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MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY !!!

Maria Saldivar Intern November 16, 2005 A time-honored tradition shakes the foundation of football games and other festivities at NT. The Talons, an on-campus spirit group, fires off the cannon every year. They’ve done so since 1970. “It is an honor to fire the cannon as part of a tradition that Talons have upheld over time,” said cannon crewmember Pamela Hogan, North Richland Hills sophomore. Boomer, the name acquired by “Mean” Joe Greene, was the newest project spirit in the ’70s. The cannon is a two-thirds scale replica of a Civil War six-pound cannon. Other campus groups helped construct the cannon and its carriage. In the summer of 1989, Talon Rick McKinney and a friend decided to give Boomer a more authentic look and stripped it of its green and white battle paint. A new firing process was put into place to improve the quality of safety. The cannon failed inspection in 1996, so the Talons sought out a more reliable replacement. Boomer went under the knife once more in fall 2004 and was remodeled to its current glory. “The canon is a celebration of everything North Texas,” said Shea Rodgers, Garland junior and general of the cannon crew. The cannon’s firing isn’t just a football ritual; it also kicks off Homecoming festivities and University Day in April. A distinct group of Talons members light Boomer. There are two teams of three on the battery division of the cannon crew that rotate out each half. Rodgers serves the entire game. Practice commences at least two or three times in the fall semesters. Firing the cannon can be a long, complicated process that the crew has to be able to perform in 20 to 25 seconds. Sometimes that is all the time they have between a touchdown and an extra point. Hogan said Boomer helps get fans excited and lets the players know that fans are supporting them. “We appreciate the fan support,” said NT football player David Adams, Garland sophomore. “It’s nice to hear it go off when we do something good.” There are four cannon crew positions. One member uses a tool called a “worm” to pull aluminum foil out of the breech. Another crewman uses the “Q-Tip,” which has a wet sponge on one end and dry one on the other, to extinguish any embers left inside. “By the end of the game this person is covered in gun powder,” Rodgers said. The third crewman uses a plunger rod to ram the charge into the breech, and the fourth crewman punctures a charge through the top of the cannon, called the vent. “I remember the first game I went to at North Texas, before I was a Talon, and seeing all the people scramble around the cannon and hear the deafening boom, and I thought that it would be the coolest thing if I could just fire it once,” Rodgers said. “It’s hard to miss the cannon at the games. Without the cannon the games would be very different - quieter anyway.”

Ditto to NT80's comments. Anyone planning on a roadtrip to the NO/ULaLa Bowl ? I'm thinking about going just to show support for the Sun Belt Conference.

Will anything be mentioned about the QB situation ?

Found the answer to my own question ... Another bowl game unlikely Brad McDonnell Sports Editor November 09, 2005 Two conference losses are not enough to hold the Mean Green out of contention for one of the Sun Belt titles. With parity surrounding the conference, only two teams are mathematically eliminated from a championship: newcomers Florida Atlantic and Florida International. But finishing first may not be the top prize sought after and could fall a distant second to capturing the conference bowl bid. The two prizes are supposed to be one, whoever wins the Sun Belt goes to the New Orleans Bowl. But NCAA rules state that a team must win six games to become bowl eligible, and several Sun Belt teams could win the conference without reaching the six-win mark. NT can win its final three games, and with losses by Troy and Louisiana-Lafayette, win the Sun Belt title but get left out of the bowl game. In this situation where the champion fails to reach six wins, the decision of whether the team goes to the bowl game is left to the New Orleans Bowl committee, who can choose another Sun Belt team that has six wins over the conference champion. “It’s all up to the bowl committee,” said Rob Broussard, director of media relations for the Sun Belt Conference. “If the conference champion has only five wins, and the second-place team has six, then the committee can choose either team to play in the bowl game.” If the committee elects to take the five-win champion, then the conference will have to file a petition to the NCAA on behalf of the team in order to get permission to play in the bowl game. The Sun Belt champion, not the bowl representative, is determined the traditional way. The team with the best record wins the title, with the tiebreaker coming on head-to-head records. In case of a tie involving more than two teams, the school with the best record against the next highest ranked team determines the tiebreaker. If all else fails or not understood, then “we just flip a coin,” Broussard said.

Other than us winning out, what else has to happen or is it even a possibility ?

Can I have your tickets ?

Why is this no longer pinned ?

Was there one ? If so, was anything other than the usual said ?

Only when it comes to alimony.

With my YES vote it's now 35-35. "Do you believe in the MEAN GREEN ?" HELL YES !!!

Any takers yet ?

Are they actually going to show the game ?

Baton Rouge, La. (10/27/05) - In the matchup that was originally scheduled for Sept. 3, the Mean Green (2-4, 2-1) takes on Louisiana State (5-1, 4-1) this Saturday at 7 pm. The game was rescheduled due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. North Texas’ final non-conference game can be heard on the Mean Green Radio Network.The game will also be offered as part of the ESPN GamePlan package and can be seen live in Texas. It will only be available if you subscribe to GamePlan or you can buy it as a pay-per-view if you have satellite or digital cable TV. Suffering its first conference loss since 2001, the Mean Green remains in contention for its fifth-straight Sun Belt Title. North Texas is second in the conference in turnover margin, and running back Patrick Cobbs leads the Sun Belt in all-purpose and rushing yards per game. North Texas is facing a ranked LSU squad for the first time. The 7th ranked Tigers’ only loss of the season came in overtime against Tennessee. LSU is led by Joseph Addai, who is tops in the SEC in rushing with 107 yards per game. The Tigers are 2-0 all-time against the Mean Green, with a scoring edge of 101-7. LSU took the first meeting 49-7 in 1995 and the second 52-0 in 1999. Several individuals involved with the North Texas football program have LSU ties. Mean Green head coach Darrell Dickey coached tight ends at LSU from 1991-93 while defensive line coach Mike Bugar also spent the same three years as the Tigers defensive coordinator. North Texas head strength coach Chris Seroka was at LSU from 1991-94, serving as the strength coach his last three years there. Current graduate assistant football coach Thomas Dunson was a two-year letterman as a reserve linebacker for the Tigers in 1998-99. Mean Green Athletic Director Rick Villarreal was an employee of LSU from 1991-95, serving as both a tight ends coach and director of football operations.

HOUSTON -- A month ago, you never would have bet it would end like this. A month ago, the debate about those Chicago White Sox never seemed to involve whether they belonged in the same sentence as the '27 Yankees, or even the '99 Yankees. No, the debate back then was whether they were heading for the same sentence as the '64 Phillies -- a life sentence, that is. In confinement with the great collapsers of all time. "Yeah, a month ago, they were calling us chokers," said White Sox poet laureate A.J. Pierzynski on a magical night in October. "But now they can call us something else that starts with a C-H -- champions." The Chicago White Sox ... champions. How 'bout that for a stranger-than-heck phenomenon? Until Wednesday night, it was a phenomenon that only about 14 living humans were familiar with -- for the same reason that you no longer run across many members of the Eddie Cicotte Fan Club. In other words, 88 years ago was a long, long, lonnnnggg time ago. Even longer than that World Series game these White Sox played Tuesday night. The last time the Chicago White Sox won a World Series, there were no radio stations to listen to it on. And no such thing as a national anthem to sing before every game. And no such animal as a commissioner of baseball to hand them their trophy. The last time the Chicago White Sox won a World Series was 1917. And the best part of winning it that year was they never had to hear a sole complaint about crummy TV ratings. One of these years, or one of these decades, or one of these centuries, you knew some White Sox team was bound to win another one. But who among us thought it would be this team, in this year? (Sorry, members of the Guillen and Konerko families are ineligible to answer that question.) On the final Wednesday of October, though, it didn't matter what anybody thought of these White Sox in February. All that mattered was the 27th out that landed in the glove of Mr. White Sox, Paul Konerko. The out that finished off a 1-0 win over the Houston Astros. The out that finished off an improbable sweep of an improbable World Series. The out that ended 88 years of Wait 'Til Next Year seasons for a franchise that has spent every one of those seasons living in the shadow of another team in its own city. "I've been here for seven years," said Konerko, a guy whose impending free agency will be the story around this franchise once they sweep up the tickertape. "And on this team, I've been here the longest, along with Frank (Thomas). But compared with all the fans and all the people who put up with the frustrations of this team for all those years, that's nothing. Those are the people who have suffered for a long, long time. "But when you win, people don't forget you. So now, we'll always be remembered as part of the team that finally jumped over that wall." When this team jumped that wall, however, it was one giant leap for White Sox kind, because here's the thunderous way in which they did it: • They swept the World Series -- for the first time in franchise history. • They won their final eight games in a row -- tying the 2004 Red Sox for the longest winning streak any team has had in a single postseason. • They went 11-1 in their 12 postseason games -- tying the '99 Yankees for the best postseason record of the 11-season wild-card era. • They played six road games in this postseason -- against teams (Boston, Anaheim and Houston) that finished a combined 69 games over.500 at home this season -- and won all six. • And they became just the third team in history to sweep a World Series after a season in which they were in first place every day of the season. Those other two teams were the 1990 Reds and the fabled '27 Yankees. "The '27 YANKEES?" gulped Pierzynski after hearing that news. "I don't think we're exactly the '27 Yankees. We've got no Babe Ruth. We don't even have a Roger Maris. We do have the Three Stooges, though -- me, (Joe) Crede and (Aaron) Rowand: Ro, Mo and Yo." But if that's what it took to shake off 88 years of ghosts and demons, no one on the South Side of Chicago would have cared if their double-play combination was Laurel and Hardy, or their starting rotation was the cast of "American Pie." "We're different than a lot of teams that win the World Series," said Konerko. "We don't have a lot of all-star type guys. We've got a bunch of low-maintenance, low-key guys here. I don't think that when we're done, we'll have any guys who will make you say, 'That guy was the best player in the league at his position.' ... "But we're proof that you don't have to put together an all-star team to win it, like some teams that went down along the way. I don't have to mention their names. You know who they are. We're not a team that was a lock to win. We could start the playoffs again tomorrow and get knocked off in three games, because we aren't some unbelievably great team. We're just a team that played our best baseball when we had to." This was a team whose claim to fame all year was its ability to win those 2-1 games that supposedly went out of style about 1968. This was a team that, amazingly, won 15 games in which it scored one run or two -- the most by any team since the '69 Mets. And this was a team that, including the postseason, went an insane 68-35 in games decided by one run or two -- the best record in baseball. So how fitting was the final chapter to this team's story? How fitting was it that the White Sox wound up sweeping a World Series in which they never led by more than two runs at any point in any game? How fitting was it that they outscored the Astros by only six runs over the entire World Series and still managed to sweep it -- tied with the 1950 Yankees for the smallest margin by any sweepers in history. And how fitting was it that the grand finale was one last 1-0 game? "Our first game of the year was 1-0," Pierzynski said. "Our first game of the second half was 1-0. And our last game of the year was 1-0. You couldn't ask for a better script." “ You know, if we'd won this game, 10-0, that would have been great. But it wouldn't have been right. That's not us. So I was waiting for them to tie it up in the ninth, so we could say, 'OK, let's go. Extra innings.' ” — Paul Konerko It was a script that included the first World Series game to roll into the eighth inning with a 0-0 score since Jack Morris versus John Smoltz, Game 7, 1991. It was a script that revolved around the brilliance of one more White Sox starting pitcher -- in this case, Freddy Garcia (7 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs). And it was a script that turned on the efforts of yet another member of this team's bench crew -- the increasingly legendary Group 4 scrubeenies who spent their October in relentless obscurity. In this case, the special Group 4 guest star du jour was infielder Willie Harris, who was sent out to pinch-hit for Garcia to start the eighth -- against a man nobody would want to hit against after three weeks without an at-bat: Houston closer Brad Lidge. But Harris poked a single into left -- for his first hit in 24 days. His teammates moved him along to third with a bunt and a ground ball. And then the World Series MVP, Jermaine Dye, knocked him in with a single up the middle. So all of a sudden, the team with the 88-year drought had a one-run lead -- and only six more outs to get. "Unbelievable," said Group 4 ringleader Geoff Blum, the guy who had hit the game-winning homer just the night (or morning) before. "It took eight stars to get us here -- and Group 4 to get us over the top." Relievers Cliff Politte and Neal Cotts got the first three outs, squirming out of a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth. So then, in the ninth, it was Bobby Jenks' turn. Jenks is another guy who seemed to sum up this team's year. Claimed on waivers over the winter. Pitching in Birmingham in April. Then standing on the mound with a World Series to finish in October. Perfect. He'd thrown 41 exhausting pitches in Game 3, less than 24 hours earlier. But there was "no way in hell I wasn't coming in" to pitch this game, he said. Of course, he had to make it as terrifying as possible, though. Of course, as his teammates crowded around the top step of the dugout, he had to give up a bloop leadoff single to Jason Lane -- followed by a Brad Ausmus bunt that moved the tying run to second base. "What an inning," Blum would say later. "It was scary. It was quixotic. What's that mean, anyway -- quixotic?" Hey, you've got us. But it sounded good. Whatever, it was Jenks-otic. And that was the last thing anybody in Chicago needed, after all the Bartman-esque things that have gone on there for the last 88 years. "You know, if we'd won this game, 10-0, that would have been great," said Konerko. "But it wouldn't have been right. That's not us. So I was waiting for them to tie it up in the ninth, so we could say, 'OK, let's go. Extra innings.' " Turned out that wouldn't be necessary, though -- thanks to Jenks and his trusty shortstop, Juan Uribe. With that tying run on second, Jenks dueled pinch-hitter Chris Burke for six stirring pitches. Burke lofted the last of those six toward the seats beyond third base. It sure looked as if it would float out of play. But there was one guy on the field who didn't think so -- Uribe. He scrambled toward the stands, lunged precipitously and careened into the crowd, like some character in a Road Runner cartoon. But a moment later, he emerged with the baseball. And the White Sox were one out away. If Derek Jeter had made that play in a game like this, it would turn into a major motion picture, coming to a theater near you. That won't be happening for Juan Uribe. But his teammates knew what this play meant. "That play pretty much sums up our team," Konerko said. "Juan is probably the one guy on this team who's capable of making that play. But every guy on this team would do that -- crash into those stands if that's what it took." Crash or no crash, though, Jenks still needed to get one final out. His teammates were just about bursting out of the dugout by then. The stadium P.A. system blared out, "We Will Rock You," as Orlando Palmeiro dug in. Jenks surged ahead of Palmeiro, 1 and 2, then stood on the rubber and heaved one final big gulp of oxygen. Then he fired his final fastball of the night. Palmeiro chopped it into the sky. Jenks leaped for it, then realized the most disastrous thing he could have done was deflect it. So he pulled his hand back and watched it hop over his head. “ I'm not sure what happened after (the last out) other than a whole lot of loudness -- and a bunch of guys hitting me on the head. ” — Closer Bobby Jenks It looked, for an instant, like an infield hit waiting to happen. But here came Uribe one more time, charging, scooping, firing the baseball toward Konerko at approximately 866 miles per hour. Thwack. The ball hit the glove. Frrrummphh. Palmeiro's foot hit the bag. First-base ump Gary Cederstrom pumped the out sign toward the Great Lakes. And 88 years of agony melted into the past tense. "I knew I caught it in time," Konerko said. "But I still sneaked a look over at the umpire -- because I didn't want to get caught celebrating prematurely." "I'm not sure what happened after that," said Jenks, "other than a whole lot of loudness -- and a bunch of guys hitting me on the head." Then he looked up and saw his catcher, Pierzynski, sprinting toward him -- and (yikes) leaping into his arms. "I knew he was coming," Jenks said. "I just had a feeling. I saw it in his face: 'Here I come.' " "Hey, I knew he wouldn't drop me," Pierzynski said. "He might be the only guy in the league who's fatter than me." "It didn't matter how big he is," Jenks said. "I could have picked up a car right then." Then they all dissolved into a gigantic group hug -- a hug that stretched from the pitcher's mound all the way to a famous lakefront in Illinois. A team from Chicago had won itself a championship. And it didn't require the services of Michael Jordan, Mike Ditka or Jim McMahon to do it. Drew Barrymore wasn't around to run around the field, chased by any Hollywood producers. Stephen King wasn't around, to dial his friendly neighborhood publisher. The Cubs weren't around, to remind the champs who's really No. 1. No, this wasn't about any of those teams these White Sox are always being compared to. This was their moment, their time, their trophy. And the second-longest championship drought in the history of professional sports was no more. The Chicago White Sox ... Champions. How 'bout that phenomenon? "Who," grinned A.J. Pierzynski, "would have thunk it?" Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

FYI

And you've been a Lastros fan your whole life, right ? Or did you lose your Minnesota Twins hat ? So do you also cheer for the Titans, er Oilers, or the Texans ?

After years of cheering for the likes of Chet Lemon, Eric Soderholm, Ralph Garr, Ron Karkovice and enduring countless uniform disasters ... I have to trash talk with someone. Why not a fellow Mean Green fan ?

And we (North Texas) are going to beat LSU ! Enjoy your broom ... SWEEP !!!

Won't be game 6 of the World Series !

Back up the cash truck ! BEEP BEEP BEEP

Offense responds after halftime with consecutive touchdowns Rian Johnson Staff Writer October 25, 2005 The Mean Green played its best football of the season in the third quarter of Saturday’s 40-14 loss to Louisiana Tech. After entering the half trailing 27-0, then surrendering an early second-half field goal, NT found itself facing a 30-point deficit. Then the offense found some life. Following a Jamario Thomas kickoff return to the NT 43-yard line, the Mean Green drove the ball 57 yards for a touchdown, capped by a 15-yard pass from Daniel Meager to Brandon Jackson. The Mean Green defense then held Louisiana Tech to a three-and-out, forcing a Bulldogs punt. On its next offensive possession, NT managed to take the ball 69 yards for its second touchdown of the game. Mean Green running back Patrick Cobbs hooked up with Johnny Quinn on a halfback pass for the Mean Green touchdown, marking the first time this season the NT offense has scored multiple offensive touchdowns in a single game. “Our offense finally got something rolling in the third quarter,” Cobbs said. “We just have to do that for four quarters.” NT coach Darrell Dickey was impressed with the way his team came out in the third quarter, facing such a large deficit. “Our guys came out in the second half and really played hard,” Dickey said. “We were down [a lot], and they didn’t give in and didn’t quit. They kept playing hard.” While he was pleased with the effort in the third quarter, Dickey said the Mean Green has to learn how to perform at the level more consistently. “I want them to do that from the first kickoff to the last,” Dickey said. “We were not as intense in the first half as we need to be, but … we came back and fought back.” The Mean Green is also pleased with the ability of its running game to get the ball moving. Dickey said he was glad to see the running game average over five yards a carry for the game, something it had not done so far this season. “That is the first thing you have to do to get your offense going,” Dickey said. “We are a long ways off, but I am seeing some strides.”

Are you referring to the type of loyalty that travels hundreds, even sometimes thousands of miles to be at the games supporting OUR TEAM ? Or are you referring to the type of loyalty that constantly belittles those same fans ? Just curious.

Monday

This just in ... due to a holiday of "technical difficulties" the show has been cancelled !