SCREAMING EAGLE-66

--This discussion need to stop... there is nothing good to be gained from it. All it can do is make people mad.

--It won't happen.. but.... Navy plays Notre Dame the week before they play us.... so you can compare scores.

---Give it up (some of you).. We have no business there... It has no regional rivals for us, too spread out, in the wrong time zone for media attention, and really isn't any better of a conference anyway (except for perhaps a couple of teams). I had not noticed us destoying people in our present conference lately either. Let us just take care of our own business and see what developes... ---This is worse that the cows who think the grass on the other side of the fence is greener. Anyone see the cartoon ZITS this weekend.. same thing.. Something like a character complaiming that he needed to obtain friends that had more class... the response was "Your friends say the same thing".

---There are idiots and there are educated idiots..... ran into one at work this week (philosophy prof) .... What he did was unbelievable. These guys belong together. Education is great.... however education does not insure one has any common sense or will be respectful of others. All education does in that area is improve the odds that they will have some common sense....and are able to learn to respect others... ---One of the craziest guys I ran across was in the workroom with the Xerox machines when I came in and I asked him had he seen "whoever"... He claimed he did not know who he was... then a I asked about a second person... he did not know him either... Both of them had offices down the hall from him but taught a different subject and both had been there several years as he had. He had a PHD in history and I assume he knows a lot of historical names but did not even know the names of people he shared a hall with..... how crazy and self-centered is that?? (this happened a couple of years ago, doubt if he still knows who they are) Idiot Part II: We had prof that paid off his house and therefore was no longer required by anyone to carry insurance on it so he cancelled it.. Within a year it burned down and he now owned a pile of charcoal.... (another history prof). In short if you can't afford to lose it or can't easily replace it, then insure it.

Yeah and two of them were automatic wins because two games involved playing each other (someone had to win those) . sooo.. make that four against teams away from the metroplex. We are not doing much worse than our "neighborhood" competition. If we get our act together, we could easily become the college "Team of the Metroplex".

--The Mountain West is great for TCU..... as long as they are winning... they have no natural or even regional rivals and a lot of expensive travel. Once their program slips some, I doubt the TCU will all that happy there and the fans will have no real rival or regional interest in games.

---You maybe right but WHAT may have really benefited the need for a playoff system... We could have a whole basket of schools now that have one loss at the end of the season and a lot of real questions of who should #1 and #2.. I personally support a small playoff system of about 8 teams which would take three weeks and never involve more than one team from any conference or perhaps allow only one conference to have two teams because often two extremely good ones appear in a single conference. One game could played immediately after these conference championships are played and then the last two after finals and during the typical bowl season around New Years. If two teams for one conference is allowed, then set it up so that they could never meet until the final game.. ---Arguing over who is 7 or 8 is not the same as who is #1 or #2.... likely these teams would not win it all anyway unless they played a very difficult schedule or their opponents in the playoffs had terrible days or key injuries.

--Does close count....?? Guess not if you are Little or Franklin.. I was "working from memory.. That is true about the rules... Now about the only time you see these long attempts of over 40 or 50 yards is at the end of a half or the game when the other team has no time to do anything with the ball from where it is now kicked. It is amazing that so many great kickers appeared at one time. The odd thing about Exleban is that that he also led the nation in punts (unofficially) ... why not officially... I believe that UT had Earl Campbell at the time and they rarely punted so Russel Erxleban did not have enough punts to be considered as the official leader. Too bad for Khoury that there was so much talent at that position when he played or he may have become well known and had an good NFL career. Leverton the Midland High kid on the 62 yd list made a bad decision when he went to college, I think... He punted for Tennessee after HS.... he should have gone somewhere as a kicker instead I thought... He could really kick far but was too slow at punting and would sometimes get blocked. I saw his long one. Funny story... about punting and Bum Phillips.... Ray Guy (Raiders) was lightyears ahead of the other punters ... so much so that Bum Phillips once had his return guy bring the ball back to the bench and he hid it and kept it.. He then sent it over to Rice University (in Houston) the next week to test what type of gas was in the ball... He suspected it might be Helium... it wasn't, just plain air. I think a lot of punters used their own but regulation ball then... I have heard they would microwave them to make them bounce better and go farther. Guy is one of two guys I think really should be in the NFL Hall of Fame... Bob Hayes is the other one..... his speed changed the way the game was played especially on defense.

---The day Khoury kicked the 62 yard one, Russell Erxleban kicked the 67 yard one. I suspect there was a Norther that had a big effect on it... I remember one day (maybe this one and maybe not) that Erxleban (UT), Von Schamen (OU), Little ( Ark), and Franklin (A&M), a high school kid and maybe Khoury all kicked field goals in the neighborhood of 60 yards and this may have been that day 10-1-77 If not it, he super windy day may have been 10-16-76, the same time the ACC kid kicked the 69 yd one, and Franklin for 63 and 65. The wind was unbelievable but cool but not that cold yet. ---It was an era of a lot of unbelievable kickers and a few had some unbelievable wind help. That is six kickers out there that could kick 60 yards and all playing in Texas or schools that regularly played in Texas (Arkansas and OU). Frankin had an unfortunate result, He was later badly injured if not killed when kicking for the Philadelphia Eagles... He had car wreak... drinking at the time. Texas Football's cover in 1978 had Franklin and Erxleban on it and an article on kickers... I still have it.

--Well maybe... it could be he thinks we will win one of them but will not predict which one so-- since he predicts on a an individual basis --he predicts all as losses. From a probablity (or gamblers) point of view that would make sense. That way you would get one wrong but the remaining predictions (5 of them) correct. Getting 84% correct would be very good. Math Major (a couple of degrees)

--One of my son (an Aggie) has mentioned to me that Fran violated his contract by doing the newsletter and that the 10-year deal they made with him is now in question because of it. They may not owe him a whole lot after all.

---FIU is really bad even though they are having a poor season... Texas State would have had much better attendence. ---Too bad that WT did not keep that kind of attendence up before they down-sized their football program.. they would be in D-I still if they had. Tech is really their only competition for the sports dollar in the West Texas area. The college would likely be larger as well.

Aggie schedule..... Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas. Only Nebraska is not rated... Fran may have won his last game as an Aggie... unless he somehow defeats Nebraska.

Mine will not work from that address but you can get to it by this.. http://www.fightmusic.com/

---We have some people with very selective memories.....They remember the Iran situation which occurred after the Shah was overthrown but not the U.S.S. Pueblo which occurred while a different President of a different Party was involved. We had POWs in the Hanoi Hilton (including McCain) and Presidents of neither party went to get them. We had a marine barracks blow up in Lebanon when Reagan was in office but those involved got away. We did have some attacks during Clinton administration including World Trade Center and the U.S.S. Cole. He fired a cruise missile in an attempt to kill Ben Laden and the opposition party and much of the world became very unsupportive and agitated at him because it passed over Pakistan before exploding in Afghanistan.. which later became the real problem in 9-11. ---We have a lot of selective memories by some here. ....which brings back what I said.... read and learn the truth and not the "horse-manure and half-truths put out by those radio crazies. ---Interest rates.... They were high during the late Carter and early Reagan years ... mostly because of the OPEC actions and the inflation that occurred because of increased petroleum prices. . It was great for my parents who were retired and had a few CDs and had not a lot of income otherwise.. It wasn't so great for those trying to buy homes. (home mortgages were never 20% for anyone that was a decent risk, 12-14% did occur and I have heard of one person who had a 16% one. The answer there was don't buy or refinance when rates dropped). The Banks and savings and loans all failed during the Reagan years not the Carter. It depends on whose economy you are talking about. Credit Card rates were very bad and still are for a lot of people... which points out... don't buy what you can't afford. ---Just like Rush and group... some only state the bad side of what happens to the OPPOSITION, never what happened during the party they support is in power.. in short ... it may be somewhat the truth but it is not the WHOLE truth. ---My oppinion ... this collection of Presidential candidates is the worse group ever... either party..... hopefully whoever gets in will be more honest than the current one and will appoint people based on merit and not because he is a buddy or financial supporter. ---Some of the tax cuts make sense---inheritance tax for one, which sometimes forces a family to sell a business or ranch land to pay the tax --and puts people out of work. Cutting tax rates on stock sold at Wall Street only helps those who have the most most money, along with several other tax cuts which only benefit the ultra-wealthy if you have less than a several million --you aren't the ultra wealthy getting the meaningful tax cuts. Even Warren Buffet opposed some of the last ones... He said his moderately saleried employees needed tax relief more than he did... he would just buy more stock with his. Carter a pacifist..???? Sort of ..maybe... He was the commander of nuclear submarine after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy... He understand the danger and consequences of using nuclear weapons... He thought about them every day for a long time. He had some common sense about their use. The present one was never in that kind of position or in a combat zone as was Gore and Kerry. He just doesn't get it...

---This one has not been even good at either one....... The largest one day stock market crash (%-wise) happened after several years Carter left office under Reagan ( more losses than 1929, just did not contine as it did then) ... Carter did not do a GREAT job ecomomicly but he also the victim of OPEC and their actions... which caused a lot of our problems... Also the Shah in Iran was overthrown which cut off those oil supplies as well... Carter has been the best ex-President ever... the rest usually go inactive, play golf, collect money for speaking engagements, or die soon afterward.. --Clinton-- The ecomony boomed, the stock market soared, and the budget was balanced his final 6 years in office (never since) meanwhile this one will have doubled the national debt by the time he leaves and Reagan more than doubled it while in office. Read facts and truth.. not the claims that some crazy radio people ignore and distort. .

---The TRUTH really bothers me when it is not stated... The Gore comment... the Texas Rancher image...[besided he was born in Conn, went to HS in New England, and college at Yale.. He is a real Texan?? ] his claims about Iraq which has killed over 3000 Americans and 10,000's Iraq citizens... Saddam was a bad guy but the people of Iraq are much worse off now that they were before BUSH invaded on false claims.... At least they lived in relative peace and could walk their streets without being blown up or shot. They are are going through even a worse time than Europe went through during the 1500's as the result of religious warfare with their religion (Islam groups now, Catholic/Protestant then--ever hear of the 100 Year's War). This is far from over and we can't solve it, they have to, and you hope the Islamic crazies don't now take over with is highly possible because of what of our honest President did. Honest Abe he isn't. There is nothing funny about the situation... our debt is increasing and American soldiers are dying in a foreign land for little or no reason.. definitely not for the original reasons given...

---Some people (not you) just ignore the TRUTH and believe what they want to believe. ...Our Texas-rancher President want to portray himself as a cowboy.... He never owned one cow until he was elected President and likely has never fed one yet. It is all image.... I grew up feeding the things when it was 20 degrees or raining and fixing fences and hauling hay when it was 105 degrees.. He is no cowboy.... That image is about as true as a lot of other things he has done.... [where are those weapons that we have have sent 1000's of young men to obtain and protect us from... result.... over 3000 dead young Americans...] . Again the Truth does matter....

---I am not a Gore fan but I do believe in tell the TRUTH..!! That the Internet claim is made by the sleeze ball radio crazies such as Rush Limbaugh, Michael Reagan, and lot of so-called "journalists??" from one certain network etc. who completely and regularly misrepresent the truth. .. He never never said that. He made a comment to Wolf Blitzer on CNN (March 9, 1999) about "creating" the internet which is pretty much true.....by legislation. His legislation allowed what had been a military/government communication system to be released into the public domain for our use which is now called the internet. He was more concerned about having it available for colleges and libraries although the way things have worked out most homes have it available now. Better details are here. http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp Be sure and read the final paragraph in the article about his winning an award for his contributions to the internet. ----Apparently who wrote this just listens to these guys and never questions anything they hear as being not true. Not everything you hear, especially on one network is even close to the TRUTH... I suppose the some people who live near the coast will deny global warming is happening until the day their property goes under water. That is the likely the most obvious thing that could happen (even a few inches could have big consequences). I am not a environmental crazy either but sticking your head into the sand doesn't change it. Maybe the slight warming is just a normal variation and maybe it isn't and maybe we can't really do anything.... but it does exist and could have big consequences, especially to towns and people who are near the coast. The Ice age existed and obviously things have warmed up some... and that was a natural occurrence.... I guess you could deny that existed as well. Part: II Winning the Nobel Peace prize doesn't qualify one to be President....

--At least you can't say we do things half-way..... It seems that we are one of the top two or the bottom two in about everything.

Interesting... and we add 25 points to our score... we still don't win one game.. enough said.

I count three...LLU, NT, FIU... Utah State is not in belt anymore.. Well we the finally made the elite ten with Notre Dame.

---You do have a point BUT then the NFL drafted 12 rounds... now they draft 6 or 7.... A lot of those taken in the later rounds then were from smaller program schools that they were taking chances on and did not expect would make the team. A better stat would be how many athletes made opening day NFL rosters.. The second part of that is we getting a lot of excellent black athletes that the SWC and others would not recruit. --- Carlin and Ramsey were good North Texas QBs in an era that the SWC and even the SEC was still in a period of 3 yards of dust style offenses. SMU (with Fry) and Baylor were the only two in the SWC that I remember that threw the ball a lot. UT and lot of them went to the wishbone offense in the late 60's which threw very little and did not produce NFL quarterbacks or receivers or even lineman that could protect a QB in a throwing game. On defense they were not accustomed to facing passing teams either. . The Missouri Valley had a wide open NFL style offense and many QBs were drafted from Tulsa, Louisville, Cincinnati and North Texas.... several went on to very successful NFL quarterbacks. --Those of us who saw MVC games in basketball and football in that were seeing much different games that what the SWC was producing. A lot of pro players came from the MVC in both sports. Unfortunately we were a SWC outsider as was UTEP* (Texas-Western) and West Texas and never got the attention that we deserved. *National champion in basketball and only college to break into the UCLA run of championships (12?).

--You absolutely right..... the Major concern now is defense.... Our offense can hold its own against most of our opponents if we can slow their offense down. \ ---I expected us to be better in that area... I will not pretend to understand why are doing so poorly but I will say one thing which is you can not expect freshman to fill those positions and do well. Freshman can do pretty well as receivers and sometimes RBs maybe one mixed into an experienced defensive backfield... They just don't have the physical strength or maturity to do well in the trenches unless they are truly unusual. It is going to take time.. Some here want to blame all failures on a QB whoever he is...... well the QB did not allow any of those points scored on the defense. You could make a argument late in game maybe if he can't keep the defense off the field but not all for those points score in the first half.. DD recruited poorly... as we are still paying for it (he recruited the seniors, juniors and sophomores). Even Patrick Cobbs when here was an accidental DD "recruit"... he knocked on the front door wanting to play here... not DD recruiting him... Some of other best players we have had were players others overlooked and then decided to come here due to lack of offers... Things will change ..be patient.

The late 60's was the era of Joe Green, Spider Lockhart, Ron Shanklin, Cedric Hardman and others. One thing we "old Geezers" from that era realize is that the SWC, SEC, ACC were pretty much if not totally all-white colleges when these athletes were recruited. We had to compete against the Big 8, Big-10 and Pac-10 for them BUT many did not want to leave the state and many were not offered any scholarships elsewhere. Houston (independent then) and West Texas also was integrated (WT had Mercury Morris and Dwane Thomas at the same time). If you notice none of the SWC would play us during the 60's... Arkansas was the only one and they were out of state and it was late in the 60's. John Wooten of UCLA was a great basketball coach but... he could recruit the entire South/Southwest without competeing against the Southern Conferences for a lot the best ones and he did... This is one of the reasons he won so many national championships in Basketball. His greatness was partly because he realized by getting just of few of the best players in the South along with what he else he could recruit than he could win big. His biggest competition in the region was from from the old Missouri Valley which had Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis, North Texas, Wichita St., Tulsa, Bradley, and others plus Houston which had been a MVC member at one time. That era is long gone and so is our advantage in recruited those athletes... Actually I think Fry was doing the better job of recruiting because when he was at North Texas, he did have to compete with SWC for all athletes.... Times had changed.