stebo

I had my ring stolen awhile back and am just now replacing it. I am wondering what you guys have... I am guessing that I had an XL before but I can't remember. The Large looks fine as well. They go Sm (girls), Med (girls), Lg (guys), and XL (guys)... Also, the last time I went with a diamond on top but am thinking about going with the small emerald stone instead or maybe just the big star. If you guys have one - could you post a picture? The Jostens site is crap, the ring that you are designing does not change images as you alter the design so it is a big guessing game for a huge purchase. Any help would be appreciated - this is going to cost me about a grand so I want to be happy with what shows up in the mail. One last question - did anyone go with platinum or white gold? I normally do not wear gold and was leaning towards the silver look instead of yellow.... Thanks fellers

I am right there with you. I really think that we can be patient and turn this thing around. 1 more year to see success is not too much to ask for.

I have to agree 1000000%. Dodge walked into Hurricane Katrina and has just finished cleaning up the mess he inherited. Have there been mistakes along the way? Sure. But when you are cleaning up a mess as big as the Dickey mess, there are going to be mistakes. People seem so confident that he will be gone... I am just as confident that he will be here. We are still getting good crowds to the games, attendance went up this year, and even though we are losing - it is an exciting brand of football to watch. I can remember sitting with my group in the stands when Dickey was here and we would just comment - "if he would just attempt to win the games by throwing the ball down field then it would be (at the very least) fun to watch).. Dodge ball is still exciting to watch and according to the poll - more people think he should stay then go. If RV was going to pull the trigger, he would have done it already. Maybe there will be some sort of shake-up... who knows, maybe Dodge will become the offensive coordinator/head coach and Deloach will be the DC/assistant head coach for next year. I think that Ford will be gone and Dodge will get one more year to turn things around. The chances of him turning it around are slim but we have invested 3 years into this system and it is a gamble to abandon it when there is progress. If we were still getting blown out of every game then maybe it would be a lock but with the exception of 3 games - we have been in every single game well into the 4th quarter. The team just needs to learn how to win.

Check out this link, pan down to APR information in the article/interview. That doesn't seem quite fair now, does it? http://ultoday.com/node/923

You are wrong. I have the game on TIVO and that kick was blocked at the line. The guy has missed 4 extra points this year and countless field goals. We had to burn a time out because the coach simply cannot trust his abilities. When a team has to consider going for it because they do not think that the kicker can make a 32 yd fg, there is a MAJOR problem with that kicker. Heck, when a team has to hold their collective breath every time an extra point is kicked - there is a huge problem. Knott has not turned things around like we all hoped. He needs to go bud... if he was your employee, you would fire him. He quite possibly cost us the game.

Hey Alex, thanks for the 2 day old blog that has already been discussed on here! Keep em coming bro I don't think that you are the Hurricane Eagle, I think that you are the Incorrect/Yesterday's News Eagle, lol. Just kidding with ya man, it looks like it was a late night for you so I gotta give you a hard time

I dunno, I really don't think that the trigger gets pulled this season. There is the cost involved - we just finished paying off the Dickey contract. I imagine that RV was much like I am with my employees when they are not performing... very vague. Perhaps Dodge is trying to get an answer through the media... maybe RV told him that there had better be some improvement by the end of the year and he thought that FIU and Army were his best shots at wins... the ASU team is beat-up but they are still a talented bunch. I really don't know if we have the money to fire him in the middle of a stadium campaign. Remember, the student fee does not kick in until the stadium is completed. So we might be in for one more season of Dodge Ball - it's Wide Open! Personally, I hope that he gets another year. I would like to see his hard work pay off. I hope that we get a kicker in here that can actually hit an extra point... I hope that Deloach stays on the sidelines... and I hope that we get rid of Ford. Those will be the final changes and take away the last excuses. Our kicker lost that game on Saturday... he is absolutely not a Div I caliber kicker. Of course, Dodge could always be reassigned and Deloach could be promoted to head coach... that would get us around the cost thing, sort of.

The answer is... it depends. Bowl games have their contracted conferences. Each bowl is allowed two primary and one back-up conference. Those conferences PAY to have those spots. So if the SEC has a tie in to a bowl game and they have 3 or 4 "6 win" teams, those teams can go over any Belt team because their conference has PAID for that spot. But if a bowl game only has a primary agreement (as most do)... and have to go at large... they HAVE to pick a 7 win or above team before they can select from a 6 win auto-bid conference. In the case of the Sun Belt, all three of our bowls that we have MOU's with will probably fill with their contracted conferences - so we are looking at large. The good news is that there will be a bunch of 6 win teams this year from conferences like CUSA and the bowls have to take a 7 win or better Belt team over a 6 win team if there is no contract. Next year the Belt is getting a second bowl game (GMAC) from what I have been told and we will have a space for our #1 and #2 every year. Just showing that we can have 4 bowl eligible teams strengthens our negotiating power with that bowl game. People often complain about the Belt not having enough bowl tie-ins but in the history of the Belt, there have only been 2 or 3 teams with 7 wins that have sat home without a bid. Troy, MTSU, and FAU all have gotten at large bids without the conference spending a dime. You get what you pay for and until the Belt pays for a second bowl game, nothing will be guaranteed. The "need" just has not been there until the last couple of years.... but now the conference is stable enough to pay for two games a year.

Is that channel part of game plan? It is just labeled "ALT" in my channel line-up. I was able to go to it and set my DVR for the game but when I tried to switch onto it for live broadcasting (right now) - the channel popped up a message that said it was for special event programming and see DISH for subscription details. It doesn't matter, I have 360 as well - but it would be nice to watch on the big screen without hooking the computer into it...

Ski was a Sig Tau at Illinois State but was always great to the local chapter at North Texas. He is a fraternity brother of our entire tailgate crew and it was great to have him at our last couple of tailgates. They really got screwed on the building deal and it is still not opened. Get this - the city of Denton has held up the entire process over one small thing - a DRIVE THROUGH. Yep, that's the city of Denton for you. Regardless of what the investors did to the local tennants, I think that speaks volumes for how the City of Denton treats investors willing to bring thir businesses to Denton. The corner of the building was to be a CVS with a drive through - the city claimed that traffic was too high for that area to accomodate that. CVS refused to honor the contract without that provision (probably a smart thing given that parking in the area is crap)... and the entire project has been sitting on hold indefinitely ever since. What a waste.... As for Ski, he is working for one of the local beer companies and his wife is managing a restaurant in town. They would love to get the Tomato back up and running. If anyone wants to fund them - I am that it would be a great investment. If you are serious - let me know and I will give you their contact info. Steve

Hey KRAM, will the Exes be in the grass area (old practice field)? Also - how much are the shirts - and will we need to bring cash for them or will you all have a way to process a card? Thanks in advance! Steve

I don't want to knee jerk - but this one hurt bad. Really bad. To dominate every stat in the game - not just by a small margin - we had 3 times as many yards as them. To get back into the game only to lose the game on another silly penalty for a ball that was not catchable. Please don't jump all over Riley, we would have never been in this game without him. This team is leaps and bounds ahead of last year's team and as I look at our schedule - we are exactly where I thought that we would be. I think we lose to FAU, I think that we lose to Troy, and then I think we go on a 4 game run, winning 5 games for the year. We will beat FIU, Army, WKY, and ULM. We lose to ASU, Troy, and FAU. End the season at 5-7. The team is as young as they get - and next year we win the Belt. I am just saying. That defense is going to win this conference again. Deloach has done wonders with them in the time he has been here. Give him one more year and they will be world beaters. If someone does get fired.... well, it better not be Deloach. In fact, he probably should be the next head coach. But that loss hurt - it hurts bad. I can't remember getting this angry at a loss since old double D roamed the sidelines. He is still roaming the sidelines - just in New Mexico and with a team that hasn't won any games! hehe...

Harry, we need a moderator in there pronto....

Well, I am on the 360 site and that is what it says... I don't see it anywhere on the DISH, but I have Dish Network, not Direct TV.... 360 won't let you buy anything - you have to have one of their ISP's to get it - which I do - I have AT&T... and it works fine. But there are a couple of games that say they are regionally blacked out today. Ours is one, the Baylor/OU game is another (assuming that is because it is on another channel)... I am going to guess that this is also showing on that CSS thing in some parts of the SE and that is the reason it is subject to Blackout but hopefully it doesn't effect us as we are out of their broadcasting area. Fingers crossed! Are you going up the the Pourhouse Harry? I might head up there still... still waffling, its been a long week.

This is what I am seeing on the 360 schedule... NCAAF CFB: North Texas vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (subject to blackout) Is that for Gameplan or for 360 or both? Anyone know?

Ahhhh, that is weird. I have Dish Network and it wasn't showing on there. Great idea about the audio though - will def have to try that. I should be at Pourhouse with some guests

How will the Pourhouse put this on the big screen? This is on ESPN 360 - which is a pretty good online feed.... but it is not listed on GamePlan from what I see. So will they be showing the internet feed on the big screen? What does that look like? Finally - does the sound come out ok? The only reason that I ask is that I would love to hook my own 360 up to the big screen at my house with audio. I have been able to hook it up easily through the VGA feature... But how would I get the audio from the computer to the home speakers? An idea would be to play the radio feed but those things never sync up properly.... Any ideas? I also have a VGA component option... but I guess that I would have to use some sort of audio out from the headphone jack on the laptop?

How can you "purposely" expand a bench with no numbers on it? The 10,000 seats that were added are General Admission seats without seating numbers. There isn't a "seat" in the entire stadium - there are benches. And I am sorry to say - but you are wrong, lots of schools list capacity. In the case of UT and A&M it is for bragging/pissing rights. For schools like Ball State/North Texas - it is to show how many people can be crammed in there. Of course there is overflow - that is the grass (just like at ULL)... and that can't be counted. And I would agree with you that Tounchdown Terrance capacity should not be counted - that is kinda stupid to count that because those donors will also have seats in the stadium or in a box. But the seats in the boxes and the other amenities like Club Seating are not included in the bench measurements. I get where you could think the way that you do - before I talked to the rep - I was thinking that it was a little bit of an "excuse" - but have you actually spoken to someone with the athletic department or is your information from the internet? They can explain it much better than I can. SUMG - what do you think the capacity will be? What about fixed benches, lol? In all reality, it will probably seat 26,000 because Americans are fat.

Finally a stadium with worse sight lines than Fouts! Gee, how much for 50 yard seats? $5 bucks and a kick in the nuts?

Not trying to steal John's question - but Alex, I went into the room with the renderings and on the way out there was an AD staff member walking out - so I was able to ask about the seating. The answer is, according to the guy I talked to - they will not know exactly how many seats the benches will fit until construction is taking place but estimates are between 28K and 29K for fixed bench seating. It's not exactly a science, stuff happens during construction and nobody wants to promise anything because when they number the things it might come in lower than they thought or high than they think... This number does not include the luxury boxes, which hold about 600 more, the club seating which will add about 750 more, and the new version of the deck - Touchdown Terrace - which could hold up to another 500 people. That would put our stadium capacity anywhere between 29,800 and 30,800 without the grass berm seating. All things being said - the grass berm will be included in the "official" capacity which will be at a minimum - 30K. That is what I was told - straight from the department's staff member. I was also given about 20 examples of other schools that have x amount of "fixed" seats yet have a capacity of 2,000, 3,000, or even 4,000 more depending on the luxury amenities. They were all recognizable schools like Ball State, Rice, Tulsa, Southern Miss, even Texas A&M... The only hole that I see in this is that anyone in the 500 "seats" of touchdown terrace would own their seat down on the benches or in club seating (depending on donation level) - and you can't count the same person twice (and they can't be in two places at the same time). Those people will be able to wander back and forth between the two areas (much like they can now with the deck)... but all things considered, the official capacity (because seating can be reconfigured at any time) will be 30K or more, that I was assured - and the numbers do add up. It will barely be over 30K - but it will be 30K or more. Anyone else have a familiar conversation? Oh - and Alex - btw, the numbered bench seating still could come in at 30K seats and our capacity would be 32,000 or even 32,500. Or it could be 29,765 (or any number in that range) with the lowest number being around 28,000 to 29,000. I specifically asked how many numbered seats were in Fouts and the guy kind of smiled and said that the official capacity was 30,502. When I pressed him on the actual seat numbers - because the deck had been added since the aluminum seating was erected - he just said that it didn't matter how many seats there were, the capacity of Fouts is 30,502. So it sounds like we have less than 30K seats already but with some tickery (like the seats up in the press box and presidents box and deck and stuff) - the capacity is higher than the actual seating. Anyone up for going out there and counting? I would be curious to know the actual answer.... and to be honest, I would bet that nobody knows because those GA seats in the endzones are not even numbered, lol. They are just GA section, G/H/K/etc...

WOOHOO!!!! Thank you!

Rob is exactly right - non-BCS agree to the amount (usually about $175K) plus a return trip where they get the identical amount back. So Idaho probably gave SDSU a home game last year (or next year) and SDSU came to Moscow for $150K or $175K. When Idaho returns the trip, they get the same payout to help with travel. How the home team promotes the game is up to them... But wow - that attendance is terrible. 10,000 people showed up in Idaho for a MWC team? I am going to guess that Idaho lost money on the deal. They can't blame it on the weather, it is indoors. They can't blame it on a bad team - they are like 3-1 right now. Man oh man, I remember when the Vandals were the big dog and Boise was just trying to keep up. The times sure have changed. Quick history question - what is the one and only ranked team that North Texas has beat?

I just signed up for AT&T DSL for my home, switching to them this weekend. My question is this - is ESPN360 one of the providers that includes ESPN360? I know that you can't buy 360 anymore but some ISP's give it away as part of the package... Anyone know?

How is "caw"ing like a crow - some sort of rallying cry?

The whole sarcastic "Caw Caw" scream that some "fans" seem to think is funny really pisses me off. First off, we aren't crows - Eagles don't "caw" in any way. Secondly, why make fun of your own team? If you have come out to the game and you are supporting the team - why would you make fun of it? I dunno - I don't hear it as much as I used to but this dude with long (girl like long) hair sitting behind me was doing it the whole game. Every time we screwed up - he would smile and do the "CAW CAW CAWWWWWW" like it was SOOOO funny (yet nobody was laughing except him). I guess that he thought it was really funny - but it really gets on my nerves. Where did that start? Why do people do it? Can you all help me to stop it? I hate it - do you?