SCREAMING EAGLE-66

---He also had a kickoff return.. 23 yards I think... Considering it was an all-star game with a lot of players making appearances, I think he did pretty well. He had opportuities to catch, run and play special teams. Unforfortunately they lost by 3 and the NT kicker missed a rather short kick... It may have been him or the hold... who knows..they have not worked together much and the holder may have never done that before.. He has the ability to play in the NFL IF he can handle the pressure and the huge crowds that he will see. We will see.... hope he makes it I really think Cobb will stick in the NFL but may may be a Dante-Hall type player. A lot depends on who drafts or signs him. A lot of kickers in the NFL had a rough year so there will be opportuinites there as well if he, Balzulla??, does well in pre-season and early season. What happened to the Tech QB, Hodges.. he did not play but was listed on the roster. The Texas State QB was very unimpressive and that stupid sack he took at the end ( lost 27 yards) did not show much smarts.... A game-tieing kick was possible until that idiot stunt. He hurt his draft chances big-time.

----A lot of players will go where they think they can play and soon. If you look at NFL rosters, you will notice there are a lot of players from smaller schools and Mid-Majors and most of them came from programs that won quite a bit. Some recruits are smart enough to realize that aren't going to start much a BCS school unless they are truly outstanding. The Southlake QB woke up and realized that Graham Harrell was at Tech and was going to be for several years-- so he decided to head elsewere instead of where he had originally committed. ---Some kids just don't want to go to a mega-university especially if they are from a smaller town... and shock-- some actually go to get an education because of the academic programs available [especailly if they have no NFL expections]. I have always been amazed that some local soccer male players go to some micky-mouse college to play soccer when they could have afforded to attend some decent university.

---Sorry SMU, Baylor etc .fans. But when a state team wins, the name of our state in listed in the university name and that will "create" a lot of fans of that school due to state pride and state loyality. UT is even the extreme case since it is often just refered to as "Texas". Unlike universities in a lot of states at least 90% of the players on most Texas college teams are from in-state so you are often seeing players you knew about from their high school days.. Often the out of state players actually have some Texas connection by way of parents, grandparents, etc. or else they live a few miles from the Texas border. ---As for SMU and some of the private schools, you might notice that the other state schools have't trashed us (or others) in the press [as SMU does regularly] nor have they done other actions to harm us [as did Baylor, TCU and SMU when they opposed our admission to the SWC or their fan attitude toward us in general]. SMU especially isn't all that Texan anyway...lots of out of state students. SMU would have better support if they did not have the "God, I am Great Attitude!!" which turns people off. Baylor comes across as "too Baptist" for some people in the general public to support them. ---I have no problem supporting those state teams against non-Texans, with the possible exception against nearby Belt-teams. After all... I am very TEXAN.

In central and West Texas.. range fires were not a problem..... nothing to burn... lots of dirt....... and dust storms.

I have seen a lot worse... from 1950 -1956 [i am old] when most of the Oaks on our land died. There was a lot of rain this year in Central/West Texas during th Spring and Summer but that is the problem ....there is high grass and weeds and it is now all dry and it is easy to burn...especially on windy days.. Water supplies in that area is very good still.

---I went through Cross Plains last week-end and it was nightmare and the destruction was unbelievable with so many people losing their homes. Fighting fires can be extremely dangerous especially with severe winds. When I arrived to check on my ranch land, a couple of fire depts were fighting a large fire just across from my land about 1/2 mile away. (including some of my relatives). I know we have some firefighters who post here but often don't get the credit due. This an unusually bad year with lots of summer rain and vegetation now but no rain lately so the " abundant grass" is a fire waiting to happen. ---A friend of mine had a house in Cross Plains and it burned up to the walls but not down... a neighbor had watered at the roof before fleeing. The Fire Dept. could do little but try to save the downtown with the unusually high winds. ---Please be careful when traveling outside of towns...unfortunately we have a few idiots that actually set some of these things or burn trash when they shouldn't. One fire burned a small part of my land because of a careless smoker (it is believed).

---The worst tattoo situation I remember was a WWII vet (he was in the late 40's then) with a reddish complexion.. The pigment in his skin had separated somewhat as do a lot of those people when they get older [others do also but not as common as reddish fair-skined people] and his forearms looked like he had just smeared ink on them.... it was impossible to make out much of anything of the tattoos that he had received while serving in the South Pacific. A lot of tattoos do not "age" all that well. Another man I worked with would not wear short sleeves because his also had a tattoo from that era.

We don't understand each other.... What someone does away from UNT should very little effect on a NT Hall of Fame selection......But you stated........ [ "Brandon Kennedy... brought the most recognition to the Mean Green since Mean Joe Greene.'] ...nothing was said about while he was at North Texas.

Almost every group and everyone has good points and bad points. Sometimes these guys get carried way on the topics they want to defend, They try to make it a group situation when it is nothing more that that one person is a jerk and has caused his own problem... My problem are the people that claim others are racists when in fact they are just as bad as well. Every ethnic group has had problems at times, Italians, Jews, Germans, Italians, Polish, French, Hispanic, etc. but some think they are the only ones that have ever had problems. Usually speaking English and trying to blend in will cause most (if not all) of the problems to go away.

Disagree--- he did not make the NFL.... we have had several make the NFL and play for years including J.T. Smith and Beasley Reece who was in the NFL for a about dozen years for the Cowboys, Giants, and Tampa bay until the late 1980's. He is now a NFL announcer. We heard those guys and NT mentioned weekly on NFL broadcasts for years. For the younger members on the board that may appear to be true [Kennedy] but not to we "older" ones. I am assumming you are refering to athletics.... there are a lot of non-athletic North Texas grads that appear several "fields" as well. The difference there is their college is not mentioned so much. [Dr. Phil for one]

---Football requires certain positions to wear only certain numbers.... plus College teams have huge rosters. Retiring numbers is next to impossible in college or NFL football because those numbers will be needed in future years.. Baseball and basketball does retire numbers but usually then it is only for some Hall of Fame members plus there is no number/position requirement in baseball or basketball...

If my memory is right, I think he made a fortune in computers and technology and credited UNT for his success... Those were extemely profitable days in the era for that sector. He probably is still doing ok but not making the obscene amount of money that he was then.

---As a kid a saw quite a few tattoos, most from WWII vets who had served in the South Pacific. Our era saw very few people with one and never a female [a decent one anyway] . Now they have regained popularity again especially among those in their 20's. I no fan of them and one of my sons even broke up with his girlfiend after she got one.... I think he was looking for an excuse anyway.

---Neither of those are in my top 100... I am still shaking my head over the NBC decision to use Conan as a replacemnt for Leno. I would just as soon watch "Conan the Barbarian" every night as watch "Conan the late night host" 10 min. I would think an intelligent 12 year old could come up with more clever routines and jokes than he has.

---The "Snake Pit" was a fun place during the 60's and especially the weekday games and getting a seat meant showing up early. Those were the days that we had Louisville, Cincinnati and the all the MVC teams coming in. I even remember the top ten containing 5 MVC teams at one time.

---I prefer a quarterback that is intelligent and is capable of making good decisions instead of one that is incapable of passing enough classes to remain eligible. ---Rather than have a quarterback that is a good athlete but incapable of good decisions we will be better off with a lesser athlete that makes good decisions. That postion is more about decisions and leadership than how many people they can run over or how far they can throw.. The more intelligent players would have little respect for a dumb QB.

Apparently you did not see the KKK remark in that post that is now gone [thank goodness].

---You still don't get it. What fired people up was the racist remarks plus the religious parts you posted. A few of us don't understand the irrational "HATE" of others in this state. Most of us have friends and co-workers that attended those places. Just because people are different or from different place is no reason to hate them. I see a lot of the posts have been edited or purged.... good.

Atilla the Hun..... He even scared the hell out of Rome who was definitely #1. He even won most of the time when they had their "contests".

-----While in HS and while teaching it seems that coaches are usually one of the other --- one of the best teachers on staff or one of the worst. ---Coaches on the middle school and even most assistant coaches tend to be very underpaid. They put in a lot of hours in after school and usually lose many of their Saturdays as well. Often the extra pay divided by the hours put in will not even meet minimum pay standards. Many spend a lot of time in the evening in watching film, especialy football coaches. Basketball and others often have weekday games and especially in West Texas because of distance, that often means lots of travel and getting home extremely late and night and then getting up early to teach the next day.. Considering what a lot of other make for the hours they put in, coaching [ and teaching in general] is a underpaid profession. Despite what a lot of people think, school does not end each day at 3:00 or 4:00. I have spent (dozens) if not hundreds of weekends catching up on grading papers (while semi-watching football etc.) . My wife and I taught but none of our kids do. My sons made more their first day of work as software engineers [ one from NT ] than I did my last day for a public school after many years. In five year they were were making more than almost all HS coaches. Again you get what you pay for, it is tough to find good math/science teacher nowdays, too much money available elsewhere... On the good side, teachers can have two months off to travel in the summer (if they can afford it) and do other things. Many find jobs in summer to help income. ---Meanwhile this legislature can't even pass a school budget...... Shame on them..... and shame on me if that is being political (for a reason).

---I suppose this should not be a political forum... but the current governor and friends have done nothing for education (public schools or universities) or teachers including coaches. Any improvements have been strictly locally funded. The last session could not even pass a budget and all those special sessions (3) weren't about helping education but restructuring the tax system and at the same time creating a system that really helping those ultra-rich with a lot of commericial property not pay their share. [ no wonder some of these don't blink when contrituting thousands, they expect to get it back in tax breaks ] Strayhorn split from them because she too is disgusted with the current group as well. ---This is related to North Texas because the state's actions determine our funding. [ or lack of it ] They did not fund the North Texas Law School that they approved in 2004 and the 2002 legislature decreased all university funding [by almost $700,000,000 ] and let each college set its own tuition to make up the difference and to not take blame for all the tuition increases. ---All the special sessions (also 3) after 2002 was about increasing the power of their party and party members and not helping the people of Texas. [ Democrats were targeted but rural areas and small towns lost influence as well ] The state had been redisticted by a court after the 2000 census (oddly by three GOP judges, it was after the 1990 census as well ] DeLay who now has all sorts of legal problems was behind the redistricting (to increase his power and influence). ---Vote for who you please but get informed and learn the truth of what has been going on . Don't just vote for a party name.... any party..., there are good and bad ones both places. ....and believe it or not-- one party doesn't have a monopoly on Christianity. If the current party is so conservative--- why have they not balanced at least one federal budget since 1980 (17 failures). The Clinton era balanced the budget 6 of 8 years and had a surplus which they wanted to use to pay down debt and fix social security....they could not get it down due to the opposition. ---Support those who will support education [including North Texas] with actions, not just say they will. On the federal level it likely was not the main reason for the recent tragedy but mine inspections and many other needed federal programs have deceased drasticly since 2001. You get what you pay for..... unfortunately we are now spending billions of our tax money in Iraq, a country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9-11 or any international terrorist act against us.....if you think so...name the act.

---Let us hope it was not a disappinted fan or alum selling his stuff (it's possible)..... and actually someone selling NT sweatshirts. LOL

Surely Abner Haynes was drafted by some NFL team, but just did not sign with them. ... He signed with the AFL Dallas Texans (KC Chiefs) however. No doubt the 1949 players played in the NFL but I don't think a draft existed at that time..... Didn't teams just sign players then. I can't remember when they began the draft system.

I have always heard it used as the first generation American or Texan as the one that came here. ...but their children (if born here) are considered first generation "native" Texan or American which also makes them a second generation Texan or American. Guess different places or people do it differently.... who knows. In any case I ain't no New York City kid as implied by someone.... I could not be any more Texan other than having all my family here during the Texas Republic. ..haha