GrayEagle

They will face 2-1 Binghamton, 64-44 conqueror of Hofstra. Again they have to beat a tournament host on their home floor.

I agree that Coach Jimmy Gales is on the left but that doesn't look like Tony Worrell with him. Not sure about the record, but I believe that they ended at an even .500.

Did everyone except Hopkins (and Awasom, of course) play in the scrimmage? Do we know why Hopkins wasn't on a scrimmage team?

It's a great list but I assume that you must have had the '74 season as the starting point because a number of great players were left off. I don't have a basketball media guide but a few that I can recall were Fred Hopkins, Joe Hamilton, Jim Mudd, John Savage and Bobby Smith.

Make that ZERO for the number of Division 1 hockey programs in the Southwest. The three closest schools with Division 1 hockey are Air Force, Alabama-Huntsville and Nebraska-Omaha. The travel expenses would be a killer.

I'll admit that it's a pathetic mess but I don't think that the program should be closed down for a year. In fact, the Baylor administration has already made that decision. They will play the regular season, period. I believe that the NCAA will add two or three years of no post-season. At least I hope they do. They should also be on probation and any violation during that period SHOULD result in the death penalty. Dave Bliss should have coached his last college game. His coverup was unconsionable. He'll likely be hit with a civil suit now by Denehy's dad. But, Baylor University is mainly guilty of a bad hire. They apparently put too much trust in a coach with a questionable history. Unless, we find more widespread, serious violations, I do not believe that Baylor should have the death penalty, even a self-imposed one.

You'd not only get media attention but attention from the NCAA, FBI, drug dealers, and countless police departments.

No way, Jose. He's tainted every basketball program that he's come in contact with. He may be a good recruiter because he will take ANYONE that he thinks could help the program. His next coaching job should be at an NAIA or NJCAA school.

Fort Worth and Tarrant County has had that attitude for a long time. As soon as Ross Peort, Jr. announced the building of Alliance Airport, Fort Worth ribboned their city limits past Keller so that they could get tax revenue. That city limits included a portion of Denton County so Fort Worth, while in the center of Tarrant County, now extends into a second county. Of course, Dallas extends into Collin County as well but that was by invitation and not to gather tax revenue from a major entity. They did ribbon out and rim Lake Ray Hubbard though (and that was NOT by invitation) to ensure a porttion of their water supply and now they won't clean up the shoreline. So far, they haven't tried to change any county lines. Fort Worth did the same thing years ago with an airport that they tried to pawn off as the DFW airport, except that the entire airport sat within the Fort Worth city limits. Fort Worth and Tarrant would have received all of the revenue from airport operations. That one backfired on them to an extent although they were able to sell American Airlines to use the airport as a training school and eventually corporate headquarters. I'm sure that they've more than recovered that investment. So even when they lose they seem to find a way to win.

Careful, Jim, or the neighbors around the sorority row will demand a greenbelt because we have taken away their beautiful parking lot. The may no longer be able to see the sunset with these buildings in the way. In the 50s, all of the soroties were housed at Chilton Hall, Avenue C and Chestnut. The building was U-shaped with a common courtyard in back. There were six sororities then and each had a 'ramp' with their own entrance. It was a great atmosphere and stimulated the growth of the female Greek system. I think that this will do the same for the current sororities. I do wonder though. There are 13 sororities and only five of them are strong enough financially to warrant a long-term lease? I don't remember Chi Omega being included and they were very strong when I was there. Also, I believe that they added a chapter of Delta Zeta, another strong national fraternity. Will this sorority row have a Phase 2 for possible expansion?

Has anyone from the college broached the Chamber of Commerce about why the reference to either college was omitted? There needs to be a lot of fence-mending, working together and strategizing to make the university and community move forward. If Denton is really interested in promoting their historic side, they could take notes in Granbury. How about shops and museums downtown? How about using the old Campus Theater for musicals and stage shows? It seem to me that with the college talent available there would better quality shows than those in Granbury and they're very good. That could be a good training ground for our fine arts and music majors The point is use your assets. Denton has a lot going for it...size, location, two universities, and money (at least if the number of banks is an indication). I can't believe that a Chamber director is stupid enough to ignore a large part of what makes Denton great.

It's no disgrace losing to Denver. They ranked #4 in the nation last year.

Several on the radio have put 'sport' in perspective for me. If it can be measured, i.e. a score or an order of finish, then it is a sport. If it has to be judged (ice skating, rodeo, etc.) then it is an exhibition. It works for me.

It appears that you are assembling some terrific players to kick-off the first season. I've been impressed with the position players in both hitting and fielding. But we all know that great teams have great pitchers. Can you give us a little rundown on the pitchers that you have signed?

We especially need two things this year...a presence in the middle and everyone to stay healthy. JJ said that Barnett is learning well but he's not healthy enough to do it all. He needs another big body to relieve him. I'm guessing that Byrd must finish JC before he can transger??? Will Smith has his moments but he's just not that big and he couldn't stay healthy. As good as Chris Davis was, the team pretty well tanked when Leonard Hopkins went out with an injury. Roniger also went out. My main hope is that all remain healthy.

I found a source for the SAT scores for the middle group (25-75 percentile) of incoming freshmen. With a little work, I set up the rank of the 117 Division 1-A teams. There is somewhat of a flaw in that not all report SAT scores but rather use ACT scores instead. Since ACT scores are much broader, I converted them to SAT by using the average SAT scores of those that reported both. North Texas is just below the middle of the group. They are actually tied for 63rd with Alabama, Arizona State, South Carolina and Texas Tech. They do rate the highest of the Sun Belt colleges, however. Stanford gets the highest score. Those 75th in ranking had an average SAT of 1320. In the vast majority of schools, that would be in the top 10%. Rice's 25th ranking scores were equal to Stanfords but Stanford was more solid throughout. Here is the ranking of the Sun Belt schools: North Texas 63 Idaho 68 Utah State 82 Arkansas State 84 Middle Tennessee 91 New Mexico 101 Louisiana 101 Louisiana-Monroe 115 Those with the same ranking are ties; all reporting the same scores. Other universities of interest: Rice 2 Tulane 7 Tulsa 25 Texas 28 Texas A&M 39 Baylor 41 SMU 44 TCU 48 Oklahoma 53 Texas Tech 63 Southern Miss 75 New Mexico 79 Houston 90 UTEP 117 (and last) While there are no rankings of each university, this study more nearly ranks the caliber of new students being attracted. As we add new schools and colleges to the present university, I think that we'll advance at least a few rungs but it will always be difficult for a public institution to surpass a private one. We can never be as selective and academics are what justifies a private college's existence. Tulsa 25 Texas

Years ago the University of North Texas was assigned a (educational) television station, KDTN-TV, Channel 2. As I recall, we did not really want to try to raise funds for the equipment so we entered into an agreement with Channel 13 in Dallas for them to televise over our band using their equipment. That has been going on for years; Channel 2 and Channel 13 telecasting out of the same Dallas studio. Does nayone know why there has never been an attempt to build a television studio on campus? It seems to me, that the television station would be a good training ground for RTVF majors. They could learn to produce some of their own shows. We could still run the PBS broadcasts that are running now but get much more publicity out about the University of North Texas in the meantime. I'm sure that a campaign would have to be started to build an operating reserve and an ongoing giving campaign to keep it operative. I don't see this as competition for donations for athletics. I think that you would get a different set of donors, although a few might overlap. Anyway, it's food for thought. Maybe someone knows why in all these years there hasn't been an attempt to move Channel 2 to Denton. Anyone know?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>A SOLDIER'S LETTER<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Dear Dad: A funny thing happened at Camp Bondsteel (Bosnia). A French army officer walked up to me in the PX and told me that he thought we Americans were a bunch of cowboys and were going to provoke a war with Iraq. He said if such a thing happens, we wouldn't be able to count on the support of France. I told him that it didn't surprise me. Since we had come to France's rescue in World War I, World War II, Vietnam and the Cold War, their ingratitude and jealousy was due to surface again at some point in the near future anyway. I also told him that is why France is a third-rate military power with a socialist economy and a bunch of pansies for soldiers. I additionally told him that America, being a nation of deeds and action, not words, would do whatever it had to do, and France's support, if it ever came was only for show anyway. Just like in ALL NATO exercises, the US would shoulder 85% of the burden and provide 85% of the support, as evidenced by this French officer was shopping in an American PX, and not the other way around. He bagan to get belligerent at this point, and I told him that if he would like to, I would meet him outside the Burger King and whip his ass in front of the entire Multi-National Brigade East, thus demonstrating that even the smallest American had more fight in him than the average Frenchman. He called me a barbarian cowboy and walked away in a huff. With friends like these, who needs enemies? Dad, tell Mom I love her. Your loving daughter, Mary Beth Johnson, Lt. Col., USMC

Almost all of it was great publicity; I'm glad that they featured UNT. The one exception was an interview where the girl that did most of the talking was wearing a UT sweatshirt. I hope that I was the only one that noticed.

Norah Jones graduated from Booker T. Washington School for the Performing Arts, a Dallas high school.

Lifer is right. While he has the right to say or do anything within the bounds of reason he should exercise a good taste and do that as part of a protest group. He is representing a group which I daresay does not endorse disrespect for the flag or the country. Many posters on this board have served in the military in time of war. I know that I am, and I believe that most do all they can to honor the flag and our comrades who died to maintain the right of free speech. But just as this contemptable person has his right to turn his back on the flag, Rudy has the right to voice his displeasure. Back off hell, I applaud you Rudy. We are all responsible for our actions. If my actions offend someone else then I must be prepared for the consequences. If someone's actions offend me, I have the right to say what I think about it. It's my right of free speech.

It was my understanding that after sitting out a year that he would have a year of eligibility left. To me that means that he is not eligible until the second semester (Jan. 2004) but would also be elibigle for the fall semester of that year. Even if that is true, I don't know how JJ would feel about using a player that could not go to the end of the year with the team.

I don't see how Jerry could be the best owner in the NFL. Isn't it the job of the owner to select and hire the General Manager? He does have Dallas' best interest at heart, as long as it will make money. There is a fine line between and owner doing nothing and one that is too meddlesome. Mr. Jones crossed the line on day one bur he does have a right to protect his investment. He soes do many things right. Let's hope that the hiring of Parcells is another one of his right moves.

I have talked to Coach Bell much more than to any of our current coaches and I find him to be a fine man, as well as a fine coach. I'm glad that he's back. He has ties to the Houston area but to this area as well. In many ways it's good to have a former player as a coach and recruiter. Speaking of that, former UNT defensive lineman Nelson Barnes, late of the Nebraska staff, is now available (at least I haven't heard of a recent job offer). I think that he'd be a good offensive line coach. As for Tulsa being one of the bottom five 1-A football programs, that's true. I will predict that they will be above that at the end of 2003 and rise much higher after a couple of recruiting seasons.

I, too, like the name but there are two problems with their getting it. (Blank) State University is usually reserved for the number one, 1-A or two university in the state. It has historically been THE agricultural college in the state. If anyone were to be granted that name it should be Texas A&M. Then, assuming A&M were to give up that right, Southwest Texas State is a part of the 'Texas State University System'. They would need to be designated the flagship university to be able to use Texas State University by itself. If approved, it would rightly be called "Texas State University @ San Marcos. Then Sam Houston would become TSU @ Huntsville, etc. Personally, I don't think that they stand a chance. Texas, the closest university to them, would probably be against it. A&M, unless they are willing to forever give up the name, would be against it. Texas Tech and North Texas, both of which have attempted to secure that name, would be against it. Of the colleges that are larger and offer more degrees, only the University of Houston would likely not be in opposition. I may be wrong, but this whole episode seems to be much ado about nothing. Unless, of course, they can stack the legislature with SWT grads.