SCREAMING EAGLE-66

ie. Things are normal....

Old Fouts looks a lot better from the air than up close and personal...

---Maybe it isn't that the French are all that bad but that the Germans are all that good. It took several years of the combined efforts of the USA, the Dutch with a large shipping fleet and their Indonesian (Shell) Oil resourses, the British Empire and Soviet Union to finally defeat them in WWII and WWI was not much better. ---Few times has anyone had success attacking Germany or the even the un-unified German kingdoms, including the Romans who lost seversl legions many times (13th for one) inside of Germany.

---I understand why we would celebrate the 16 of September [Diez y sies de Septembre] in the USA somewhat because it is the day that Mexico gained Indepedence from Spain. That had an effect on us in Texas and the USA. That means Texas was no longer Spanish territory and become a part of Mexico. ---I really don't get it about celebrating May 5, 1862. It changed nothing about the USA except there was no French in Mexico trying to gain control. The USA was in no position to enforce the Monroe doctorine at the time because the American Civil War was in progress but once it had ended we likely would have ran them off. ---It seems no more important to us than does Bastile Day (July14), German unification, or the Signing of the Magna Charter is to us. After all 20% or more of Texas has a German surname including me and the most common second language in Texas as of 1900 was German...not Spanish. Two well known WWII native born Texans, Admiral Nimitz and Gen. Eisenhower had German names. You could even claim the American Revolution was a factor in the French Revolution and besides France provided the American colonies 90% of the gunpowder and arms that G.Washington had to fight with also what few Naval ships we had.. (Bon Homme Richard under John Paul Jones). The French navy blockaded Yorktown and Cornwalis was unable to escape or be resupplied with food and gunpowder and was forced to surrender. France helped a lot in the Revolution in addition to suppling several notable soldiers such as Lafayette. To me it seems Bastille Day is as important to us as that largely uncelebrated holiday in Mexico that we had nothing to do with. --I am in no way French (German/Dutch/English), but I detest some who trash them all the time because they would not aid us in Iraq ...(France and Germany claimed there was no WMD in Iraq and apparently they were right)... We were even unofficial allies with France during the War of 1812 since both of us (Napoleanic France) were fighting Britain. Because of that war situation we had obtained Lousiana Territory from the French a few years earlier. ---In short except for an excuse to have a few beers, why celebrate May 5, it has nothing to do with the USA. Other international holidays have a lot more meaning to our history. It is crazy... Mexico doesn' even celebrate very much.. they celebrate the 16th of Sept. A few years ago in class I asked several Hispanic students "Why do you celebrate 5 of May?' None knew... but the answer I received most of the time was it was the day that all Mexicans get drunk... A great endorsement.

Very good... He has an opportunity.... New England situation at RB is not impossible. Dillon is aging and their draft choice (Maroney) will is the one that will replace him, in the next two years. Maroney at the moment will boot Evens off the roster who was huge and almost not used. K.Faulk will be tough to dislodge but they have a RB (Pass) who is not a lot larger than can be displaced. There are worse places to be since New England doesn't seem to adverse to using small backs who can also catch the ball. K.Faulk is listed at 5'8" and Pass at 5"10 which is the likely one to go if Patrick can impress them..... Good luck. Lot of it is luck and sometime the injuries that show up... Dillon is no cinch after his injuries last year. Yahoo has a list of player they have.. (last year plus draft picks)

Agree, college success does not mean NFL success. Look at the Heisman Okie QB, White, or look at Texas QB Applewhite of Texas. They were good college players as well but did not play NFL due to size and physical condition. Archie Griffin who won two Heismans at Ohio State had a brief and undistingished career in the NFL... too small.

testing computer

Which flavor did he buy of those 31.??... remember there are 32 NFL teams so he must have eliminated one.

The Dillo or Doodlebug building (Performing Arts Center) is going to be very close as well. It looks like the stadium is actually in the way somewhat... Sell it to them... the whole thing. Then they can build the Hwy anyway they want. The Hwy fense may be less than 25 feet from the base of Fouts. McDonalds and some other buildings look like history as well.

The only I-A team in Texas not included is:----------North Texas!!!!. The rest are either CUSA teams or the four Big-XII teams mentioned. Correction---they omited TCU also.

Don't know... but it is funny,,, ---Comparing College players to NFL is often like comparing Jr High stars to High school. Some kids are city-wide stars in Jr high but when the rest of the kids catch up in size and speed and are perhaps smarter too, you never hear about the first kid again. ----Booger was a good college player but his size did not translate well to the NFL level. Who knows about Patrick.... RB size is a different matter especially if you are fast.... and again that seems to be a problem as well.

That was Cobbs' sophomore year and a long time for scouts to remember. Lately would be last year or maybe the year before. Besides Baylor was awful that year so it likely did not impress very many people, especially outside of Texas.

---Bledsoe was 8th in passing yards last year of the 32 teams (30 yds per game less than the leader, Tom Brady) Bledsoe was not the problem. Jones is doing more like NE does and not having a couple of players eat up the salery cap, especially unproven ones. He has learned that inexperienced QBs such as Quincey and others are worthless. Leaf is a great example of why drafting a rookie QB is risky... can be a flop or pay-off big if you can have patience to wait a few years as Aikman did... but not immediately. I am not a Jones fan but Jones is spending as much money as the rest of the teams are just different than some such as San Fran.. How did the big payout to Alex-Smith at San Fran work last year ? or--- as fellow North Texas alum Dr. Phil says---" How is that working for you?" --LOL San Fran was 32th in offense of 32 teams and 32ed in defense.....How they didn't draft ahead of Houston is a miracle... they won a few close ones and Houston didn't.

Amen brother!!! LOL Another RB would not have made a great difference in wins /losses. I will not argue how good he is just that his presence would not have increased wins much...(..ala OJ..). a better defence and O-line can improve their their record a lot. They will not draft #1 next year. TI-01... Peyton is a choker??? good grief... do you have to win the Super Bowl to be good? What does that make Marino, Jim Kelly, and Earl Campbell? Sometimes you just aren't the best team. Only one team does that a year. They won 14? consecutive games and they lost to Pittsburgh in the playoffs mostly because of Pittsburgh's good defense just beat his O-line to pieces. --- Seattle also with a super RB that got shut down by Pittsburgh as well. Note: defense win games and you need a good "smart" QB. .... Pittsburgh did not have a super elite running back... mainly retiring old Bettis. N.E. won 2 of their three with sub-par RBs as well. Dillon was there for only one of them, they had Antoine Smith and Kevin Faulk. The other winners in the past few years has been the Ravens and Tampa Bay, with --- a good defense and a bad or barely average offense. When Dallas won they did have E.Smith (he went in beat to a pulp in one of them) but their defense was very good and the QB situation was good as well..... ie short ..Bush was not going the lead them to the promised land.... (neither is the one in Washington). TI-01... I think it is now safe to put you in front of me in the fantasy draft next year if I want Peyton.... since you think he is a choker and will take Bush instead.....LOL... I guess we can officially state that your team choked in our Fantasy finals this year since you lost that one. !!!! yep, your team just had a manager that just choked and made bad decisions....LOL

His very good game against Missouri when Troy beat them was probably the difference... Plus they almost defeated LSU as well.... That got their player some attention. Who have we beaten lately out of conference to obtain attention.????

Mr. TI-01 Gato: ---The best player in college in the past 20 years..!!. Holy Moly!!! That is since you were 8 and still playing in the dirt. I seem to remember a Peyton Manning that was being mentioned from the fr/soph year on and made the Heisman final 5 twice (and robbed in my opinion). Even Marshall Faulk at the San Diego St. was making big news in college and both of those guys really turned out well in the NFL. I am sure there have many more that have been the "player of lifetime" several times. I like the D.Ware comment...."if you followed SunBelt football".... if you didn't you had no clue who he is was. Ahhh--- you have hold-out concerns about Bush... so did Houston... the Cedric Benson and Rivers hold-outs really turned out well for their teams and them as well. I am making a note of your draft comment.... Bush rd 2 or 1, .... You still going to be using the Gato name this year????

---Ever drafted in a fantasy league??? Teams may have realized that no Sun-Belt players were being drafted and think they can sign those after the draft..... They took players in positions and locations that may be drafted by others. There were not so many RBs taken either... They may have decided that there was a large pool of them and could always find some after the draft since there would be a lot available especially if they thought there was little difference in them.... Drafting is an odd science... They draft to ability, team needs, and even get those who are far better than what else is available at that position at that time......I am also amazed the TxTech RB is undrafted, he is a decent RB but his strength is catching the ball out of the backfield..... ie an outstanding 3rd down guy.

---The 2-9 record absolutely hurt him. His size hurt him as well and because of the two items he wasn't invided to the combine. Then when he tried to overcome that later, he failed to help his cause with a poor 40 time for running backs. ---The UCLA back may have been smaller, may not be as good even, but his 40 time was stated when he was drafted and it was outstanding. ---Offensive lines really matter to a team and to the performance of a RB... They can make or break a RB. Our O-line was rather poor last year and our backs did not do as well as they had done the previous two years....with the same RBs. I know this is not the place to argue this, but to me it explains a lot of why Houston did not draft Bush first. With a bad O-line Bush will/would not look as great as he did at USC, and Houston has had a poor offensive line. It also may explain why Cobbs was ignored to start with.

---Defensive players rarely get much media attention...unless they run back a winning TD or something of that nature. The media and fans (except local fans) rarely know about anyone other than RBs, QBs and sometimes WRs.. Ever hear of Demarcus Ware (picked #11) before he was drafted??? If you did it was because NT was playing Troy and no other reason. ---Only time will tell.. The draft is nothing but an educated guess of who will be good. Ryan Leaf was picked #2? and was awful and K.Warner was not even picked and became MVP. The NFL is very different than college especially the size, the speed, and oftentimes instincts and intelligence matter more at many positions. --- My point is that no RB ( see OJ, Hall of Famer, best RB of his era) has ever turned a team around greatly, sometimes QBs and defensive players (L.Taylor) do have a huge impact....Earl Campbell may be the exception... that boy had speed, strength, and size, and just ran over people, he did not need decent blocking. I have never seen another player like him. --I don't care how good an RB is if he doesn't have a good offense line he can't do a lot .....ask Cobb and Jamario about last year compared to their previous years. Houston obviously needed to upgrade their line.... I think they did D.Davis may have a much better year as will Carr if they have. Houston's problem is not their RB and Bush was not "Moses" and was not going to take them to the promised land. __________________ To the Bush lovers... if you play fantasy football... we are expecting you to take Bush in the first round or two...!!!

---As I stated the history of #1 RB picks or even Heisman winning RBs turning around a teams win/loss situation has been poor. The last NO Heisman winner and first Rd (not first) pick was Ricky Williams.... NO got very little better. Some of these guys have gone on to Hall of Fame careers (O.J. Simpson) but their team did not get much better which is the goal of drafts anyway. ---The one stat that determines and losses the most in the NFL is turnovers (for or against). A good offensive line will give Carr time to throw and cut down interceptions and his sacks and fumbles. .....on the other side a very good defensive lineman will can cause turnovers by hurrying the QB and making the QB fumble or throw interceptions more when hit or sacked. ---Total amount of yards rushed is not even close to determining games as much as turnovers. Houston on defense was better than San Fran and no one else last year. Even your rushing yards should improve if you can keep the ball way from the other team more.

History of drafting RBs at #1... all of them since 1969: How did Buffalo do after drafting OJ (SC) #1 in 1969... He was very good but the team did poor. How did Tampa Bay do after drafting Bo Jackson #1 -1986..poor , they traded him. How did Cinn do after drafted Ki-Jana Carter i#1 in 1995...poor, plus he was terrible once he got paid. How did New Orleans do with #1 George Rodgers in 1981... still poor. How about Billy Sims by Detroit in 1980.... he was good but his team got very little better. How about Earl Campbell in 1978.... pretty good and one game short of the Super Bowl but this boy was so big and strong that he did not need good blocking, he just ran over people, besides the rest of the team got better with a good passing game and better defense. Then there is Ricky Bell (SC) was was taken #1 in 1977 by Tampa Bay. .. nothing good happened there either. Except Big Earl Campbell none of these #1 STAR running back draft picks paid off in the NFL with lots of team wins. Teams should always take the best available player for a postion that have an apparent need. Houston had the 31st defense last year, with few sacks and even less recovered turnovers. Carr and D.Davis aren't the NFL's best but they aren't 31st either. They needed defense and offensive line help in the worst way. Bush, Young, or Leinart would not have turned anything around in terms of a lot of additional wins. The York Giants became a contender when Laurence Taylor appeared and disrupted the other teams offenses. NYG did not have an NFL best offense nor did the Ravens ( with Ray Lewis) when they won either. Bradshaw #1, couldn't win until the Steel Curtain defense with Joe Green (NT) appeared. ---Had Houston not taken Mario Williams at #1, then New Orleans at #2 was expected to take him by most lists projected. People love high-profile offensive players but it takes a lot of them to succeed, such as the Rams had and Indy has (but hasn't made the Super Bowl). Who was Pittsburg's great running back this year???..old Bettis?? New England has been winning without a top name RB most of those Super Bowls also. Corey Dillon was there for only one of them. The other ones they had Antoine Smith and Kevin Faulk, not exactly HOF candidates.

The Abilene Christian guy would up there because he did not meet NCAA academic requirements, Nebraska wanted him but could not sign him..... I think he went to a Jr. College and then ACU took a chance on him later. I actually know the father of the Tarleton guy. I think he was one that matured a lot after graduation although someone might should have took a chance on him. I teach in a Midland (jr) College and our basketball team could likely compete extremely well with most 4-year schools. JC teams are made up those whose can't meet NCAA academic requirements, are viewed too small such as our Spud Webb was, (true for basketball and football) or they just matured after HS or came from a losing program therefore division-I colleges did not recognize they were as good as they were and would not take a chance on them.. --Absolutely true, recruit more West-Texans, our winning NT teams had a lot more West-Texans than it does now.---They do not accept losing very well.-- Need to hit the metroplex hard too as did Fry.... he had a lot of personal relationships with the local coaches and they fed him some good players.

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---Texans in 3rd round loading up on linemen, two offensive tackles. Eric Winston from Miami and Midland Texas went to Miami as a TE. He was playing behind Winslow (now of the Browns). In HS Winston played basketball as a center and took Lee to the state tournament in AAAAA, He was the TE for Lee when Ced Benson was the RB and Andy Brewster (of North Texas) was the center. In short he is a multi-skilled athelete. ---Miami has been a goldmine of tight ends... Bubba Franks (Big Spring).. followed by Shockey.... followed by Kellen Winslow and Eric Winston who played both TE and tackle. ---Maybe Carr will not get sacked a million times this year. --Recruit more West Texans at NT.

Yep!!!, and complicating it all.. Young is at the Titans ( ex-Oilers) owned by Houston man plus Titans play Houston twice every year... Houston folks will get to see him play in person once every year. ...That pass of Chow may have caused Leinert to drop even futher down the list... ie does he know something we don't know.