vpackrats

I'm in!. Me and a buddy are flying out tonight & we have 5 more arriving tomorrow night. 15th annual "body-bag road trip! We're staying in St Augustine until Saturday and look forward to a nice UF tailgating scene. The ticket office put us in section 38. Not sure if that's the UNT section but I'm guessing it is. 2002 -- Texas 2003 -- Oklahoma 2004 -- Texas 2005 -- LSU (Katrina'd) 2006 -- Texas 2007 -- Oklahoma 2008 -- LSU (Ike'd) 2009 -- Alabama 2010 -- Clemson 2011 -- Alabama 2012 -- LSU (Isaac'd -- for some) 2013 -- Georgia 2014 – Texas 2015 -- Tennessee 2016 – Florida

Renewed yesterday afternoon before closing time (4 seats + MGC). I guess I shouldn't say "renewed" because after 10 years I dropped off last year due to the horrendous home schedule & the ability to only make like 1 game. Turns out that was the best $$ not spent due to RV drama, Mac drama, etc, etc. But no more Mac, no more RV and a much better home schedule means me and some buddies are back. Looking forward to the rebuild!

Not sure about NM Green but I've been a season ticket holder (was a season ticket holder) since 2003. 4 season tickets + MGC membership for 12 years. Didn't renew this year because of the schedule. Now before I get flamed by the board, just know that in this case it wasn't smart cash management for me to re-up in 2015 when I knew I was only going to be able to attend one home game for sure / maybe two. Halloween night with kids is a killer / being a whore for TV Thursday night games was a killer for my work location / etc. Anyway, we've beat a dead horse on the schedule & I think we all agree the home schedule was B A D this year. I was fully planning on re-upping next year after a 1 year hiatus but I'm in wait & see mode now. Like many of you, if I'm going to invest in 4 season tickets & a MGC membership, what is the AD doing to advance the program? Also, I wonder how many of us are out there (not that many posts -- mainly a reader) who have invested years of watching games at Apogee & Fouts & are ready to apply their funds elsewhere? I'm sure it's waaaay more than 17 -- if you catch my drift. And, to bring it full circle since to me it's always important to bring it back to the original thread topic -- season tickets or not, my butt is still gonna be in the Swamp on 9/17 with hopefully as many of you guys as possible.

Well, let's face it ... there's a lot of things wrong with the program right now but, to me, the "paycheck" game isn't one of them. In fact, I hope we continue to play 1 "big boy" each & every year. (Not 2 of them, I agree with that). As NM Green said, this was just a great, great weekend of fun. Meeting the Cool Beans owner in Knoxville (a big UNT alum), having drinks with other UNT fans, hiking in Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a few days before the game, etc. That's good stuff. And it's great to have that opportunity each year EX: Experiencing the best tailgating ever while enjoying LSU hospitality, squeezing in golf on the Robert Trent Jones golf trail before seeing one of the meccas of college football in Alabama, etc, etc. That's what makes it fun! Once a year isn't going to kill anybody. Several of our 8 person group to Tennessee is already talking about wanting to go to Gainesville in Florida next year -- and a few of them aren't even UNT graduates! We have Florida, Iowa, Arkansas, Wisconsin & Texas A&M over the next 5 years (one each year). That's good variety & it will be fun. And just think what an opportunity it would be if we can beat one of them in those years! :)

I'm bringing 8 people to Knoxville, so it should be a good time. By the way, I have a free tip on how to get your friends & non-UNT fans out to these "body-bag" games -- don't sell it as a North Texas football road trip. I used to get only 2 or 3 die-hard UNT fans to tag along on our annual trip to see a major conference team by selling it that way. But starting with Alabama, something clicked. The marketing strategy changed -- haha. That trip was "let's do the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail ... and see a football game". It worked as a better selling point. LSU was billed as "damn good tailgating!!". This year's tag to the group was "come see Great Smoky Mountains National Park! Let's stay in a bad-ass mountain cabin in Gatlinburg! (and oh yeah, there's a football game going on that Saturday). End result -- 8 people going, 3 of which really have no connection to UNT. Now if we can only lose by less than our prior trips to see North Texas play Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU, etc, etc. :)

Because we are a whore for TV. And that sucks. "You want us to play on a Thursday night when attendance will be crappy? Yep, sure if we can be on TV. Halloween night? Sure, no problem". Not worth it!

Interesting read from Bleacher Report on QB Easton Bruere from Rio Rancho H.S. in New Mexico. Kid should get a D1 scholarship somewhere one would think! We kinda need a variety of options... http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2322488-the-best-football-prospect-nobodys-ever-heard-of

That's a no brainer actually. If we had Ditka at QB I say we'd go 12-0 and would have met up with Florida State in the championship game. It would have been a close game but Ditka's 5 TD passes and his QB sneak on 4th and 1 from the goal line gives UNT a 42-35 win and we claim the crystal ball.

OldGuy ... like that interesting factoid. I've got a similar thing going on, but just as it pertains to this year. When my kids have attended a North Texas game this year we're 3-0. 0-6 without them. Gotta find a way for them to start making some road trips. LOL.

How in the heck did you get that impression? I think you're reading way too much into the article, which was a good one.

Man, I gotta call B.S. on UT for ripping people off on this shit. I did a double-take on the $100 ticket price because I'd never seen anything that crazy in all our years of going to the big "body bag" game on our schedule. For anyone who thinks this price is remotely close to prior years, um, no. Because I am a packrat (like the namesake I guess), here's the price on the ticket stubs for sitting in the UNT crowd for the previous 3 years of big games: Alabama 7/17/11 Section MM $45.00 LSU 7/1/12 Section 612 $40.00 Georgia 7/21/13 Section 101 $45.00 Texas 8/30/14 $100.00 yeah, um, one of these #'s is out of line? Anyone want to take a wild-ass guess at which one it is? But, hey, I get it. Texas is Texas and ticket prices at bottom-feeder schools like Alabama, LSU & Georgia should be cheaper. Besides, everyone knows the SEC is a weak conference.

Well, I was going to start a seperate thread about the Cotton Bowl / State Fair, but looks like we kinda got a thread going about this right now. What do y'all think about moving a game a year to the State Fair? I'd love it!! Here's the deal... there are 4 weekends of the Fair & they only have 2 football games scheduled each year (Texas - OU / Grambling - Prairie View A & M). The State Fair would loooove to utilize the Cotton Bowl for at least a 3rd game during the fair. Why NOT us? When we did those games at Texas Stadium in the 90's that was a lot of fun & brought good publicity for us. If it's with the service academies, great! If not them, how about moving our yearly UNT-SMU tilt to the Cotton Bowl? Start a tradition. It would be GREAT exposure & really open a lot of eyeballs for random people going to the fair that day about what's going on. Also, with the prices listed in ADLER's post, that's a really good deal. I hope RV makes this happen! DISCLAIMER: Yeah, yeah, I know it would mean 1 less home game every 2 years ... seems to work out for UT & OU just fine.

The best news about the 38,380 attendance number is because I believe it was a "butts in seats" count. Definitely didn't appear that # was made up by the SMU attendance counter. From my perspective in Section 7 (UNLV side), that number was spot on. Most of our group guessed it was going to be in the 35,000 - 38,000 range.

Damn, hold a grude much?? Geez.

Um, you're forgetting the FACT that we would have played a Big 10 school in the HOD in a regular year. They were contractually bound to supply us with a team (# of teams permitting of course). Last time I checked, the Big 10 is a big 5 conference. But, as has been stated previously, due to a confluence of events ranging from the Big 10 getting 2 BCS bowl teams, to Penn State being on probation, to not enough teams being bowl eligible, they were unable to fulfill their committment to the HOD. No conspiracy here.

The sky is falling!! The sky is falling!!! Oh, wait ... nevermind. Carry on about what's happened to this team.

Actually, that bowl was pretty bad-ass. The reason I went was it was one of the few bowls (outside of the BCS bowls) that had a top 25 matchup. You had 11-1 Houston squaring off against 9-2 Penn State in a pretty epic matchup. Houston had just misssed getting into a BCS bowl because of their unfortunate loss in the CUSA championship game & the only reason Penn State dropped to the HOD Bowl was because nobody really wanted them with all the Sandusky stuff breaking. So, both teams that really shoulda been playing in much bigger bowls "fell" to the HOD bowl. ... And, for your sports break history recap for November 24, 2013, I'm Edddd Carter.

Overreact much? LOL. I'm guessing anyone watching the program from 2005 - 2011 could pick out some worse losses.

Damn straight! Good stuff!!

The trick is to not wait on the Athletic Department to make promotional opportunities for kids & just do it yourself. I'm coach of a Little League baseball team in Carrollton & we've got the end of the season team party thing down to a science. Spring ball = Rangers game. Fall ball = last UNT football game (3rd year in a row coming up). Remember, when you bring 20 or more, you get a discount on tickets. There's your incentive. Kids love the tailgating & the proximity of being close to the field!

Bowl info straight from College Football News.com. Hey, I'll take it!!! Wed, Jan 1 12 pm ESPNU Heart of Dallas Bowl Cotton Bowl, Dallas, TX Big Ten No. 7 vs. C-USA Projected Matchup: Iowa vs. North Texas

Love me some Section 208!!

I was at that game & I can't believe this is the 25th year anniversary of that game (geez, I'm old now). Anyway, there was a big caravan of cars heading back to Denton on I-35 after the game & one of our fellow students' cars said it best with some shoe polish on the window: "North Texas 24 Texas 13 Referees 14". Such a con job ... no way they could get away with it now though (thanks instant replay!).

Same thing here. Anyone looking to sell their parking pass for this week's game if you're not going? Will buy from you. I am doing our end-of-the-year Little League team party and the more parents & kids I can get over to our usual tailgate spot in the grass, the better!

Good article by Brett. I don't mind playing one money game a year. Not two and definitely not three. But one game against a Top 20 school is fine by me. It's cool to experience campuses such as LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Clemson, etc when you normally might not get to experience a historic school like that. Next year we have Georgia and 2015 we have Iowa. Two more places I am looking forward to visit for the 1st time. It's a great way to see the country & meet new people. I can tell you the LSU folks were about the friendliest people we've seen at any of our trips. We got stopped at about 5-7 tailgates while walking to see Mike the Tiger's enclosure by people giving us free beer, shots & telling us to eat some of their food. And, they'd be "offended" if we didn't. Great fans! Anyway, back to the point. Sign me up for one national power per year...