drex

Can you say 'save my job?'

Lee Jackson has no academic backgroung, in fact he has no background at all. Incidentially, I thought the Board of Regents hired a President, not a free lance chancellor. God help us if the regents let this guy run amuck. Oh, by the way faculty, be careful what you wish for...it just might happen. Pohl was wonderful and all segments of the university better pray to the god of their choice when this Jackson train starts rolling. By the way, those of you who suspicion that Jackson ran Pohl off are not far off track....remember, however, that our dear faculty put a stake through Pohl's heart, too.

Just for the record, Joe Greene played defensive tackle, not defensive end.

I noticed recently that Voertman's now carry Exes merchandise.

We have had that problem for years and years. I was concerned about it in the 80's but was told by the 'computer types' that the cost of doing the cross checking far outweighed the actual cost of the duplications. In other words, the computer people would charge us more to fix the problem than it cost us for the duplication. Frustrating then and now.

I know that a lot of you are frustrated by the impotence of the CLC licensing program at UNT, but here is a good story. I was in Cracker Barrel in Denton yesterday and noticed a lot of North Texas t-shirts and caps. The shirts all had the new logo and aren't bad. The caps were the outdated artwork type, but at least they were available. Anyway, the only other college shirts that were displayed were Texas. No TCU, no SMU, no Texas Tech, etc. All the buying by Cracker Barrel is done from their corporate office in Tennessee. If we were not nationally licensed we would never have been chosen for a purchase by Cracker Barrel. I talked to the buyer for the Denton store and she was happy to have North Texas stuff, but emphasized that the buy was done out of the Tennessee HQ.

OK, here is the history lesson on UNCC and the Mean Green, etc. When the school started competing in intercollegiate athletics they had no nickname, no fight song, etc. The Texas influence at the school was instrumental in picking a version of 'Texas Fight' as their fight song. The mean green was 'adopted' while they were in transition. Finally, they picked the name 49ers because they are located on Interstate 49 in North Carolina. We have tons of documentation about the use of Mean Green back in the 60's, so we have a good leg to stand on should push come to shove. Actually, I doubt that we can have an exclusive on the name Mean Green. However, I have always wanted us to wordmark the phrase "Home of the Original Mean Green-circa 1968."

Ironically, the kid in the North Texan picture was wearing a Hayden Fry era flying worm shirt.

Just for the record, this is not a university sponsored event. It is being put together by Deon Hunter and Wendell Williams, both of whom were on the 1988 men's basketball team that went to the NCAA Tournament. Bill has graciously lent his name to the event in an attempt to help the guys raise money for Building Believers, Inc. It seems a nice way to honor Mercer and raise some money for the non-profit Building Believes, who teach character, etc. through basketball for kids.

The site is a joke...why the old typeface for Mean Green and why all the blue. I thought we ditched all that stuff in April.

There are two guys who played for Hayden, who together, make a great combination. I was watching us play Texas in Austin in the 70's and Earl Campbell was tackled by Champagne/Bottles.

At the time that the Exes developed their logo the university had about 127 different logos and colors. The block NT was chosen to encompass all alumni..all went to NT, whether it was North Texas State, University of North Texas or North Texas State College, etc.

NT91...good idea about the Exes having a plate...we will investigate it and get back to you on this.

Who designed the South Alabama board? Looks like something that Mrs. Smith's fourth grade class did as a class project. What's with the North Texas State?

Did anyone besides me find it funny that the inside front cover of the 'North Texan' was dedicated to proclaiming that green and white were the true school colors? They even digged Helwig and co. with the denouncing of orange and blue. Here's a thought...if we are having UNT crammed down down our collective throats, will the 'North Texan' be called the "UNTn' in the future?

OK, here goes my trip down memory lane. First, it was Maury Johns, the coach of the Drake Bulldogs who said that this was a snake pit and that these were the worst fans in America. The next home game there was a sign proudly proclaiming 'welcome to the snake pit, home of the worst fans in America. Soon thereafter, a rubber snake was thrown on the floor during a game. The old pit was a magical place...I wish each of you could have experienced it. Now, as to the Blakeley era...we had good crowds and at times played the likes of Sam Houston State and even Austin College. Why were the growds good for even these lightweights? Blakeley made it fun. His teams were run and gun and he was in the entertainment business. He always had a slogan on the back of his seat for each season and never made it past ten minutes into the game without throwing off his sport coat. He made fun of bad calls and prayed when our guys were at the free throw line. The fun is gone from our games and we are way too serious. There is a terrible disconnect between our teams and our fans, which is why our crowds for football and basketball are so terrible. It just is not that much fun to attend. Sorry, but that is the brutal truth.

When it comes to the NIT, you had better have some decent home attendance numbers....the games are then bid to those who made the field. If your home attendance stinks, you probably won't bid very much for a home game. If your attendance stinks and you are on the bubble, then kiss the NIT good bye. They don't call it the National Insult Tournament for nothing.

Tim Jankovich is a class act that found himself working for a classless athletic administration. His story is sad here at North Texas and I could tell it if I was wishing for somesort of character defamation law suit from some of the administrators from that era. He is very bright and personable...Tulsa should be in great shape with him as head coach. He has deep roots in 'bigtime' coaching circles, which should be good for the Hurricane program. I have always been lead to believe that he was in line to take the coaching job at his alma mater, Kansas State when the position opened.

I intentionally watched Johnny Jones leave thru the tunnel after the game. RV was at the mouth of the tunnel and Johnny intentionally exited as far away from him as possible. The AD did not even say a word to Jones, nor did Jones say anything to the AD. There might be some trouble brewing for men's bb. I really like Johnny as a person, but this was just a terrible ending to a very average season. The team in December was much better than what we watched in February and March.

I suggest that you call 940-565-2000, which is the main switchboard for the universtity. Then, ask for the campus television station office....I think that they covered the game. They might sell you a copy of the game. My family settled in Beaver Dam, Kentucky years and years ago, so this is help from an 'old Kentuckian' to a present one.

And there in lies the problem...we cannot keep a lead....or we cannot get our heads in the game early enough to win. A double headed snake has bitten us all season.

You guys and gals are doing a good job of making it uncomfortable for visiting teams....that is what our team faces on the road. Here are a few sign ideas that you might want to use. 1. Welcome to Denton, now go home. 2. Our house, our team, our refs, you lose. 3. Welcome to five hours of basketball terror.

Good idea. We did this back when Tommy Newman was coach....the only problem was that our fans were on their feet for an eternity waiting for the team's first basket. I don't think that we will have that problem with this current team. As a side note, we also threw t-shirts to the fans after each dunk during the Newman period...we had a lot of shirts left at the end of the season.

Good point sumg...there is money to be had and national exposure to be had at both the dances. Plus, basketball can really help football recruiting and vice versa. The bb teams deserve at least the proportionate support that football gets.

Since the season is relatively young and so are many of you on the board, I'd like to share a few thoughts about basketball. We have an opportunity to make some waves nationally and to put some big money in our athletic pockets...all we need is you and all your football buddies. I know that many of you are football fans and care little about basketball. Please bite the bullet and attend as many of the home games as possible for the sake of the teams and the sake of the economic impact on the athletic department. If the men and women can win the conference, there is gold in them thar hills. Also, the teams will be getting a lot of media attention. I know how thrilled everyone is that the football team gets as much tv time as it does....the basketball teams can garner much national tv, as well. All it takes is you and your friends. We must have people at the games to make our home games a living hell for the visitors. If we do our part the teams can win this thing. The tournament will have tv and the first and second rounds of the ncaa's will have tv. There are hefty paychecks for going to the big dance and some real good money if we can just make it to the second round of the ncaa tournament. If you won't go for the fun and excitement, go for the sake of the athletic budget possibilities. See you at the games.