Side Show Joe

I can understand peoples concerns. If there is a problem with the tickets or parking passes, you don't want to be scrambling at the last minute to try and get it corrected. Having said that, I believe an athletic department that can get our stadium built on time, can get our stuff to us in time for the Houston game. I'd rather worry about Houston fans sitting on our home side, and not in their visitor's section.

The state of Texas, of which Perry is the governor, has funded education for the next fiscal cycle. Just because you disagree with the amount of money allocated to education by the state, does not mean that Perry or the state has not met their obligation. The state will continue to provide children the opportunity to receive a quality education, should they choose to take advantage. Now I do believe Texas needs a better system for funding education. Educational funding should not be tied to property taxes. I hate that good teachers have been let go because of budget cuts. I hate it even more when I see good teachers let go, while bad teachers are retained just because they have tenure. Right now people everywhere are losing jobs. It would be wrong to expect teachers and others in the public sector not to be effected by the current economic conditions.

No we don't. We have teacher's organizations. But they are often referred to as teacher's unions. I've heard it so much it kind of stuck.

I think BYU would gladly give up their independence, if it meant inclusion into a BCS conference. Plus it would be hard for the Big 12 to tell them they can't broadcast their games on the BYU Network, when Texas has the Longhorn Network. The only thing I can see as a problem for BYU, is the fact they don't play on Sundays. Also, why would the Big 12 invite Houston, when they could grab TCU. I'd think TCU would rather be in the Big 12 over the Big East. These rumors just don't add up for me. I think the Big 12 will stay at 9, until another program (OU) leaves. After that, I think they would probably expand, but it could be 3 to 5 years before that happens.

Does anyone know how many season tickets we have sold? I haven't seen any numbers. Is the athletic department trying to keep it a secret?

I am in education. I am a public school teacher. The problems with education in Texas are not monetary. Children in third world countries are more literate. There are many problems like, government mandates, teacher's unions, and tenure. But, I think the biggest problem is lack of interest. Many parents have a lack of interest in their children's education, thinking it is the roll of the public school to raise their kids. It is not. Too many students have no interest in their education. I spend a great deal of time everyday, trying to get through to these student's why they are in school and how they can improve their lives through education, just like I did. I wasn't smart enough to earn a scholarship out of high school. My parents didn't have the money to pay for my school, but made too much money for me to qualify for financial aid. I worked three jobs while earning my bachelors degree, and slept three or four hours a night, if I was lucky. I never felt I was owed a higher education by society. I worked so hard and did so well, the University of North Texas awarded me a fellowship to earn my masters degree. My fellowship was not the result of public funds, or government aid. A donation from the private sector made my fellowship possible. Had I not received a fellowship, I would have worked another three or four jobs in order to earn my masters. Nothing was owed to me, and nothing is owed to you. Work for what you want. The quality of education in the state of Texas is relative to the value each individual places on it. The state can not legislate results. The money allocated to education under Perry is not the problem.

Perry has been a good governor for a very long time. He is the best option of all the GOP candidates. He has my vote. Obama is the worst President I've seen in my lifetime, and I can remember Carter. Obama won't stand up to anyone but the American taxpayer. Why some people choose to bash Perry is beyond me.

It seems every time I check GMG there is more good news. This is a great deal for North Texas. I'll be glad to drive out to Apogee Stadium and watch the Mean Green play for the next 20 plus years. Will this injection of naming rights money be counted into the our annual athletic budget every year?

Should teams leave the Big 12, Texas will not allow any new additions from the State of Texas. Why share the market? BYU, Memphis, Tulsa, and Air Force make more sense to me.

Cuban-HD Net Stadium has a nice ring to it. Cuban loves football, and $10,000,000 is nothing to the man. Maybe HD Net would broadcast our games not picked up by ESPN. FBS football is more high profile then Cuban's professional league. Cuban could do for North Texas what Ted Turner did for the Braves.

The problems that are destroying the economic power of our nation were started long ago. The country is facing two economic bubbles that are related. We have a housing bubble that will take another decade to work itself out. Baby Boomers are retiring and attempting to downsize out of their large older homes, into more energy efficient smaller houses, only to find out they do not have the equity in them they planned on. Many younger American families can't afford to buy homes period. Last I checked somewhere between 11 and 14% of American homes were vacant. Even if the 30 and 20 somethings in the U.S. had the buying power to purchase more homes, there just are not enough of them to fill the gap that will be created as Baby Boomers die off. This housing market will remain weak for many years to come. The American economy can not grow under these conditions. The second bubble is the retirement investment system. Financial institutions have leveraged their assets to irresponsible levels. the government knew TARP and the stimulus (Obama's wasteful spending plan) would not result in an increase in loans. Global assets are inflated by a factor of 10. Wall Street is trying to hold money. They need a down grade in our economy, so the dollar will weaken more, because Boomers are starting to retire, and draw on the interest in their 401K's. A weaker dollar will allow them to pay less to investers. Currently the dollar has lost about 20% of its value over the last decade. Without a major change, many investment funds won't be able to honor their obligations in 5-10 years, as more and more Boomers retire. In America, there simply are not enough younger Americans investing in the markets, to substantiate the value of the Baby Boomer's assets. Remember, our economic system is built on the concept of supply and demand. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

I like the jerseys, but the helmets need the SOW on them. I wish I knew why our administration won't place the logo on the helmets. Doesn't make sense to me.

That certainly looks like the kind of helmet Nike would design. If that turns out to be the new helmet, I like it. If it has the SOW on the sides, I won't ask for anything this Christmas.

I'm sure he got a nice raise when he left for Iowa, but does anyone know what he was making here when he left, and how much Iowa paid him to leave Denton? I know he was unhappy about not getting bowl invites, but I guess I'm just wondering how much we were under paying back then. I hope when the wins come and other programs start sniffing around coach Mac, we will be able to keep him.

Agreed. Booger should be in the HOF. Someone needs to answer for this.

Nothing makes me happier then seeing us pick up quality linemen. Games are won in the trenches. Skill players a flashy, but if this program is going to turn the corner and compete at a higher level, it must continue to draw players equal to the Feldt brothers on the offensive and defensive lines. Great job. So far, this is turning into a great recruiting season. Welcome Boone.

Does anyone know if they will be ready by Saturday?

Look alike threads, that make fun of ugly players on other teams.... and insider information.

Welcome to the board. It good to have another fellow teacher supporting our school. I recently graduated and joined the Alumni Association earlier this year. I got my card and sticker within a few weeks. About a month later, I started getting my Texas Monthly. If you don't get anything after a month, you might want to call and make sure they got your information. Go Mean Green!

I think Trice is an amazing talent. If he is up to it, I'd like to see if he can start on both sides.

It appears the weights have not been changed. When those stats are updated, it will be interesting to see if the players coach Mac wanted to gain weight over the summer actually did.

This looks like a great addition. Coach Mac has now added two 4 star transfers in his first year. 2012 could be a special year for North Texas football. The other programs in the Sun Belt have to be taking notice. Has any football coach in our history ever brought in two 4 star transfers in one year?

If UCF is taken by the Big East, C-USA would almost certainly want to keep a team in Florida. The problem is I don't know if they really like FAU or FIU. Neither brings very good attendance. FIU would add the Miami market, but even the Caines have trouble filling their seats. Is Boca really a market C-USA covets? Yes SMU may be an issue. The biggest thing we as fans can do is to fill the stands and travel well to regional games. We have to bring more fans to our games then SMU. If we can sell out our games, and average around 30,000 for the season, and travel well to near by road games, North Texas will be in the mix. It starts with Houston. whether we win that game or not, selling it out, and showing Houston's administration what great pride we take in supporting our Mean Green, could go a long way towards swaying the opinion of C-USA in favor of North Texas. Remember C-USA is headquartered in DFW. I bet their commissioner will be here for the game. The second part is the Mean Green Nation needs to travel to Tulsa and and help them post one of their top 2 attendance games of the season. If we can do that, the C-USA office will notice.

That's just sad. If his grammar and writing skills are any indication of his dedication to academics, we will probably be taking some kind of hit when next year NCAA progress ratings come out, and if the McNeese coaches read that, they may not want him. I think Carey needs to fix his attitude, and hopefully improve his life.

Benson is quickly becoming my least favorite person in college sports. The new WAC or SLAC, will struggle for at least a few years. I'm not big on the Sun Belt expanding, but if the new WAC does start to gain a foothold again, the Belt might need to re-evaluate expanding, and add a WAC team or two. That shouldn't be necessary for another 5 or 10 years.