stebo

Is that online or has it become an actual channel now? Pretty soon we will have Dodgeball on the OCHO!

I guess that San Jose and Idaho have raised their budgets along with a lotof MAC schools. This is my concern about the Belt. Most of you probably know that I have been a Belt fan from Day 1. The apparent lack of resources/desire to commit for excellence is my concern. If we are not getting better, we are stagnant. If we are not spending money, we are not going to get better. 4 or 5 schools in the Belt are spending the money to be competitve (somewhat) - the rest are drastically underfunded. I am really considering the WAC invite, hopefully it is still a standing invite.

Good post 61, what are your thoughts about the WAC this time around? I know that you have looked for the positives of the Belt (like I have)... but what are your thoughts about replacing Boise? I would even be willing to go it alone, without any other Belt schools. TCU has been doing very good in the MWC and now that we will be funded properly, I think that we could be competitive. My opinion is that no other schools will be asked to the MWC. Perhaps the MWC will get raided by the Pac 10 though... I still think that the basics of the league would be stable. The bowls options are crap in the WAC but we haven't exactly been eligible for anything close to the post season lately.

I am getting there, too. If we were to say no - the WAC really has no other choie but to offer an invitation to a school that is ready to move up - Texas State at San Marcos... or a school that promises to move up, UTSA... or BOTH. How would we all feel about the Belt if the two upstarts in Texas were now in the WAC and we were still in the Belt? We have to show separation from them. Agreed about the budget problems of the Belt. If we do stick with the Belt, the schools need to make a commitment to athletic success, monetarily. NT, WKY, USA, Troy, MTSU, UL, and the F_U's have all put the resources into their programs. ULM is a Southland school playing in the Belt... their budget is an embarrasment to Div I. If the WAC invite comes around, we should probably take it this time. We can afford the WAC now - our new fee kicks in this year after the stadium is completed... we would have a legitimate reason to max out the 10% annual increase for the next 8 years to cover the increased travel costs. It might be time to get a little WACKY just to show separation from the upstarts in Texas.

1. Agreed - 100%. The only reason that I mentioned them was they are close to us and of we were to go WACKY, it would be nice to have at least two regional opponents. 2. Disagree - 100%. ULM was given football only membership to the Belt because we needed them to hit the 6 member rule. When the NCAA changed the rules to 8 full time members, we extended them an invite out of neccesity and also invited Troy. ULM is drastically underfunded, have piss poor fan support, and have the absolute lowest budget of any Sun Belt school. They have a lower athletic budget than most FCS schools. They have one of the lowest athletic budgets in the country. They attempt to make a bold statement by replacing Weatherbie after a 6-6 season, only to hire a guy that has never even come close to winning - anywhere. But when you have a $7 - $8 million dollar athletic budget and can only afford to pay your Div I head coach $165K - that is who you get. The Belt, if it is to succeed - will need to set certain standards for members. The first standard should be athletic budget. If a school cannot wrangle up a $15 million dollar athletic budget (very low for Div I) - they should not be in the Belt. The Belt will never get better without a true commitment to success - and that starts with money spent on the program. Having UNO leave was a wonderful thing for the Belt, now if we could just get rid of ULM, we would be one step closer to being in a blog like the one we were just left out of. Again - 100% agree with you that we need to do what is best for us. The second comment is my opinion about the Belt (if we were to stay). We have been in our Sun Belt home for 10 years now, it is time to start cleaning out the rats and re-finances that nasty sub prime mortgage that was thrown together out of survival... ULM was not a program that the Belt "picked" - they are a program that the Belt got stuck with.

The WAC would be a feel good move. We would send a message to the nation that another conference wanted us (twice) and we felt like we could compete. But the WAC was in REAL trouble before Boise and Hawaii revived their programs. If Boise leaves, we wouldn't even have that to put on our schedule... just schools like Idaho and Utah State and San Jose... which are ok, but the time change becomes a problem again. All that being said - I think that NT can compete in the WAC now. With the new athletic fee kicking in next year, we will have a budget to consider the WAC. The last time we were invited, I was 100% against it because we could not afford it and we had a better chance of winning in the Belt. I think that we wait and see what happens. If the WAC loses a couple of teams, they will come to us. And we should really conisder the invite. One main reason that we should consider the invite now (as opposed to the one that we turned down a couple of years ago) - UTSA/TSU-San Marcos. If we say no, one of them (or both) will say yes. We will watch those schools possibly pass us by in the public's view. I have always been against a return to the Big Wac but with our new athletic fee - we can afford the better publicity. But I sure would feel like a fool if we left the Belt and Troy or MTSU became a BCS buster. Those two schools have made a commitment to winning at the Div I level and are spending the money to make it happen. Believe it or not, so have the Florida schools, they just haven't quite taken off yet and have really "young" fan bases (i.e. empty stands). What do you think? Would you consider joining the WAC as a proactive approach to staying above TSU/San Marcos and UTSA? I think it would be a good move if that starts to line up. One last thin - I would really hope to bring UL with us. I really think that having ULM in the conference has hurt us more than helped us. We need to find a way to dump them if we stay in the Belt. I would say that kicking ULM out for having a low budget, no dedication to athletics, poor attendance, etc would be a good move and would set the Belt up to lure in La Tech. La Tech really has no problem with the Belt other than ULM.

If you have ever been in the hospital for a major surgery on an individual plan or had to deal with individual coverage as a self employed person - you would be 100% behind this reform. Group plans are fantastic, I love my United EPO from my company... but when I was self employed for over a decade, I had some major issues with health insurance. I also broke a disk in my back and spent 3 years fighting the insurance company trying to get the surgery paid. During that time, my credit was dropped over 150 points - I was strung along with tactics to try and make me just give up and not bother them... it was devastating. The credit score problems affected my ability to get a job and a mortgage. And this was all for someone that HAD INSURANCE. The reform package is pretty crappy but it fights for the little guy. This is just the start, hopefully all of these money hungry insurance companies go out of business or clean up their acts. Doctors don't want to deal with many of them and the bureaucracy is just incredible. I spent countless hours and thousands of dollars erasing the problems that the insurance company caused for me. My stringing me along and denying my surgery, the insurance company kept sending me back and forth to different specialists trying to deter me. This just drove up the costs even more for them. It also caused me to be on pain medicine for an extended period of time and that created a whole different set of problems. Insurance companies would prefer for people to keep popping those pills rather than fix the problem, it makes the bottom line look better for their investors. I really do not know how anyone can defend the practices of for-profit health insurance companies. The entire system is set up to prey on the weak and make as large of a profit as possible. Higher profit means worse care. It is my PERSONAL experience. I also had a guy that worked for me when I owned the bar - he was dropped from his parent's insurance his Sr year... he figured that he was young and could make it for a year until graduating and getting a real job. His appendix ruptured one night and after 4 days in the hospital, luckily he walked out a healthy man. That healthy man officially had $127K bill to deal with. So a guy that had gone to college and worked his way through school to keep his debt low now graduated with $127K in debt (and counting as fees and interest started to pile up). He had to declare bankruptcy at age 22 and cannot purchase a car or a house. He had trouble finding a good job because employers do credit checks and are not concerned about how the bankruptcy occurred. These are two small stories regarding my personal experiences with the insurance and medical field industries. I could tell a few more stories about how my grandparents were treated by their insurance companies - eventually they dropped their private insurance in favor of Medicare. They were never happier - until their last breaths. My grandfather fought in The Pacific during WWII and had access to the VA Hospital but our family along with Medicare were able to give him a very nice assisted living center that had a dementia wing. None of that was possible with private insurance, it wasn't until we went with government programs that he could get the care he needed without wiping out his entire savings. Even with all the government help, we were paying out $3800 bucks a month for the facility. Similar story with my grandmother - I am sure that you get the point. My family has had bad experiences with health insurance companies. Consequently, my brother was in a car wreck and broke his neck. Our CAR INSURANCE (State Farm) treated him GREAT. They paid for everything and settled with him for a reasonable amount in case of future medical problems. So not all insurance is evil - and car insurance is a personal policy, not a group policy. I think that the problem is with a broken health care system that has to answer to stockholders looking for higher dividends and share prices. Insurance companies should probably not be publicly traded. I know that you ahve all heard stories and I seriously doubt that I have changed a single person's mind about the insurance business. It just astounds me when someone defends an insurance company in any instance. They would never defend you - they are not on your side. Oh - and yes, I am an Independent that likes some of the Tea Bagger message... I agree with a lot of what Paul has to say, proudly voted for George W Bush (both times) and would not change those votes for the world. I also voted for Clinton the second time around and proudly voted for Obama over the Ghost and Crazy Palin. I wish that people would think for themselves and not just be sheep to their party's messages. This is more propaganda and is horse hockey - it is all about money. If these insurance companies can't make money off of more sick people - those people are going to be better off finding new coverage. These companies will be showing their true priorities over the next few years. Individuals will be able to get better coverage by a system that cares about HEALTH rather than profit.

TCU likely goes to the Big 12 to replace Missouri, right?

Harry! Happy Birthday to my long lost twin

Thanks fellers, life is good

Well, if you are K-State - you look at this as a great opportunity. They recruit the state of Texas and would love to put on a show in San Antonio. What better way than by whipping up on the Roadrunners? They can't invite those recruits to Austin... or even Baylor for that matter, they might lose the recruit to the opposing team. But they can surely treat their kids to vacation and get an easy W in the process. All that said, I highly doubt those home games will ever take place. The contracts all say that the games will be played if the Roadrunners are Div I... and they will not likely be Div I in 3 years, just not possible without a conference.

Sometimes it is better to have no history than bad history... UCF was relatively unknown. We are known, but for decades of suckiness. Anytime a team saw us on the schedule, the fans snickered and the coach marked a big W next to our name. There are very few Boise States in the college football world... most underfunded teams are more like ULM and North Texas.

This week has completely destroyed my portfolio. I started with $500 bucks a year ago and had it all the way up to $3100. It is very much like gambling. I have never taken anything out - just watched it go up and down. This week, it went way way down. I kept waiting for the bounce back and it just never happened. I know it's not a lot of money to some people but for me - it was going to be a trip to Europe or something. On top of that - I just checked my 401K and it lost about 6% of its ENTIRE value just this week. Ay yay yay.

Ole Brownie's doing one heck of a job. Nothing to see here! Y'all remember Brownie? He was on Fox News the other day accusing the President for this mess. Geez Louise. Why can't some things just be an accident? BP is one of the good guys in oil. They do not buy oil from the mideast... thus they don't fund terrorism. They had a screw up and will pay for it, stuff happens. Nothing political here - just a bad accident.

If you miss the State Club Chicken Tenders, the old co-owner (Todd, not Kenny) owns J Macklins in Coppell and has them on the menu. The name - Famous State Club Chicken Tenders. http://www.jmacklinsgrill.com/ FAMOUS STATE CLUB CHICKEN TENDERS 6.5 Honey mustard & hickory sauce

Is Riley completely out of the running for QB? Did I miss something?

I don't think that you even considered my points. You dismissed them immediately because they were not hopping aboard your own bandwagon. This perfect picture of American ideals that you speak of is a farce. It does not exist in times of war. It never has - and trying to make it exist during this war on terror is why we have struggled. Embedded reporters... Making everyone feel comfy about our mission.... Trying to prove to our own people that we are the "good guy"... That is confusion, misdirection, and bandwagoning - which is fun fun fun... but not reality in times of war. War sucks. My grandfather fought all through the Pacific and was in the first group on Guadacanal. He didn't like to talk about it - but I am learning about what he went through now in the HBO series. It has been so long since we fought a real war that Americans do not feel they need to sacrifice or respect the struggle that comes with war. Killing the enemy is the number one point of war and making that the mission by the Commander in Chief is a quality of leadership, not cowardice.

Allow me to play a little devil's advocate and get back to the original discussion... Would our enemies wait to catch us "in the act" before killing us? Do terrorists even care if they are killing soldiers or their own people for that matter. Our resolve to respect civilian life on foreign soil has been honorable but hasn't that hindered our ability to actually "fight" the good fight? Do Terrorists fight a dirty war? How do you win when the enemy has nothing but time to kill and has shown patience? I think of the early Americans and how we were able to turn around the momentum during the revolutionary war. Like our founders, these enemy combatants have great resolve. They also have a religious calling in many of their minds. The British were so damn frustrated that the militias wouldn't line up nicely in a row so that they could trade shot for shot... and eventually their inability to adapt to guerilla warfare was their downfall. Should we wait for the terrorists to be lined up cleanly in a row - ready to go shot for shot? Is that realistic? War is ugly and make no mistake - we are AT WAR. You can't win a war playing nice. Anyone watching the HBO series "The Pacific"? Were we living up to the "American Spirit" and winning over the hearts and minds of the Japanese people when we dropped the bombs that finally brought peace? Were those people tried in a court of law? Had they all declared war on the U.S. or were they simple casualties of war? Does the U.S. do a nice job of helping to rebuild countries after we fight the terrorists that occupied that land? We can demostrate the American spirit when the enemy is dead. One last set of questions - what would our enemy do? Would they try our soldiers or simply cut their heads off and post it on the internet? Would they take out our President at the very first chance? I believe so. It is terrible that we are at war - but we can't forget that this IS a war and a high level commander of the enemy (regardless of where he was born) should be treated as any other enemy. We don't send all enemies back to the U.S. for trial - we kill them. If the opportunity arises, we should kill him. I suggest that you all go back and watch the footage of that day (9/11) and remember the reason why we are at war. Now that we are actually fighting the right enemy (rather than creating and escalating new ones) - I am very supportive of a President that treats war as war. Terrible decisions have to be made during war - or else we will lose the war. Our entire financial system has been brought down by these wars. We have spent trillions trying to keep Americans safe. I like that he would send a message to other rogue leaders that we aren't a bunch of pansies and that we won't wait to catch them with the actual gun in hand. Just my $0.02

Kind of has to say that with Utah being courted, doesn't he?

According to ArkStFan - the statement reads that way but is just an exerpt. The entire rule goes on to say that an FBS team CAN count one win against an FCS team once every four years (or something like that). Maybe he can clarify - I was thrilled when I read this post that I shared it with the Belt board... where I was immediately corrected

Kram and teams - I am not 100% sure that I will be able to attend the game My cousin is getting married that weekend in California and I did not think that I would be going... but my mother is really wanting me to join them. We are pricing out the cost of the trip before making a final decision... but it looks like I will be headed west that weekend... I would propose that Harry or UNT_92_Fan take my place since they both have been on board since we formed the game in Year 1. If JayDub could make it to town, he would be a great captain as well... I will give you an update soon, when I know for sure. Oh, btw - I wasn't planning on playing - just being on the sidelines. I have a bad back and last year made the mistake of trying to ignore that (it was a BAD move, lol). steve

D1 Leadership Council -- FCS move up to FBS Grabbed this off the Belt Board, if UTSA or Texas State wants to move up... they will need an offer in hand from a Div I-FBS conference first. That is the recommendation by the D1 Leadership Council going into next month's meetings. Membership standards In addition to the cost-savings discussion, the Council put the finishing touches on recommendations for new Division I membership standards. The group generally concluded its discussion on the topic in January but tweaked a few things at the recent meeting, including: Football Championship Subdivision members who wish to join the Football Bowl Subdivision should have a bona fide offer of membership from an FBS conference to be considered for FBS membership. FCS members suggested this change as a way of being consistent – the Council is also recommending that new Division I members have a bona fide offer of membership from a Division I conference before beginning the reclassification process. The application fee will be commensurate with either the estimated annual average value of direct benefits through distributions and championships made available to Division I members ($1.3 million) or the median annual value of direct benefits through distributions and championships ($900,000). Those recommendations will go to the Division I Board of Directors next month. The Board could introduce legislation into the 2010-11 cycle that codifies the new standards. http://snipurl.com/v39ts

I was just at Walgreens and there were at least 3 sex offenders turned away from their Viagra because they didn't have insurance, true story. This will become an epidemic! Silly stunt to rile up the silly tea baggers. You know, the GOP had this whole health care thing tied up and dead before the tea baggers started marching, screaming at crippled people, calling our President the new Hitler, and complaining about birth certificates. America is shifting back to the middle left because the tea baggers are scary sons of guns. The GOP should distance themselves from those nut jobs before they screw up the mid terms. Agreed?

Thanks for the answer. I get the feeling that the Texas Education System does that to get out of matching their employee's contributions. Good way to keep down costs for the system as long as the retirement fund is properly managed.. Appreciate the insight.

I actually think that is a great idea. How do annuities work? Would that mean the money was in the market? How safe would that be?