SCREAMING EAGLE-66

Posting on this thread is a sign of great intelligence.

---It is my opinion that CUSA, Sunbelt, Mountain West, and WAC may end up being three conferences... Maybe even with some new names. What ever happens I am guessing Tulsa, UNT and LaTech end up together.... somewhere... likely Rice too. UTEP may not be with the CUSA-West group but be with the Mountain West teams (again). It would not surprize me to see CUSA-East to merge with eastern Sunbelt teams and the the Western CUSA teams merge with western Sun belt ones.... also LaTech. This will not be simple and take a while to shake out.... maybe a complete reorganization by many conferences.

I think the next line in the movie (or very close to it) was: "Madness... Madness .... Madness..!!" It applies here....

---What a mess..... regional/conference loyalty has just been trashed... Big East is talking Air Force and Boise,Idaho and West Virginia is now in the Southwest and Mid-America. There is no loyalty to anything including their region and it is all about greed and money. College programs do need money to operate but this is way beyond that. Traditional rivalries are disappearing and becoming meaningless as well. Everything had been rather stable for years until Arkansas jumped conferences in the 90's and then the SWC imploded partly because of that and also excessive cheating (SMU plus some more) plus the private schools in the conference had become dwarfed and were not competing very well ..on the field or in the stands. That break-up one made some sense and also the domino effect it started... This however has gotten absolutely insane. ---It is all about excessive greed... a sign of the times... note Wall Street scandals, Madoff, Enron, banking executive ripoffs, the congressional gridlock, and now the protests taking place about all of that.. It is not about doing what is best for the the people they "represent" but just themselves.. Who knows where it will end..... ---One good thing about the NFL, they all pretty much because of the system have a chance to compete well .... not true in the NCAA. There are only about 4-5 of them that have never been to a Super Bowl. Every team has had a period of being near the top. ...

We were Texas State University before Texas State University was Texas State University. See Necessary Roughness.

---He isn't wrong...Crowds would represent both schools... How many fans from FAU and FIU and Troy and etc. show up at our games... Attendance might not be good but it would be better and there would more interest from fans within the state... There was a very representation of Houston fans at our NT/Houston game. Throw in a few games with the Big XII and things would be better for all of us. The idiots (SMU) should want to schedule us because we would bring fans and a decent crowd. Big East teams will bring about no one to their games in Dallas. Membership would bring a lot more travel expense to them.

---We need a comedy thread. ... They are a joke..

--The same happened at Tech. Texas and OU fans both bought season tickets to Tech which were fairly cheap at the time just to assure themselves of a seat at their game... the rest of the time they gave away, sold the seats, or sometimes just went. [ most lived in West Texas and some were alums ]

Sin-sin-atti has its problem children... . .

---I agree with you...... as long as we are not filling the stadium some breaks for younger kids should be given... ---Back in the 50's (I am old,) Baylor had one weekend per year that they allowed kids with Boy Scout uniforms (also some leaders) in for free... I saw my first college games because of that... I even remember the teams I saw.... Baylor vs. Rice and Baylor vs. Villanova.. It created a lot of good will and friends. A few of us later went thre. We should do sometime similar on games we know will not sell out... plus it will fill the stands somewhat and create good community relations... It really could cost nothing... since those tickets would not have been sold and those people would not have gone otherwise... but they did sell food and souvenirs... ---TxTech has sold reduced tickets here at the community college I teach to faculty members for one game a year. Again they were games there were not expected to sell out. They likely made money on this since most would not have gone otherwise. I have gone a couple of times. There are creative ways to fill seats and create fans. ---Target groups or people that would not likely go or be able to go otherwise... Fill seats and create good will... ..

I watched on ESPN3 (but listened to radio account)l.... that pass interference call was awful...One of the calls the NT annoucers even stated that the person must have cralwed over the first down line because it sure wasn't when he went down. It seems that BCS refs often make BS calls for their confernece members. Troy was robbed late in the game at LSU a few years ago and UNT was robbed at UT back in late 80's... That one was the worse one ever.... there was at least 6-7 calls that were impossible to believe... They won by about 3 and likely should have lost by 3 TDs.. Get neutral refs for non-conf. games.

--And it will be entirely up to TCU to fill it stadium for games with Big East teams.. ..... there will not much a traveling crowd from their opponent. Even if every student went that would be only about 8,000.... and in bad years the crowds would likely be tiny....worse that what SMU produces.. They need to win BIG TIME all of the time or be in a conference that will brings in fans as well. ---Note: if you were at the Houston game... you saw a lot of fans from our opponent..... it helps to have opponents from nearby universities.

The problem with TCU.....SIZE...SIZE....SIZE.... in the old SWC days it was often up to visiting teams to fill the stadiums of smaller schools especially in years that they were not doing all that well win-wise. Cheating by some (SMU especially) and the lack of fan support from many smaller schools helped contribute to the demise of the SWC. TCU does have good crowds now.... but will they when they lose more games than they win.... We have a lot of size [about FIVE times larger] and would get much better crowds (even in bad years) if our conference had more local interest. Our problem is that we are not as well known and don't have a winning reputation. Curse SMU for lobbying against us for the SWC about 1980.... it really hurt us... we were winning in fotball and basketball with Fry and Blakely...and oddly may have hurt them long term. .

---Agree... he not Tom Brady...[not many that good] but he is a lot better than most of them..... Even in the Jets game he was not that terrible.... Cowboys were supposed to lose and he (and the rest) were winning.. the fumble was because of his determination to get into the end zone... the ball hit an opponents knee...and popped out... the interception... well that is on him. I don't see any other ones around and available that are better. Knowing his physical condition that he played with last week (and won) is amazing. No one wants to win more than he does.... he just isn't Tom Brady or P.Manning... few are. He is not a personal embarrassment to Dallas either as some players have been..

---If that is true... Louisville, Cincinatti (both former CUSA) So. Florida, and W. Virginia are left to find a home. I don't see that group very attractive to schools in the SW. That conf (football wise) is in worse shape than the Big XII schools if it comes apart.... The Big East will continue as a basketball league ... maybe no pressure to add new football members. Both conf football members will have to be looking at CUSA to join or raid... maybe some Sunbelt ones. Despite our win/loss record lately, we appear to be the best option of the Belt to aquire. Reocrd and reputation counts but so does market, money, and fan base.

--- I think a lot of schools may be ignoring that... If Baylor was in a conf. such as the Big East... they would have be almost completely responsible for filling a stadium (or gym). if a school can't be a "Big Dog" in a Big Conf. then they need to be in a regional one to pull in fans..... a problem for smaller universities especially without their state's name which draw due to state pride.

---I would have taken the three points near the end to avoid the shutout.... 7 or 3 ... what difference did it make... ?? 3 looks as we actually did something. ---I was proud of the fact that despite being totally out classed (ability-wise) OUR GUYS DID NOT QUIT.. They showed some pride in themselves. Both sides of the line were beaten up pretty bad... mostly due to size. Dozens of teams would not have done any better.

--What happens to Big XII is everything to UNT.... if TTU, UT, OU and OSU go somewhere.... that leaves KU, KSU, Mo., Iowa St. and Baylor with a big problem. What is left would have to find teams to partner up with.... maybe from SMU, UNT, UTEP, Rice, Memphis, Tulsa and Houston..... if those aren't moving somewhere... Then there is TCU who may now not want to go to the Big East and could stay in MWC or join the "Baylor" group. ---Stay tuned... I expected the Big East to the the big trigger in all of this but looks as if A&M got it all started. Just remember Football isn't the only considerations... but it is where the most money is. Good or not we are in a huge market. TCU is rather small and will draw crowds only when it does well (as it has lately) and SMU is larger than TCU but not very well liked in the area and has both a good and very bad history.. . . .

Midland tap water... With West Texas lakes so low is so bad now it might put me out of my misery....permanently. The smell of it alone is almost enough to kill a fellow.

NO POLITICS OUTSIDE THE PIE FORUM. NO EXCEPTIONS.

---I was at the game (sec.208) and thought the crowd was a very good one... not a sell out but very good... Even the end zone "wing" looked good with only the top tips looking a bit bare. The challenge now will be to be to stay close to it from here on this year... Houston provided quite a few fans and this was the first game of the season and at a new stadium. ---There should be no doubt to others that our crowds would be excellent if we played in a conference with nearby opponents and more recognizable names... --The game was a good one... we hung tough until mid 3rd quarter when finally their QB began to show why he is considered for post season honors. I enjoyed the experience...including the tailgating with friends and family.

---The sad deal is that there hasn't been anything since in those 9 years to compare with that Baylor game. More games are won lost on signing day that any other time.. We need to get some guys that are very good defensively.... ---Note that the two teams in the SUPER BOWL last year were the two NFL teams that allowed the fewest points during the regular season.... not the two that scored the most. The eight top defensive teams all made the playoffs... Only four of the eight top offensive ones did.... and some of them were on the defensive list. --- It will take some time, tough to turn things around quickly in football... basketball often can, largely because of the smallness of a team, one or two players can made a big difference there. .

The play is still running today (Friday morning) as the overnight #1 ESPN play..... At least we got some good publicity out of the game...

---Winning is more about defense than offense... That (and special teams) was the entire problem with the Dodge era and is tough to correct in one season ... We need to recruit better on that side of the ball..

---Some think it was caused by the "son" of G.Bush Sr.. .... [ sorry could not resist ] ---Meanwhile some very right wing ones are saying there is no global warming ... (CERN thinks so...) The real debate is "Is the sun and/or natural variation completely responsible or is man contributing". Perhaps we could tilt our "flat earth*" a bit it would decrease ( if global warming realy existed ).. * Pope once declared Earth flat because of the passage "spread the word to the four corners of the earth". Everyone knows spheres don't have corners, the ancient Greeks had it wrong..