmm, well said. I'll take a redshirt reshman who is learning to play within the system and doesn't make a mistake in his very first college game over a highly rated Junior who's on at least one award watch list who made several mistakes in his second starting year. Rick

Yawn!!!!!!!!!! GMG.com has brought more poeple together to support this university and it's programs than any other media combined, and everyone who matters knows this is true. Rick

Thanks for the pictures 49. Pic#4 is of KajunRaider and his gang in their open air suite. Good people. Rick

We had a fantastic time in Murfreesboro. The Blue Raider alumni and fans just about rolled out the red carpet for us. I want to thank Lucky Dan(Owner of the Hillbilly Hilton), KajunRaider, SpaceRaider and everyone in between who were absolutey first class to all of us. I can't say enough how great these people were to us. I' have some photos up later on with some of the folks we met. By the way, I haven't been to the florida schools yet, but Murfreesborro may have the second largest collection of natural talent in conference next to Denton. As a member who grew up in the 70's it brings a tear to my eye to see the toob top come back in full fashion! I also want to thank SoundMan for twoing that big ass smoke pit over 1200 miles roundtrip. The briskette was great and many of our Raider friends appreciated it too. The Game: I can't tell you how damn proud I am of Danny Meager. He played within himself, didn't hurt the team one bit and showed us flashes of what he can do with the ball. You got a sens of the offense finally coming together late in the second half and you have to believe it was them becoming more and more comfortable with their new QB. The Meager Era has begun. As for the offense and the blandness of it? I thought we threw more than I thought we would(16) and now we know what this offense is capable of. I just don't think DD was going to show his full hand with our two backs just yet and that may be the case. What else can you say for Kenny Evans and his young defense? Just amazing. I knew from the very first series when Middle had the ball that we could possibly have the potential to do something when TJ came up on those first two swing passes and nearly broke the recievers legs as soon as he caught the ball. Many of us cricise and question why the coaches are so harsh on this team during two a days. Two hundred plus play scrimmages, full contact all week that cause probably more injuries prior to games than we can afford? But you have to feel that they must do it for a reason, that reason to me is to toughen the team up. And with such a young defense I think this paid off saturday. They didn't look tired even though they were on the field most of the night. You have to get this feeling, and Emmitt and I told many Raider fans this on Saturday, that the Sunbelt had better find someone to beat us this season because it may be their last best chance for a while as this defense is going to be very good in the years to come. It was great to once again see Byron Gross at the game and looks as if he could suit up and go right now. He doesn't live too far away from the Murf and has attended this game all three trips. Also it was a pleasant surprise to see and talk with the great Scott Davis and son. They traveled with the team to the game and had a great time. What can you say about Andy Mac? I may never criticise the Buick on our play calling agian? Some may disagree with me here but while down by 7, with the ball 4th and 2 inside the NT 10?, against a team he had never beaten before and everyone and God himself watching knows that if he doesn't win this game, his job is in real trouble......and he kicks for 3, with 8 minutes to go? I have to ask, what did he have to lose going for the first? Middle had their way all night on offense, this was the end of a 72 yard drive. They had converted two or three 4th and 1's previously on the night. If they don't make it then NT has it's back up aginst it's own goal line. What have you got to lose there? I knew when they missed that field goal after the kick that Middle had rolled over and died right there. The team, and the fans gave up on Coach Mac at that point. You have to feel for our friends at MTSU. They have great fans, they have great tailgating events, they have great, great facilities in which Floyed Stadium puts Fouts to complete shame. Floyd's open air suites are just fantastic for their owners to watch and you can see why they are all sold out because of their lure of convenience and great sightlines. The Middle has just about everything an up and comer needs but they don't have a coach. And now I'm convinced of that after saturday. All in all it was a great trip and our group all got home safe. On the way there and back we witnessed two blown tires right in front of us. One was a mini van coming back, but the first one was when two Miami police cars heading East Bound past us going ? 90, 100 mph? and the lead one was pulling a motorcycle trailer in which a tire on the trailer blew causing everyone to have to dodge the tire, and him to nearly lose the trailer. During the tailgaiting day The Cocunut Bay Cafe was handing out free beer tokens to everyone. I had a pocket full so we took full advantage of that after the game. Fantastic Road Trip! Rick

Be sure to tune in to watch the two most pathetically wealthy college programs in the nation go at it this coming saturday. Texas and Ohio State's combined athletic budgets exceed $160,000,000. $70Mil total/$12 Mil for football for Texas $90 Mil total/$16 Mil for football for OSU). The NFL needs two more teams added to their league if you ask me. Rick

Me. Rick

FAU has a serious defense. Lots of speed. Take away the fumbles and this is a very close game going into the 4th. Rick

Good news. All FW Task Force 1 members are back home tired but safe. Said that 90% of everyone they encountered were extremely appreciative of the help. Concerning the other 10% I don't see any point in mentioning here. The crews were escorted by Louisiana Game Wardens most of the time. Said at one point they helped evacuate an entire firestation crew who was held up in the second floor of a hotel. When they reached them the fire crew said that they were done and just wanted out because there was nothing they could do at that point without any equipment. Rick