SCREAMING EAGLE-66

Geezzzzz.. We are getting desperate for complements.

--Great Post.... hahahahaha..!!!

Norm Turner ... who happens to be an Aikman favorite as well.

--My guess----Jones refused to "sack" T-zero. Parcells called his bluff and is leaving.

--- Crazy situation of the day was the NE play that left R.Caldwell completely uncovered by Indy (total mess-up by defense) in Q-4 and with a 99% chance of scoring. Brady noticed him and immediately throws to him .... unbelievably he dropped the catch that most of us might have made. ---From that point on I began to think it just wasn't "supposed" to be a NE day. --- I can't ever remember seeing a defense fail to see as receiver who was that obviously open. He was on the NE side of the field so I suppose he blended in with the sideline a bit but still Indy had to be absolutely "blind" for a moment.

---Someone hasn't priced pickups lately... they are not cheap. Plus once you have driven one you are likely to continue to keep driving them (if not, some type of SUV) instead of a car.. Aikman also drives one most of the time so I hear.

---No big deal but I have known Max Emfinger since we were in the 4th grade together in Brownwood.... Played on a few early football teams together. I last saw him about 4 years ago. I think his house took a big hit by Katrina, he lives (or did live ) a few miles north of New Orleans now.

97%..?? I am sure West-Texas (and HS friends) gave her quite a bit of support... I fact I guess I am both, West-Texas and GMG. I suspect that a lot of school friends chipped in votes as well. No doubt we did did make a big difference but I doubt 97%. She may not even know that we exist or that a lot us gave her a lot of votes.

Exactly---(not sure what is going on) I have been around a while and we have a history of wide variations. I was a kid during the 50's and most of oak trees on our farm/ranch died (almost no rain) and I never even saw snow until I was in 6th grade... then after that we had snow every year (several times) for several years. Weather does vary a lot with crazy periods of wetness, dryness, and temperature swings. ----Global warming is sort of tough to argue against though-----a quick look at glacier pictures taken 60-100 years ago and also of polar caps indicate that a lot of what was there is now gone..... Now comes the big question..... are we causing it or is it something that naturally occurs from time to time or can we even do anything about it?. Glacier National Park is now even a questionable name... there aren't very many any more and the ones there get smaller all the time. . ----The weather guys in Midland looked like dumbies this week .... the problem was the temp stayed at 32-33 while it rained a lot and there was no ice until early Saturday morning. At that point it finally froze up and live oak trees (includes mine some) took a beating with several limbs breaking. Did not last long. It is nice today again (40's, Sunday)

--He was in Odessa..?? as athletic director.... I sure don't remember it and I live in Midland and think I can name most of them ... besides the all the ADs I remember have been promoted from within the system. If he was he must have been in and out in a hurry, if he was here.. __________________ --Just checked ... he really was there.. about 1.5 years... Not a super successful period.. resignation left a lot of questions why, unanswered. What the heck is TRN.??? TRS is the "Teacher Retirement System" which concerns educators in Texas. check the math 52-32 =20 He started teaching at age 20????? _______________________ _______________________ --on the web ----Parker, 52 and with 32 years in teaching and coaching under his belt, would not go into specifics about his decision, only saying that he is retiring from teaching and administration. “It’s really semantics. I resign from ECISD, but I retire from TRN (Teachers’ Retirement Network),” Parker said. ----Parker said he would answer all questions about his abrupt resignation —during an interview on the next Coach’s Corner. The reason for that, he said, was because he wanted to tell his story only once, in a setting he was comfortable with, and to get it out without any spin being added to it. "Odessa newspaper"

--It may not be... but if you search the web a little you will find NFL salaries posted .... it is not much of a secret what their basic salaries are. The players assn. releases them I believe. 2006 is not yet listed on this one -- even incentives paid are included on this one: http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/football/nf...es/default.aspx

-----In basketball this title is absolutely correct... we once were in a confernece with Cincinnati, Louisville, Tulsa, Memphis, Drake, Bradley, Wichita State and others. Our conference (MVC) had 5 teams in the top 10 at Christmas time my senior year. --I loved basketball when I went to UNT and seeing all those future NBA players.

--Brady just seems to win.... until his team is defeated I expect them to win. ---I usually support the NFC teams but I expect the AFC to win this year... whichever one it is.

--Church.??... guess not -- that would be discussing religion, --LOL-- Strip clubs is better and more interesting topic.... LOL.....

All terrorists are Muslim..!!! .. Are you sure. ???? ----Hitler was not a Muslim..... He was supposedly a Christian and the Catholic Church helped many of his followers flee to South America (mostly Catholic countries) after WWII. He tried to exterminate the Jewish people and the Jewish religion (they were responsible for the death of Jesus after all)... He also did in a lot of Islamics and other religious groups but that is not mentioned much because there were very few of them in the countries he controlled. Granted, religion was not the main reason for his desire for conquest but it was an issue in WWII. ----The Japanese were as bad and possibly worse during WWII especially in China and Nan-king. A lot of what they did was based on their religious beliefs and the fact that that they considered their Emperor a divine being. Those who believed otherwise deserved to die. They recruited Kamikazes based on religious ideas. ----Read about Bosnia... the Serbs were supposedly Christians and they were they ones exterminating the Islamic ethic groups. _________________ ---- I believe in the separation of Church and state... A court house is not a church nor is a school a church. I have heard some school devotionals (when we had them) that I really did not agree a lot with. Some groups was trying to impose their beliefs on others (and I do mean other Christians whose belief were somewhat different ) ---- We may be in Iraq because of the unfortunate influence of the extreme televangelists who constantly support those now in office. The President even referred to the invasion as a "Crusade" a couple of times until several Americans protested his use of that word. We need to do what is right for our country.... not what some religious group wants. ----Having said the above, I do agree that Islamics have more than their share of terrorists. It is also true that religion and government in those countries are merged together......... and you can also see how much trouble that is causing. Keep religion and government separated.... Our forefathers put this in the Constitution because of all the religious (Christian) wars that took place in Europe after the Protestant Reformation. Even our wonderful Puritans forefathers started hanging folks that disagreed with them (claimed they were witches etc.) Thank goodness those fine Christians don't still control our country (they also banned Christmas and Easter because they weren't mentioned in the Bible). They came to New England to have the freedom to believe as they wished (also to be able to punish those who didn't). ---Don't blame the non-Christians a lot for the bans now in place in schools... The extreme Christians such as the idiot judge that put a multi-ton granite moment in the doorway of the courthouse or the judge that that had the Ten-Commandments posted in his courtroom surrounded by flashing lights who even made people them at times before testifying. I have had students that refused to work or listen in class but instead decided that reading their Bible (sometimes even aloud) was the thing to do (they usually were failing). Those are types that have caused the religious problems in courthouses and schools.... this especially includes the students that wanted to discuss and convert people to their beliefs when other classwork was to be done. Didn't happen much but it did happen at times.

----This is not really due global warming.. It seems everyone wants to blame every variation or oddity on global warming (or Gore as I heard or radio today, they were not exactly joking, they were stating there was no such thing, today was proof supposedly ) . ----Those who doubt it exists need to look pictures of glaziers token 40-80 years ago (includes Glazier National Park which now has very few) and see how much they of them has disappeared and a good look at he Arctic Ice pack and Antarctic regions... The only argument is why?? It is a natural occurrence that have changed things or is man causing is and how..?? ----There are nuts on both side of the fence.

---Agree, I wish him well, he did some good things for us. I do think "The Black Uniform Incident" was a bit tacky however.

---Some people are just content to be in their present postion ( includes college coach)... some people want to excell at where they are.

---If it happens it happens, if not it doesn't..... the world will not end if we aren't invited to CUSA..... personally I don't think the PRESENT CUSA is all that much better than the Belt.... the one with Louisville et. al. was. We need to be more concerned about improving the Belt but we can't do it alone.... there are 7+ other members that need to improve and win more as well. ---The only reason I presently would like to be in CUSA is that we would have more close regional (especially Texas) opponents and likely get more fan and media attention. UTEP because of their CUSA membership is far more recognized in Texas now than when they were WAC members, especially when no other Texas schools were in WAC. I even think that having Texas State in the Belt would be helpful to us..... more Texas attention to our conference and a close in-state rival. ---We need to stop sounding like a bitter man that lost his girl-friend to another guy and go out and make the best of the situation... who knows, long-term this may be the better deal anyway. CUSA now contains a lot of very small colleges with poor attendance and places whose past may be a lot better than their future. ( SMU, Rice, etc.)

---The Cowboys once excelled while drafting players not on other peoples lists, also the NFL is full of players not from BCS teams that when coming out of college those teams overlooked. ---Another issue is getting a few good ones to give those unsigned out there (which is all of them at the moment) what to expect and that we are just not taking the left-overs and plan on being competitive. TD is also likely considering those available that can fit into what he needs or whats..... what UT and TxTech wants can be very different depending on the style of defense or offense. I think he knows a good player when he sees one... he did not get to 79-1 by misjudging talent.

Absolutely.... for those who doubt this do you think anyone in Texas would know about Gonzaga if it wasn't for their success in basketball. School can go too gung ho maybe but success in a program or two can really be helpful in recruiting students (not just athletes) and in collecting donations for all types of programs....not just athletics. I would think that name-recognition also helps recent grads obtain jobs as well plus it usually helps the image of the school as a major university (not one of the many unknowns).

Disagree -- maybe at one time with the UTEP basketball and track program and when BYU and Colorado State and others were members but not any more. Boise and Hawaii are the only teams getting any attention now.... and there is no guarantee that it will last. The WAC has one rated basketball team ( Nevada) at the moment, CUSA also has one,( Memphis). I am so old I remember North Texas being in the Missouri Valley in the 60's and at Christmas of my senior year 5* of the top 10 [ rankings only went to 10 then ] were MVC members and on our schedule, twice each. *Louisville, Wichita State, Cincinnati, Bradley, and Drake?.

WAC membership is the worse wacky idea ever for NT. 1. It would be far more expensive to operate... consider all the basketball and other trips as well. 2. It is in the Mountain time-zone in a sparsely populated area... The Belt is in a highly populated area and much better time zone to get media coverage plus the Belt and mixed in with several other well recognized conferences [ACC,SEC, Big-12, even CUSA) and in a football crazy area of the USA. 3. The Belt plays more recognized opponents and it will improve with time and will get more recognition once it starts defeating some of them (again in a football crazy area). 4. With only a couple of possible exceptions the WAC doesn't contain teams that are recognized any more than the Belt does. 5. Travel is so bad in the WAC that few of our fans would ever travel to see games, not true with some Belt games..... plus some of our alums even live near Belt teams... not so much true of the WAC teams. 6. I can't see the WAC improving any from what it is now..... I can see the potential of the Belt and it could improve greatly given some time. Football wise this is a very new conference. -------And yes I would prefer to be in CUSA but because of all the regional (Texas) opponents available but not because I think it is now all that much better than the Belt or even do I see it to be that much better in the future (unless we get in...LOL). --------Joining the WAC is an awful option... even if invited ....

---Restating what I said... it is a sorry deal on his part...... It seems now that the Coaches have the advantage on contracts now. They break them but if the school does they owe the coach a "fortune" for doing nothing. There is no penality for the coach to break a contract because the institution that hires him generally pays any penalty for doing so (if there is one). --A similiar thing a few years ago (1986) when David McWilliams left TxTech ( before their Bowl game and after only one season ) to go to Texas as head coach. This is how Spike Dykes became the head so quickly after coaching in HS for years. Obviously both colleges were in the same conference then also.

---Absolutely... I could not wait for my summer jobs to end ..... I knew I did not want to do those for the rest of my life. My sons both have said to me that their jobs ( in HS and college summers ) made them realize what it took to earn $5.00 and it changed their attitudes a great deal. All HS students need to get a job at least in the summer to learn a lot more about life..... and without parents just handing them a pile of cash when they want it. --- Both of my sons decided working in a lumberyard or Sears really wasn't what they wanted to do... both are now software engineers. ...LOL... A few dirty, boring, or distastful jobs is a great motivation to do well in school...