stebo

I am helping a friend get a charitable organization off the ground to help fund The American Red Cross. People do bowling - running of marathons - etc.. well, neither one of us has any time or experience in doing that kind of stuff but we are both business savy... We have decided that the best way to start raising money for the Red Cross is to buy some of those Candy Vending machines, the kind that have three selections and the big glass domes on top. We figure that we will buy 5 to start and see if they raise any money - if they do, and we have places to put more, then we will expand the enterprise. My buddy recently had his entire fmily basically saved by the Red Cross due to Katrina and wants to give back a little. I figured, what the hell - I will help out as well, I can help him with the paperwork and stuff at least. What we need are some locations to put these machines in. Does anyone on here own a business that would put one of these machines in your lobby/entrance? Obviously, it won't cost you anything, these machines are like bubble gum machines and don't even take electricity. If you can help us out, or have an idea for a place (we are in Dallas - but would be willing to travel to anywhere in the DFW area if the location is a safe environment that might raise some money) to place one of our machines - please e-mail me at stebo1@gmail.com Sorry to invade the board with this, just thought I would ask my Mean Green family if they had any ideas for us. Thanks. steve

Chat Link: http://client1.sigmachat.com/sc.pl?id=73780

Well, I am not an out of towner - but I am stuck at home... I will see if you are in the chat room.

From the official Sun Belt Site - www.sunbeltsports.org

Whoops, I was looking at the USA (South Alabama) attendance as well (they had close to 4K - about 3800) - because we play both of them this weekend and I got the two mixed up. Even still - Troy is drawing well for a first year Sun Belt member, pulling in 3K in Troy, AL is like 1/5th of the city's population... if NT could pull that off we would be selling out the 10K seat Super Pit regularly.

ALSO! - I just noticed that we have South Alabama on Saturday. Yet another tough game for this weekend! If we split between these two games then I will be happy - if we sweep the two then I might actually start to think that we have a legitimate chance at making an NIT bid this year (baby steps people!)... Also, did anyone see that North Dakota State knocked off Wisconsin today? Duke went down... a couple of other pretty big upsets as well. College basketball is starting to heat up!

Troy is going to be a tough game this Thursday - they won again tonight - at home, in front of almost 4K fans. I can't believe that there were schools that tried to block Troy getting into this conference a few years back. They knocked off MTSU tonight easily - and the thing that is impressing me with their team is that it is so well rounded. The points came from the starters - with 4 of the 5 all having right in the 15-20 point range. How is that for parity in your line-up? A win this week against the men from Troy will be a very solid win - they have beat Western (in Kentucky) and now MTSU.... Another shocker (in my opinion) - FIU beats UL at home. The Cajuns have been a bitter dissapointment this year. They have all of the ingredients to be a top 50 team but they just aren't playing very well. Southall is back and ripping it up; but everyone else is just playing like crap. Maybe he truly is a cancer on their roster - but from everything that I have read, he has turned his life around (FINALLY!)...

Rick, there is a really cool bowling alley in Cleburne that Courtney and I go to (her parents liv out there)... anyways, it is pretty much an old school bowling alley - none of the bells and whistles... they have the computerized scoring but it is basically a very crude program and most of the time you have to double check it. But that place is awesome for a family outing - It is called Pin Center and is in downtown Cleburne - next time you want to take the F5 to a REAL bowling alley - not one of those places that has laser tag and a freaking climbing wall next to the lanes - drive on over to the Cleburne Pin Center... you will be pleasantly surprised... and it is pretty inexpensive as compared to other bowling alleys (bowling has gotten really expensive these days!)...

Couldn't have said it better Ken, we have some of the most paranoid/delusional/conspiracy laced theory crazed fans in the NCAA world. RV has gotten more accomplished in the last 4 years then any AD has ever actually pulled off. Even Fry can't compete with what RV has done - facilities wise. Of course he is going to be in high demand - and every Sun Belt, WAC, and CUSA school is going to take a look at him when they need a new AD. Different schools court AD's in different ways - and sometimes schools, newspapers, and fans court AD's/Coaches through the media. Write an article about who you want for your AD - see how he responds - and move forward. Either RV will call the UL President and tell him if he is interested or he will just ignore it and wait for them to contact him - but so far (according to RV) - they have not contacted him directly. If it is a significantly amount of more money; I would imagine that RV would consider it. We have a lot of question marks right now - our athletic's friendly Prez has still not been replaced... the athletic's friendly BOR have their terms coming to a close this summer, and our football coach is not exactly his best friend. Is UL an upward move or a lateral move? That is a good question - I would say that it is a lateral move... but that they have certain positives over us... and we have certain positives over them. It all depends on if RV thinks he can move UL forward faster then NT. And I imagine that RV wouldn't mind getting a pay raise. Perhaps Bobby Ray and the Board can squeeze in a pay raise for RV. Over the last few years, everyone seems to have gotten a contract extension or a raise... including a lot of RV's own staff - but I can't remember reading anything about RV getting a raise for himself. Perhaps it is time to lock up our AD just like we would lock up any up and coming coach.

How can you not see the progress? We were at rock bottom before JJ got here - Trilli's last few years consisted of seasons that ended with a maximum of 4-5 wins. JJ is not lighting it up; but he is winning 14-15 games a year and is close to (if not over) .500 every year. We lost Saturday by 3 - but take away that loss and we are off to a HUGE start this year... just a couple of losses to Houston and A&M - and some great wins to UL and Tulsa. I think it is crazy for any fan (even a casual one like me) to not be able to see the improvement of this team... they just need to get over the hump. Can JJ get us over the hump? I dunno - at this point I have my doubts - but I don't rule it out completely. But at least he got us back TO the hump! We hadn't sniffed the hump in a long time!

Go to the link for your page and in the box where the main picture is at - it says "Add Photo"... click on that, you will need to register with IMDB as a user in order to do so - but after you upload the picture, it will be evaluated by a volunteer at IMDB to make sure it is not a risque' pic. A few days later it will be posted. You can probably upload those other pics as part of your additional photos page... IMDB is a completely volunteer site - and is maintained by the users for the users. Let me know if you have any trouble and I will upload it for you... I have helped 3 or 4 do it before. Later

I agree - UL (for LA) is in Lafayette. Period, end of discussion. Their hometown paper which is a fairly large publication - the largest in the state of LA now that the Picune (sp?) times is serving a much lower population - issued an official release about a year ago recognizing that they support the name and ALL articles that reference UL (Lafayette) simply abbreviates their school name as UL. That is good enough for me. I have always believed that this name thing with UL/ULM should be tried and convicted in the court of public opinion... UL has won over their own city and its newspaper - and that is good enough for me. At this point I will respect their desire to be called simply UL and not think another moment about it. Having UL become simply UL in EVERY CITY (not just Lafayette) can do nothing but help North Texas. We can have UL on the schedule; rather then ULL or ULaLa. It looks better on paper and we can sell those games to our fans in the form of tickets. If ULM wants to fight for the name, they need to get their hmoetown paper to begin to call them UL as well ... until that happens, their is only one UL (in LA) that is recognized by an established newspaper everyday in every article having to do with our Sun Belt brethren... We should respect that they have won that small battle and help spread the word about it. Texas State has suddenly become a force to be taken seriously - I think it has A LOT to do with the name and the winning (a combo of the two)... UL turned around their program this year, going 6-5. If they have another good season - perhaps go to a bowl game - and are able to use the UL designation; it will benefit the Belt and North Texas. Why fight it?

I agree with you Matty, that is why I said we should play a patsy IAA team... heck, we might REALLY need that extra help in order to have a home win next year, you never know... I would say that a school like Sam Houston or SFA would be beatable.

Did anyone else find that the USC band playing a Michael Jackson song - with full on re-eanactment of the "Beat it" video to be completely offensive and insensitive? I know that the guy got off the charges but he is still as guilty as OJ in my eyes... just not enough to overpower the extreme legal team he had. Every time I hear a Michael Jackson song, I cring... to hear it played before a large audience for the NCAA National Championship was flat out disgusting to me.

Has Rice added a team for their 12th game yet? If not - that would be an AWESOME home and home series. I would even be willing to give up the home date in 2006 for a return date from the Owls in 2007.

From what I have been able to piece together - we have an open slot for next year. Here is what I think our schedule will be from what I remember: OOC: Texas (away) Tulsa (away) La Tech (home) SMU (home) Sun Belt: MTSU (home) FIU (home) FAU (home) UL (away) ULM (away) Troy (away) ASU (away) So that is 11 games - 5 home, 6 away... home games are fairly attractive match-ups for another attendance increase. La Tech and SMU will draw well without putting any real promotion into them. I imagine that we will make FIU or FAU our homecoming game and then MTSU is always a great rivalry game - parent's weekend type of game. Only one body bag game - and I would like to keep it that way. We made plenty of money off of the LSU switch-a-roo this year, there is nothing that "should" force us to sell our soul to another body bag type of game. So with all of that being said - we have an open slot. Who would you like to see? Personally - I would like to see a 6th home game. I would schedule a cupcake IAA... somebody that we have no chance to lose against. I would also like to see one of our old Southland compadres head back to Denton... Somebody like Sam Houston or SFA (not Texas State right now, they would probably give us too close of a game).. Heck, I wouldn't even mid a team like Samford coming back to town. Your thoughts? Who would you like to see us add for the 12th game?

That is exactly how I feel - I have been to a game in Tulsa and it is like going to see the Hoosiers. We are talking about a team that has been to the Sweet 16 twice in the last ten years - once all the way to the Elite/Great 8. In addition, they have at least made some sort of post-season play 9 out of the last 10 years (I think that 6 were NCAA and 3 were NIT appearances)... they have had a rough season this year, losing to SFA - a team that we beat... and at home like our game... but like Indiana, a win over them ANY season is a huge win. The same way that our win over a lackluster Baylor was huge for the football team; this was a very big win for the basketball team. Glad to see that I am not the only non-basketball fan that has sat up, taken notice, and will reqard the team and coach with an unexpected visit up to Denton at least 2 times in the next couple of weeks.

I know this is the football board - just reminding everyone that there is a basketball board - and it is actually pretty busy this year. A lot more traffic then usual. I was talking to a buddy today about the Tulsa win (basketball) and we both agreed that it was basically the first positive thing that has happened for the department since the opening weekend football win over MTSU. The other win this year (in retrospect) might have been a pretty good one as FIU turned out to be a salty club - but at the time it was very "blah"... Since then - no real positive signs... until the Tulsa win in men's b-ball... and the impressive 10-2 start by the women. I have always told the basketball crazed fans that it will take a losing season in football in order to get people out to basketball games. I just think fans have that thirst for redemption (for their school) after a crappy football season. Anyways, so far the fan base has proven me wrong - but I think a win like this could prove me right. I had ZERO interest in making the long drive from Dallas to Denton (you can get to Shreveport in less time, literally) for a game - but I will be going now. I think the team deserves the hassle for winning that game. It is the first quality win since JJ's win over SMSU... I think he might have beat TCU in his first year as well... either way, this win will stick in my head - and get this football fan out to a basketball game.

Thanks Adam - I will give you a ring in a bit - appreciate the love!

I have a little break from work and would like to head out to the pit for Friday's game. Anyone have a couple of spare tickets? I can hook you up with a dinner at my restaurant the next time you are in North Dallas!

My whole family (the male portions at least) is gettign Sirius from me this X-Mas... I got a heck of a deal on the portable receivers at Sears - $30 for the whole kit and no rebates to mess with. It was such a good deal I got one for my dad, brother, and brother-in-law... and my fiance' got one for me! Howard Stern was the deciding factor for us, but the NFL games along with the Sun Belt package were big factors as well.

huh???

The UL Cajuns had McNeese in to play a b-ball game the other night - thing is, McNeese forgot their uniforms (every bit of them) - so they had to borrow the Cajuns practice uniforms for the game! How uncomfortable is that? By the way, the Cajuns won... the ones from the Sun Belt, the real ones, hehehehe.

Here’s your chance to give the ultimate holiday gift while getting a full year of Mean Green Premium for yourself. With North Texas’ Buy 1, Get 1 Free plan you will get a full year of Mean Green Premium for just $99.95 and get a second annual subscription to give as a gift for free! To take advantage of this limited time offer, select this option and complete the registration process. Once we receive your completed registration, we will send you a follow-up e-mail instructing you how to take advantage of the free subscription offer within 48 hours. Offer ends at midnight on December 22, 2005.

Yeah, I remember those days as well - let me give you a little bit of veteran's advice... DRINK LOTS OF BEER! It will take that bitter taste out of your mouth - even if it is just a temporary fix, lol.