PlummMeanGreen

Through the hole in the ceiling in the attic of his house with hurricane waters rising fast, he reached down for his youngest sister.... As I was watching CNN's Larry King interview Dan Rather the other night about Hurricane Rita and her potential to destroy billions of dollars of Texas property but more important, its potential to take Texan's lives, Mr. Rather started talking about a 1961 hurricane whose name was Carla. Rather was a young TV reporter for Houston's CBS affiliate KHOU, Channel 11 back in 1961 and little did he know back then how it would be that hurricane (and later an assassination in Dallas) that would soon elevate him to national media prominence at CBS News. In September of 1961 on the gulf coast of Texas, life was good for many of us baby boomers. World War II and the Korean War were all but distant memories for many of our parents. Many of us baby boomer's fathers were hard workers with many of that group not having too much of an education background. As it was, many of our fathers back in the day grew up in the the Depression and had to work on their family farms rather than having an opportunity to attend a Texas public school as to get much higher than an 8'th grade education. Yet, this was during the pre-World War II era when things were beginning to boom as to turn that part of Texas into what many began to call the golden Gulf Coast. Many of our dads (HS diplomas or not) could still get on with one of numerous petroleum/chemical plants rising on the salt grass prairies of Texas near the Gulf and for my late father, that would be the Texas Division of Dow Chemical Company, Freeport, Texas, where he worked for 37 years. One of my fellow Brazoria County-ites (near Galveston/Freeport) I had met as a youngster was the boyfriend of a young girl whose parents were Sunday afternoon "coffee, pie and 42" friends of my parents. That teenage boy's name was Jimmy Dunn... The Dunn family (all 10 of them) lived right off Bastrop Bayou, near Freeport and about 10 miles from Surfside Beach off the Gulf of Mexico. The Dunn's pier beam frame house was located just off that bayou and in September of 1961 when (as Dan Rather described on Larry King the other night) we had a hurricane with such an expanse that it would literally fill the entire Gulf of Mexcio on the map. Many of us kids living off the coast of Texas all grew up hearing very old, old timers tell the story of the Great Galveston Storm at the turn of the century that killed anywere from 8-12,000 Galvestonians; and in 1961 to many of our families living within 15-20 or so miles from the coastline, Hurricane Carla seemed that she might turn out to be such a storm as the one that wiped out an entire Texas island city in the early 1900's. So then most of our families (even without today's present satellite technology of tracking hurricane's movements) used good judgement and tens upon tens of thousands of families evacuated the Texas gulf coast all the way from the Texas Golden Triangle area of Beamont/Port Arthur/Orange all the way down to the southernmost tip of Texas, ie, Brownsville. But back to Jimmy Dunn, who was a family acquaintance and boyfriend of my parent's friend's daughter; anyway, young Jimmy's father told his wife, his oldest son and his 7 youngest siblings that they would not be going anywhere during this hurricane but would hunker down, get some six packs and the adults would just have a good old fashioned hurricane party. After my dad helped close down the plant in Freeport, our family headed toward Mexia/Groesbeck to stay with relatives just like many of Hurricane Rita's evacuees are doing the same as I post and as you read this post. So a hurricane party it would be in the Dunn household... As the winds of Hurricane Carla howled outside, Jimmy Dunn's mom and dad were drinking (probably) a bit more than they should have, and maybe even that because they very well could have began to think that they may have made a wrong decision to not evacuate their pier beam frame house off the shores of Bastrop Bayou. So as the Dunn family hunkered down with the adults partying, it was getting dark outside as the brunt of Hurricane Carla started her landfall onto the Freeport/ Surfside Beach area of Texas and the tides of Bastrop Bayou began rising dramatically fast, almost to the point that Jimmy Dunn later said he thought a tidal wave had come through the bayou because... ...the salt water started rushing onto the Dunn household's wooden floor. Mr and Mrs. Dunn instructed their 8 kids to immediately start stacking furniture so it would not get wet, but about that time the the water started rising even more quickly and to the extent that it was up to the Mr. and Mrs. Dunn's and young teen Jimmy's wastelines. Jimmy saw his family was in deep trouble, so he got on top the kitchen table and with a small hatchet immediately knocked a hole into the ceiling of the Dunn househould leading to the attic. He related later that his mother and dad were so inebbriated that they were almost becoming a liability as not only be able to save them but his younger brothers and sisters as well. So after the young teenage boy and oldest of the Dunn family finally knocked a hole though the ceiling and one large enough for his family to crawl up to he then jumped up into the attic. About the time he made his way into the attic and got situated as to start his rescue, what he would later describe as another tidal wave came thru Bastrop Bayou and very quickly filling his family's living room with water now about 6 feet deep inside the house. In fact, one more surge of the rising water caused it to be almost near ceiling height. So through the hole in the ceiling in the attic with hurricane waters rising fast, he reached down for his youngest sister, but a suction created by the fast rising water and a suction that might be compared to the kind created by a sinking ship caused his entire family to be pulled down into the water to each of their watery graves. Jimmy didn't have time to mourn his most traumatic and enormous loss because the water kept on rising and into the attic where he originally thought he would be able to save his family and himself. With his small hatchet, he chopped yet another hole, but this time it was through the roof much like many of us all saw recently with those who had similar experiences in the Big Easy just 3 weeks ago. After finally chopping his way through the roof, he was finally able to get on top his family's home's roof to find himself right in the middle of a high category hurricane whose name was Carla. Jimmy Dunn told friends that while on that roof right in the middle of Hurricane Carla, it was pitch black, raining hard with winds that almost swept him off the roof of the house where he grew up. Later that night, Jimmy related how the house started floating off into what he thought was a trip into the Gulf of Mexico. A few hours later, though, he would look north and see the red blinking lights of a very tall radio tower near Angleton, Texas. The next morning, the Texas Coast Guard would pick up Jimmy Dunn and those sailers would later hear one of the most horrific hurricane stories they would probably ever hear in their lifetimes. Life has many strange turns and detours for many, and I guess you'd have to say the same for Jimmy Dunn, just one of the local boys from Brazoria County. As I posted earlier, Jimmy had dated my parent's friends daugher whose name was Patricia Greener. Last time I saw the 2 of them was one Sunday night when my parents and I went to a Dairy Queen. They really seemed like a young boyfriend/girfriend who anyone would have thought had such bright futures ahead of them. 6 years after Hurricane Carla when Jimmy had lost his entire family, he enlisted in the U.S Army and after all this young man had gone through in his young life especially during a 1961 Texas hurricane, he lost his own life fighting for our country in Viet Nam and that (again) 6 years after he lost his entire family. My parent's friend's daughter and Jimmy Dunn's girlfriend, Patricia, was tragically killed about one year after Jimmy lost his life in a a senseless automobile accident caused by a drunk driver. So 2 nights ago when Dan Rather was on CNN's Larry King Show and began talking about his experience as a TV reporter in a 1961 Texas-sized storm called Hurricane Carla, there is always one other story that comes to my mind that took place in 1961 on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

SUMG, you are projected to get a big wall of rain up there in the piney woods and Texarkana. Call me if you need a place and (as you know) I've got a large fenced in area for your dogs. Island Eagle?

Hang in there, Deep Green, MG61, two dogs, Houston posters and other Texas/Lousiana Gulf Coasters. Island Eagle, please let us know how you are faring. Sounds like Broadway Street and the Galveston seawall may have dodged a bullet? Any of you others on the coast have any upates of your situation? Anyone need a place to stay? Let us know.

SE-66, it is probably the hope of many that after we finish out the new Mean Green Athletic Village with that shining buckle on those 200 acres of sprauling, rolling Texas prairieland, ie, our new football stadium, that Texas State will take the University of North Texas spot in the SBC as we go to another conference. Now which league that would be could possibly end up being the surprise of the century as far as Mean Greeners are concerned. I think we will have another option or 2 than just CUSA, but that is all I am going to say about that. As far as the Texas State offensive performance last night, we might all recall that we, too, had some pretty decent offensive teams at the 1-AA level. Some of those 1-AA Mean Green offenses that would be competiive (if not dominant) in the Sun Belt Conference today. Lest we also forget, some of those 1-AA Mean Green offenses played a huge part in beating a handful of teams in the now defunct Southwest Conference among others. The irony of all ironies at NT is how our head football coach and offensive coordinator were both good NCAA D1-A quarterbacks at their respective schools, yet the irony part is how the position of QB is hardly the dominant role in a UNT offensive game plan. Actually, I've wondered at times how many D1-A offenses are that successful without a more prominent role by its QB? Of course, all of us Monday Morning QB's can always theorize (2'nd guess?) on all aspects of our athletic (football) program since we are not on the NT payroll or on the firing line. Also, as some of you have pointed out in the past few months, this was to be the great Andrew Smith's team to QB in this 2005 football season (and may God rest his soul). For certain, we have had other set-backs and personnel losses with this 2005 Mean Green football team that no one could have anticipated and IMHO, no one should have to take any semblance of blame for, either, with our NT coaching staff at the top of that list. There are just some times in the life of a college football program when you are just going to experience some bad luck. The last 5 years, we in Mean Green Country have had more than our share of some good breaks that have allowed us to get out of college football purgatory and even allowed us to start a mega-major athletic building program that has probably even impressed some major NCAA D1-A schools at a few BCS outposts. GMG!

Welcome to our board, Kstateguy... I remember meeting Bill Snyder at a Mean Green gathering not long after former NT coaching legend Hayden Fry hired him from Austin College. Geez! He sure did have more hair back in those days--of course, so did I. Hope its a good game where both teams show improvement, but we would take a win if it were to just happen to come our way. GMG!

I think what I highlighted in Emmitt's post is killing us right now. Hopefully, TJ plans on getting his grades and coming back this Spring; hopefully (and for his own sake) Issac Thomas gets over his heat related injury and then gets back on schedule of being a pretty decent defensive lineman. Looking at that game last Saturday, I don't know if Joe Montana would have had time to pass the ball with a Tulsa DL in your face almost immediately after the center hikes the ball; of course, give Tulsa credit for that, too. GMG!

I think many on GMG.com haven't really given Tulsa their due as of yet. ? One theory of what may have happened among some fandom last Saturday night at Fouts Field was that we may have thought we were playing last year's unsuccessful Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team with what we thought may have been the season end quality (excepp the USM game) of last year's Mean Green football team. Tulsa had a very bad year last year and we (in deed) went to a bowl game, but most likely TU redshirted quite a few in their down season and were waiting for other key players (transfers?) that didn't play last year to become elgible this season and play a part of their 2005 team, ie, a team that almost beat the OU Sooners 2 weeks ago.

I believe a very large portion of GMG.com would concur especially with the last sentence of your post, MeanGreenPop. Visit often--post even more! GMG!

Be careful, Phil. Glad to read that you and family are gettting out. I hope to read other posts from GMG.com posters who will be doing the same. Yall keep us posted, guys. I know some of you have laptops. Phil, I know you remember Hurricane Carla back in 1961 when we all had to leave the coast, but this Rita gal scares the hell out of me for all our fellow Texans and still many from Louisiana. Prayers to you all.

True, but we might also admit that UT has had a much larger percentage of their Texas Exes that have $tepped up to the plate much more$o than our NT Exe$ have, too, as far as giving to the Longhorn Foundation (the UT version of the Mean Green Club) and showing up for football games. Our Mattress Mac would merely be one of hundreds of similar donors at UT-Austin. NT has many other Mattress Mac's out there and some of you know some of their names, but we have done a poor job of developing them as donors thru the decades, yet that is still a work in progress and my bet is that one or 2 of them (and thats all you need) will help us get our new stadium jump-started. A BET? I would wager that UT probably sold out their next home game after that 66-3 UCLA blowout in Austin. At NT, one of the themes that has developed on this message board is the suggestion of how no one will come back for the Troy game, except most of us on this board, a hardy handful from Denton County, some DFW NT Exes and a whole bunch of NT freshmen. I think we have some alums who almost wish for that to occur to be honest about it and you can read some posts and figure out who those Negative Neds are. That (to me) is the saddest part of all this. Seems the Tulsa loss has sorta' separated the wheat from the chafe in Mean Green Country. In Texas, we learn early on the pecking order of college education in our Lone Star State and we should all know that we won't ever match the Permanent University Funded UT or TAMU programs in academics or athletics, but neither will a whole bunch of other Texas schools OR most in the Big 12 for that matter. Yet do those other Big 12 programs (like Texas Tech) just throw up their hands and quit trying because of that? Of course they don't, just like we won't. Colorado University's head football coach Gary Barnett recently spoke about all the resources UT and TAMU had that his Boulder school will never have; but I haven't read anywhere that the CU Buffalos are folding up their tents because of that. So, why don't we accept our situation, dramatically improve it (as most of us would feel we are on those 200 acres at Eagle Point Campus) and just be the best that we can be? As far as comparing NT to UT, we are not at their level across the board and that includes almost every aspect of the UNT constituency including (again) athletic fund-raising (our billfolds) and season ticket purchases (our billfolds again). What we are doing at our Eagle Point Campus has most of us excited and we have every right to be excited but FWIW, all we are doing is merely catching up with what our school should have been doing the last 25 years rather than trying to do it all at one time (as we seem to be doing). So in essence, we are in catch-up mode at NT with our athletic facilities, but when we do catch up, it will put NORTH TEXAS ahead of others and put us in a position as to move up as far as our campus leaders and those of us fans/alums decide the level we want it to be. The main barometer of that will ultimately be what kind of funds the Mean Green Club can raise (from us) and the sales of that most important base of season ticket sales--us again. So at NT, it really seems to be what we as fans/alums want to $acrifice. I think some of our elect would be surprised how much more CUSA schools athletic budgets are than ours. So how we as alums/fans give and show up at games will always be the 2 key bell cows as to how far we allow this football program to go at NT. So its not always just about how our coaches or our football players are performing. We as NT alums/fans are just as big a part of all this as the 2 aforementioned and that might put a new and different perspective on all this that a few may have never given much thought to previously.

Thanks for the score, gangrene...So I guess these home opening blowouts have happened other places than just NORTH TEXAS?

The Roy Bishop class had around 8 Texas state top 100's and 1 or 2 Oklahoma Fab 55 recruits that would have probably been Tx top 100's if they had played their HS football in the Lone Star State. I really do love our Oklahoma state connnection and only hopes it gets even stronger. Yet, it was the Roy Bishop class that took Mean Green football to new heights which has given our program such momentum as we have now started a 200 acre Mean Green Athletic Village. I really believe we had a good recruiting class this year; but even as UT coach Mack Brown would probably even tell us, you'll know more about that in 4 or 5 years. This NT team had some last minute academic casualties a few weeks that we could not afford to lose (especially the defensive lineman). He was going to be our next Booger Kennedy according to some of you and now we don't have him this Fall. I'd say that we sure needed him because we really do have a bunch of newbies on our NT defense, but lets just have fun watching them develop because in all reality, that is the only option we have as fans. Lets remember that this program was way down before and made it to a level as to where we beat the CUSA co-champion (and Cincy' beat a very good TCU team that same season); so we did something right back in that day and we will do so again (and you all know I am saying something that you already know). GMG!

Sorry, LongJim, but I remember when (was is USC or UCLA) came to Austin a few years ago and planted a real big one on the Horns. I cannot remember that score at DKR, but it had to be UT's worse point differential home opening loss in their history.

Hey Rudy, lets first get that 40,000 seat stadium, take the chance and see! GMG!

And what if a chunk of ice at the North Pole the size of Texas were to break off(eventually) causing a tidal wave in New York City which eventually freezes into solid ice and creating yet another American natural disaster? (Sorry, that movie "The Day After Tomorrow" is one of my favorite "what if" the weather gets all screwed up movies); but what I am saying, Rudy, in my usual left (or right) of center sorta' way is: What can we possibly do about what "might" happen? If I were to think that way all the time, I might not want to get out of bed every day fearing what might happen once I put my feet on the bedroom floor. Hopefully, one day our fans come to watch the Mean Green no matter what our record, the previous game's out-come or even who it is that we play. That would be a full 180 degree maturation of our athletic program that we are (for sure) not used to seeing in Denton as of yet. I hope such an attitude has even already begun with the last 5 record breaking UNT freshmen classes. They are our future in so many ways. GMG! PS: I do agree with your: Kick kstates arse, though!

Thanks for that post, T-Sipper! I bet we had many new fans/new faces at last weekend's game AND watching their, uh, "home county team!" I guess not only do we need our team to forget last Saturday night, move on and step up to the plate the rest of the season, but I also suppose we need to ask that of all those new fans/new faces (and, of course, us) at Fouts last Saturday night do the same. Many have already dismissed all those (obvious) new fans the rest of this season based on our past, but lets just wait, see and let eveyone have a fresh start. I think we all admire perrennial losing Big Time U football programs that still fill their stadiums each home game, and one day hope we will be such a program no matter how our team is playing OR..................who we are playing.

Of course, our win is against and 0 & 3 MUTS football team. I think we all share the same frustration. I really believed that in 2005 we'd take our next step up the BCS ladder with 1 or 2 OOC wins and if we got lucky--mabye 3. Well, at this moment, all bets are off with that. Yet haven't many of us have played most of our teams 2005 football schedule of what we penciled in as would-be wins with (basically) last years Mean Green football team? I didn't realize or just had my head in the sand that (according to the Mean Green Radio Network guys) we are the 3'rd youngest football team in NCAA D1-A. Don't quite know how they came up with that statistic, but I think we'd all agree that against Tulsa U, we probably had way too many inexperience players on that new $700,000 turf at Fouts last Saturday night. The way Tulsa played OU should have been a pretty darn big red flag that the Hurricanes were not going to be a talent-less football team; and I don' care that OU is have a down year, because they still recruit Big 12-level talent. Those sitting in my section kept commenting how Dan Meager was running for his life the other night most every play. It seems the TU defensive linemen were immediately in his face right after he received the ball from our center. I don't know if the TU game would be a very good barometer for the young Meager with that in mind. We really do need a whole bunch of 1'st year (no game experience) NT football players grow up very quickly in Mean Green Country.

I think our main problem is that the Brandon Kennedy recruiting class of about 8-12 high quality football players have not been recruited to take their place; and if they have been, we are just at that juncture (very few will be patient with) of just having to wait on their development. This just looks like a classic rebuilding year to me even after the win over MTSU. For the moment, what is going on with our offensive line has many of us completely baffled. Hopefully, they will work it out because we all want them to be successful. I am sure our entire backfield would concur with that, too.

Actually, one of our key tail-gate leaders is the one who emailed me some advice on that; but in all fairness to him, I will not quote his name as to PROTECT THE INNOCENT! Been dealing with H. RITA last 48 hours as my old home place is 20 miles from the Gulf of Mexico between Galveston and Freeport and I'm afraid something very near and dear to my childhood may be a goner in the next few days. Of course, its just a house and those can be replaced, but you who grew up in one house know where I am coming from here. We have many on this board who I do hope are in their cars heading north as we all post, all our Houston posters, Deep Green, Island Eagle, twodogs, MG61, and many others who I hope are in the enormous Texas-sized car caravan leaving the coastline of the Gulf Coast. God speed to you all.

There is only one thing that takes our football program to the next level and I've been reading more and more of you now saying the same thing: N-E-W ** S-T-A-D-I-U-M Actually, Coach DD may be looking at KSU's Bill Snyder as his role model inasmuch as we watch NT officials get him all the football related facilities he needs. Such facilities that it took KSU a number of years to get Snyder as he slowly built his own little empire in Manhattan, KS. NT needs all the ancillery football facilities to recruit against schools who already have (or will soon have) what TAMU's Coach Fran calls the "WOW" factor during recruiting season. For now, NT just needs to keep building better facilities than the schools that we annually recruit against. I really believe we've already passed a few of those with what we already have at our Eagle Point Campus. IMO, all that plus our new stadium will take us to the next level.

the green rokemi, I apologize, my Irish blood is near boiling point over all this. We all hated what happened Saturday night in front of a great crowd, but I bet the NT coaching staff and our Mean Green football team probably feel 5 X's worse about all this than we do. Maybe we should show more empathy for this young football team and the coaches who are having to start over in MG Country? You know, NT is much like OU, we are all living in our past. We were a 4 point favorite over Tulsa U last Saturday night because of last year's team. We all just have to move forward. I love a collegiate passing game complement by the run, but what Coach Dickey does is his business; after all, he is the head coach. I just say we all support our school, even when its good, bad or even ugly. GMG!

Let me be the first to tell you that so called fans/alums that will have a similar kind of attitude over this one loss are the kind of attitudes that have kept NT Athletics in the dark ages most of my gol' darned (I'll keep that part clean) adult life. I think NT fans are the worse NCAA D1-A fans (maybe only rivaled by smu) in the state of Texas and this board has only proved it. NT is merely reaping what our fans have sewn, ie, those who constantly have this Chicken Little "the freakin' sky is always falling" attitude (and this after 4 bowl games in a row). Granted, we were not playing in the Rose Bowl, but what we have done the last 5 years sure beats what we did for most of the previous 25 years; so give me a freakin' break, fella. Some of you will be more responsible for running more NT fans off and away from this program than what some of you perceive will be the football team doing such. You see, "IF" NT were to beat KSU this Saturday, we will once again be amazed how all those who jumped off the Mean Green bandwagon will most subtlely and strangely enough, be back "ON" the MG bandwagon. You tell me what kind of solid and stable long-term NT athletic program we can have with such a fickle fan base? One present NT student has already posted (yesterday) his extreme displeasure with all this Negative Ned reaction he has been reading on GMG.com post-Tulsa loss and has him wondering if he even wants to be a part of this; and its not the football team who has him feeling that way. So do you need a hint as to who it might be, then?

Overheard yesterday from a potential NT recruit talking to a present Mean Green football player on an unofficial visit to our campus (the day after the Tulsa loss): Potential Recruit: You know, I have visited Tulsa U and now UNT, and FWIW, they also have a very old stadium, but you guys have one of the best practice facilities and emerging athletic complexes in the Southwest, and I even heard one of your present NFL/North Texas alums told your NT athletic officials it was even better than some in the NFL, so as a Mean Green football player what is your take on all this up here at UNT?" "Has all this been worth 5 years of your life?" Mean Green football player response: "Well, you know, I have really enjoyed most of my time here at NT, won some games, went to 4 bowl games winning one of them, but when we lost one game against the other school you are also thinking about attending, our (what we thought were true blue fans) jumped off the Mean Green bandwagon like rats jumping off the the Titanic." Present Mean Green football player continues: "Oh, by the way, many of our players, their parents and even potential NT football recruits read this particular message board called GoMeanGreen.com and after the Tulsa game and reading a few threads from way too many NT Exes who we thought were our fans/friends and will also be our future fellow alums, we all collectively turned off our computers at the computer lab, gatherered in the large meeting room at the Athletic Center with some of our players staring at each other while others just stared into space (& without anyone having to speak one word) we were all wondering: "Why did we lay it all on the field the last 4 years for way too many of these ungrateful NT alums who abandon us after one game?" "Is this what we can look forward to as future North Texas Exes?" "Our team even won North Texas' first bowl game in over 50 years and after our very young team's loss against what is turning out to be a pretty decent Tulsa U football team, you have all these NT Exes (seemedly) wanting to torch this whole thing we started just 5 years ago; one of our alums calls this whole post-Tulsa U loss experience as many NT Exes seemed desire to "burn the barn down to kill the mouse." "So what I would tell you about making your choice of schools is this: "What kind of fans do you want to play in front of week in and week out?" "Once you have graduated from the school of your choice, what kind of fans/alums do you want to be proud to be associated with?" "YOU MAKE THE CHOICE, MY FRIEND, BECAUSE RIGHT NOW I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU. GOOD LUCK!'

Got5onit, it really wasn't "the sky is falling" part that attracted me but rather the talk of a good strong drink! LOL! I do have an occasional drink (or two or three).

Fair enough....}:>) Can you live with my, uh,, home-ade icons? LOL! gmg!