keith

I got a lead all the way up here. Has anyone heard of a possible TE transfer from Northeastern University (dropped its football program)? Name of the transfer is Conor Gilmartin (also seen as Conor Gilmartin-Donohue). http://twitter.com/conorochonueve - says "Bio Former NU Tight End #89, now Tight End at North Texas" http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=185471 - Good size 6'6" 253. Keith

I'm the brother that lives about an hour away...when will tickets be available for sale? +5 = 43

Let's say you got to fill that seat for one day and had the opportunity to ask The President one question on any topic during a press conference (ok, you can sneak a follow-up - or two - in there as long as they are related), what question would you ask? This could be a hard-ball question, a powder-puff question, a "gotcha" question....it's up to you. If you wanted to hear The President, in his own words, answer something for you, what would it be? Keith

1. * 2. Keith

"Mid-major" is a bunch of crap. Allowing our University (or conference) to be included in anything "mid-major" tarnishes our brand. We should disavow anything "mid-major," publically refuse any awards or accolades and sue any organization that attempts to or continues to group us in any mid-major categorization/rankings/awards, etc. If we don't defend our brand, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Keith

As Western Kentucky can attest, it can be a big and painful jump. Being king of the hill in FCS world feels pretty good and can sometimes cloud your judgement. Nothing that a few years in FBS land won't cure you of however. Keith

No. Not appealing at all. Keith

1. No 2. Yes Keith

They probably can't hang on for too long. Eventually the economics just make it very difficult or impossible. The departure of Boise St just accelerates the inevitable. A major change in the make up of the WAC (BTW, adding UNT does not count as a major change) or some white knight/T. Boone Pickens type coming to their rescue would be about the only two things that would change that for La Tech, but even that has its limits. From a strictly SBC perspective, the Sun Belt should (if they have not already) offer an invite to La Tech...an offer too good to refuse type of invite. The hunted, if the SBC is ever really the hunted, becomes the hunter and the Sun Belt becomes a stronger conference. I'm not really into the whole who is the better conference thing, but this change would arguably vault the SBC ahead of the WAC (at least in the short run). In the long run, it would probably help the WAC refocus itself as a western conference. The La Tech/ULM thing will work itself out one way or another. Keith

Is that because....*cough*....ummmm....*cough*.....well, a certain, you know....team.....has been....*cough*....dragging down the, you know, Sun Belt's ratings and the SoS of our current conference mates? In other words, would it instantly become (Sun Belt - NT) > (WAC - BSU + NT)? Keith

Unconditional offer from the SEC or PAC-10 (or both)? What offer are they waiting to get in writing? Keith

Ummm....Sun Belt is two words. Keith

How much does the timing of the firing...um...resignation of Dr. Bataille factor into all of this? It's often said that it's the presidents of the universities who are in the driver's seat in these shake-ups. Really bad time to be in transition at the top if you ask me. Keith

This will be the final separation of the haves and have nots. For the rest of time, the national champion shall come from and only from the annointed field of 64. So let it be written, so let it be done. Keith

We used to play Boise, New Mexico State, Nevada every year. It was the same tired excuse then with these teams (no one wants to see us play [insert team of choice here] because no one cares) that it is now with our current conference mates. Why is Boise so attractive now? Is it because they are in the WAC or because they have put together a winning program? We did not capitalize on our run at the beginning of the decade and we don't compete or win against top 25/top 50, etc. teams. If we did that on a regular basis, then everything else would take care of itself. Keith

Anyone know why they carve out the sides in stair step fashion like they are all ready for seats and then cover it up again? It seemed like they did that over and over in the far end of the east side and then filled it all in and made it smooth. Now they are doing the same thing on the west side. Keith

Wow! Simply amazing to watch the progress. It seems like things are moving really fast now. It's hard to tell from the camera angle, but approximately how far below ground-level is the playing surface going to be? It looks like they are moving massive amounts of earth out of the bowl. I really like this aspect of the stadium design. Keith

Why? Keith

I was referring to his original blog -- "Mangrum Leaves Program"...."Mangrum to Transfer" -- maybe he was going for shock value or something, but to me that's a negative spin. If I understand it correctly, Collin is finishing his undergrad work in 4 years (which is expected for full-time students) and graduating. His next step is to go to grad (law?) school. This is all very positive and should be applauded. He's not "leaving" the program or "transferring" to another school which both carry negative connotations in this context. He's graduating. Congratulations Collin. Well done! Keith

So he's not really "leaving" the program and/or "transferring" to another school. He's graduating (which is a good thing and something we hope all student athletes do). Nice negative spin on this by Vito. Keith

Confusing headline/post by Vito. Is Collin transferring to another school now and then graduating or is he finishing up his undergrad work and graduating from UNT (before next season) and then enrolling in law school? Who transfers with one semester to go? Keith

Pffft...I knew I should have looked it up. Social Security tax is 6.2%. Medicare is another 1.45%. Employer has to kick in a matching amount. The key difference is SS tax is only on the first $106K of income while Medicare keeps going. Keith

This is another example of what happens when people are deluded into thinking that they do not need to care for themselves...that someone else (the government) will do that for them. I think it's actually 7.5% and your employer chips in another 7.5%. Too bad that is not in some self-directed account that you own/control rather than the government. When planning for your golden years, do not count on anything from Social Security (which was supposed to be a safety net). I read (or heard) somewhere that some of the better looking unemployment numbers were do to some starting to fall off the count because they exhausted unemployment benefits or something like that. I don't put a lot of stock in what our government tells us these days. Keith

I believe the point is that you are not forced to purchase auto insurance if you do not own/drive a car. The purchase of liability insurance is a condition of being granted access to the public roadways. One interesting aspect of this is with your auto insurance, you are probably purchasing medical insurance too (Personal Injury Protection), but it's only good if you're in the car. PIP, by the way, is probably a duplicate of your existing medical coverage - assuming you have medial coverage and since you can't file two claims for the same event, PIP is unnecessary coverage. Keith

And if you spend any of those earnings, it will be taxed a third time. And for those recieving what you spend, they will pay tax on it as income and so on and so on....the government takes a piece of every transaction. Keith