Impressions of the TCU Game

tonyhuntoon · December 5, 2004

Haven't been to a basketball game since the beginning of the Trilli era. Good energetic game, poor free throw shooting, on offense they need to learn how to stay in motion. Way too much standing around on the offensive end.

1. Stadium looked great. Especially the new scoreboards. Looks first class.

2. The seats were very uncomfortable and too tight. Take out those oversized armrests and they wouldn't be so tight. And I am a skinny guy.

3. The music was awful. They were playing that stupid Steve Miller song when I graduated in '86. Can't they find something else to play?

4. The song leaders were weak. And I mean REALLY WEAK. They all dance like Ashlee Simpson.

5. The cheerleaders, um, what cheerleaders.

Do something to bring some life into the arena, ANYTHING!

GrandGreen · December 5, 2004

Haven't been to a basketball game since the beginning of the Trilli era. Good energetic game, poor free throw shooting, on offense they need to learn how to stay in motion. Way too much standing around on the offensive end.
1. Stadium looked great. Especially the new scoreboards. Looks first class.
2. The seats were very uncomfortable and too tight. Take out those oversized armrests and they wouldn't be so tight. And I am a skinny guy.
3. The music was awful. They were playing that stupid Steve Miller song when I graduated in '86. Can't they find something else to play?
4. The song leaders were weak. And I mean REALLY WEAK. They all dance like Ashlee Simpson.
5. The cheerleaders, um, what cheerleaders.
Do something to bring some life into the arena, ANYTHING!

Sure appreciate the opinions mostly negative of someone who has not been to a game in eight years. I give thumbs up to the band and cheerleaders. As for as the BB team, there is simply no comparison between Trilli's and the current team.

December 5, 2004

They were playing that stupid Steve Miller song when I graduated in '86.

'Fly Like and Eagle' goes right along with the Fight Song. I used to make sure to listen to Steve Miller's version on the day of any North Texas game. Then Steve Miller did not play it at this year's Memphis In May, and this after Memphis had beaten the football team in the bowl, so I viewed that as a curse. Now I listen to the Neville Brothers' version instead. It has mainly been working. If this superstition sounds like delirium, I told everyone I had caught the fever, so it should be no surprise. And if you must know, I did not have access to a CD player yesterday, and thus was unable to listen even though I had brought the CD on the plane. So now you know the reason for the bad free throws.

j0nat8an · December 6, 2004

i love the bball band this year! they seem to care about the game a lot more than last years!

tonyhuntoon · December 6, 2004

Just because I haven't been to a game in a long while doesn't mean my opinion isn't valid. Besides, when I was in school and years after I got out, I went to EVERY STINKING GAME! So don't even begin to discount an opinion because I am not some blind sheep that goes to every game regardless of a coach that ran the program into the ground. Why did I not support the Trilli cast? I thought it was incredibly unfair that the guy came in and pulled the scholarship of EVERY PLAYER ON THE TEAM! Do you remember that or were you not aware then? Set this program back years. Kind of like a self imposed death penalty. Or in Trilli's introduction press conference him and his wife kept on flashing the HOOK EM HORNS sign! Do you remember or were you not AWARE then? Oh, and by the way, I live in UpState NY and have for the last 4+ years. I took the time out of my schedule here visiting family and friends to catch a game for the first time in the JJ era. There are alot better things for me to do then trudge up to Denton to catch two so-so basketball teams play. So before you get on your soapbox and start slamming people's opinions "because they haven't been to a game in a while", think again jerk.

UNT_92_Fan · December 6, 2004

i dont think he meant it like that...but thanks for coming to the game...

meangreendork · December 6, 2004

I thought the game was alright. The turnout was great, and I'm hoping we can keep it close to that all year. This DOES prove the theory that a local opponent can draw a great crowd.

Our team did okay, but that game was winnable. The turning point was the injury that resulted in Sturns being put in. That's when the lead slipped and turned into a deficit. Coupled wih missed FT's and fouls, it only got worse.

For TonyH's comments:

1. It does look better this year, especially with the newly painted logos. I do wish they'd clean that pressbox up, though.

2. The seats were fine...if you find them uncomfortable, then stand up! Games are more fun on your feet. We shouldn't sit unless it's at the half, a timeout is called or something.

3. The music was okay, I didn't like the band playing in the middle of the NORTH-TEXAS chant. That was just stupid of them. Oh, and their "jeers" at the other team were kinda lame.

4. The dancers are fine, and I don't think that they dance like Ashlee Simpson, but I don't know if she even dances. They practice, and they are skilled.

5. There were cheerleaders...but they didn't do much. The biggest problem was those megaphone-thingys; those things have a tendency to make the cheerleaders hard to understand. I can barely figure what they're saying when I'm on the track/sidelines, so who knows what they're saying if you're way back in the stands at Fouts or the seats at the Pit.

GrandGreen · December 6, 2004

Just because I haven't been to a game in a long while doesn't mean my opinion isn't valid. Besides, when I was in school and years after I got out, I went to EVERY STINKING GAME! So don't even begin to discount an opinion because I am not some blind sheep that goes to every game regardless of a coach that ran the program into the ground. Why did I not support the Trilli cast? I thought it was incredibly unfair that the guy came in and pulled the scholarship of EVERY PLAYER ON THE TEAM! Do you remember that or were you not aware then? Set this program back years. Kind of like a self imposed death penalty. Or in Trilli's introduction press conference him and his wife kept on flashing the HOOK EM HORNS sign! Do you remember or were you not AWARE then? Oh, and by the way, I live in UpState NY and have for the last 4+ years. I took the time out of my schedule here visiting family and friends to catch a game for the first time in the JJ era. There are alot better things for me to do then trudge up to Denton to catch two so-so basketball teams play. So before you get on your soapbox and start slamming people's opinions "because they haven't been to a game in a while", think again jerk.

From the Jerk. Glad to have you at the game, sorry the cheerleaders, dancers, and band were not up to standards. Not sure what the Trilli references are for, yes I like most everyone suffered thru the Trilli years. Actually for your info he did not pull the ships on all players, he kept what he though were the best C. Washington, Miller and Thrash (who became ineglible). I was not a Trilli fan and have expressed that many times.

By the way when you express an opinion on a message especially a negative one, you might expect a reaction.

Calling someone a jerk on the internet does take a lot of courage, I hope you feel better.

UNTLifer · December 6, 2004

From the Jerk. Glad to have you at the game, sorry the cheerleaders, dancers, and band were not up to standards. Not sure what the Trilli references are for, yes I like most everyone suffered thru the Trilli years. Actually for your info he did not pull the ships on all players, he kept what he though were the best C. Washington, Miller and Thrash (who became ineglible). I was not a Trilli fan and have expressed that many times.
By the way when you express an opinion on a message especially a negative one, you might expect a reaction.
Calling someone a jerk on the internet does take a lot of courage, I hope you feel better.

He lives in NY now and obviously has embraced their people skills.

tonyhuntoon · December 6, 2004

Exactly the reaction I thought I would get. Don't like the message, shoot the messenger. Oh blind people, when will you see?

Let's get our facts straight though. C. Washington played for UTA the following year. And he did pull the scholarship of every player. All of them. That is one reason why I stopped supporting the team, and was severly disappointed in an athletic director that supported the decision. If you don't believe me go and do the research if it is that important to you.

For the record I graduated in '86. Went back and got my teaching certificate in '95. It's surprising how much the basketball program hasn't changed. They sell tickets the same way, the aisles still get clogged up because the ushers refuse to tell people to find a seat, the crowd size is the same, and the entertainment value of the game is totally related to what's on the floor. What can I say? It was boring. I honestly could have found a better place to spend $30. I told my wife I would have preferred buying pizza and beer for several friends and watch OU fry CU. Sorry. It's the way the old saying goes: "if you always do what you have always done you will always get what you always got."

I also have to admit I haven't been to a NT football game in 4 years. But that has never stopped me from trudging to a sports bar, spending $60 on beer and snacks to catch them on a feed at a local sports bar. Now that was fun and was never boring.

About the NY reference, NY is a great place. The rudeness that you suggested is incredibly overexaggerated, kind of like the Texan friendliness. About 95% of the people I have met up here are extremely nice and will totally go out of their way to help you in anyway. Just because you don't like what I am saying doesn't give you a license to show your ignorance and indict a whole region of people. Do yourself a favor and step outside of the borders of Texas. You might find that it isn't a big, cold, scary place afterall.

UNT_92_Fan · December 6, 2004

In an attempt to not sound like an a$$hole....thanks for coming....wait and see where this team is at the end of the year...and if you can find a place to spend 30 dollars better...its your money...GO DO IT! Nobody is stopping you from it.

I love going to the games...I have fun...So I will keep going...anyone else wanna join me?

Edited December 6, 2004 by UNT_92_Fan

GrandGreen · December 6, 2004

Exactly the reaction I thought I would get. Don't like the message, shoot the messenger. Oh blind people, when will you see?
Let's get our facts straight though. C. Washington played for UTA the following year. And he did pull the scholarship of every player. All of them. That is one reason why I stopped supporting the team, and was severly disappointed in an athletic director that supported the decision. If you don't believe me go and do the research if it is that important to you.
For the record I graduated in '86. Went back and got my teaching certificate in '95. It's surprising how much the basketball program hasn't changed. They sell tickets the same way, the aisles still get clogged up because the ushers refuse to tell people to find a seat, the crowd size is the same, and the entertainment value of the game is totally related to what's on the floor. What can I say? It was boring. I honestly could have found a better place to spend $30. I told my wife I would have preferred buying pizza and beer for several friends and watch OU fry CU. Sorry. It's the way the old saying goes: "if you always do what you have always done you will always get what you always got."
I also have to admit I haven't been to a NT football game in 4 years. But that has never stopped me from trudging to a sports bar, spending $60 on beer and snacks to catch them on a feed at a local sports bar. Now that was fun and was never boring.
About the NY reference, NY is a great place. The rudeness that you suggested is incredibly overexaggerated, kind of like the Texan friendliness. About 95% of the people I have met up here are extremely nice and will totally go out of their way to help you in anyway. Just because you don't like what I am saying doesn't give you a license to show your ignorance and indict a whole region of people. Do yourself a favor and step outside of the borders of Texas. You might find that it isn't a big, cold, scary place afterall.

From the blind jerk. Your message is that the NT basketball experience is not up to your standards. Great, do something else. I don't have to do research. Charles Cemo Washington and Thrash both retained ships. The other Washington signed with UTA and never played, another error on your part.

Don't know why that is important to you, what Trilli did was bad enough and the dismissal of the players was only part of it.

On a sad note, I am not sure the struggling NT basketball program can do without your patronship. I do hope you can make another game in the next eight years. Are you going to NO, I would be happy to meet you.

Edited December 6, 2004 by GrandGreen

tonyhuntoon · December 6, 2004

OK. I will bet you $30 they won't even place in the upper tier of the conference.

How can you ever make something better if you don't question how you CAN make it better??? Shouldn't you ALWAYS be asking the question how can we do this better? I just don't think anybody over the last 20 years has actually asked that question at NT.

With a great music school like NT don't you think we can find something better to play than "Fly Like An Eagle" year after year? That song was actually in my dreams I heard it so much last night.

Face the facts, if the crowds are the same as they were in '86, and the school is twice the size, shouldn't somebody answer the question why? How can the product be improved, and why hasn't it been improved? Why aren't more people coming to games? Why is the guy that hasn't been to a BBall game in 8 years, a guy that loves BBall and his school, can go to a game and be absolutely bored out of his mind? It just seems to me that nobody at the game was really doing anything to add anything to the atmosphere of the game. People have to have fun to keep coming back to events. Plain and simple.

I hate to say it, went to the OU/A&M game this year, and I can't wait to go back. Why? Because I had fun. I enjoyed the experience. The things that were going on besides the game added to the game. You ever watch a Duke or Indiana game on TV??? Makes you want to check it out in person sometime, right? NT doesn't have that, and as much as it pains me to say it, probably never will because people like the ones on this board that are attacking my opinions want to accept the status quo. They treat every question about a "product" like it's a personal affront. If you never ask for better you never will get better. Because of that it will NEVER be better.

On another note, what happened to the old Championship flags that used to fly at the stadium?

Edited December 6, 2004 by tonyhuntoon

UNT_92_Fan · December 6, 2004

you came to the worst game they have played all year moron, and their NUMBER ONE point guard got killed without a foul...Leaving a TRUE freshman on the floor to run it....

I wasn't gonna say it but you haven't seen crap this year ONE GAME...a POOR GAME...A Game killed by fouls...no offensive rythm could be set by either team...If u dont believe me...read the post game press confernce from the coaches....they know there wasn't anything there but an assload of whistles....

U haven't seen this team play the way they have shown all year...you caught an off game and are judging based on crap! So go home

tonyhuntoon · December 6, 2004

'92? Why the name calling? I'm a MORON now because I don't agree with you, and I should go home? Maybe you should check out your picture under your I.D. Kind of makes me want to consider the source. Know what I mean?

A true freshman can run a team pretty well. Check out Dee Brown and Deron Williams of Illinois when they were freshman. Outstanding. Ever hear of Carmelo Anthony?

Go back and read my original post. I am not talking about the team, I am talking about the presentation!

Edited December 6, 2004 by tonyhuntoon

JayDub · December 6, 2004

With a great music school like NT don't you think we can find something better to play than "Fly Like An Eagle" year after year? That song was actually in my dreams I heard it so much last night.

Can't say I disagree with this.

UNT_92_Fan · December 6, 2004

SO because I am a student it makes my opinion any less than yours???

Yeah There is also a bit of a difference between 'Cuse and Illnios...and North Texas...Sturnes is gonna be good...but the kid is young....

Going back to your original post about the atmosphere....Things are activaltely being done right now to change the whole experience.... The Pit Crew is working our asses off to make it an event and not just a game....did you happen to swing by the tailgate party last night, or see the traklight shooting in the sky last night...

Edited December 6, 2004 by UNT_92_Fan

JayDub · December 6, 2004

The Pit Crew is working our asses off to make it an event and not just a game....did you happen to swing by the tailgate party last night, or see the traklight shooting in the sky last night...

We...uhhh....learned alot on this one.

UNT_92_Fan · December 6, 2004

yes sir we did learn alot...but after all the stress...it was a fun night for the most part!

honestly argueing about the team on here didn't get me anywhere last year and it wont this year...so Tony...I just got alittle fired up there...too much pride in my school i guess...But i do think you will be surprised come tourney time here in denton....If you want to come and watch us win the thing call me i will buy you a floor seat

Edited December 6, 2004 by UNT_92_Fan

tonyhuntoon · December 6, 2004

I understand. Wouldn't it be great if all of the students there got behind the teams like you? The student sections would never be empty. Keep up the good work. And get rid of that picture, notice I use a horse!

UNT_92_Fan · December 6, 2004

somehow i lost my pic of shawnson Johnson form last season...so i had nothing by my victorious pic from the GMG.com bowl last year....anyone who sees that pic that took part in the game would remember the performances from that day!!! Green dominance...

we need ot do that again

JayDub · December 6, 2004

I'm sure Emmitt and Coach remember that day well.

I hide behind Borat...because, sadly, he's better looking and gets more chicks.

Edited December 6, 2004 by JayDub

emmitt01 · December 6, 2004

I'm sure Emmitt and Coach remember that day well.
I hide behind Borat...because, sadly, he's better looking and gets more chicks.

Yes, I do remember, the game. And I still can't be held.

Mad Hatter · December 6, 2004

Here are my thoughts on the game from someone who only makes one or two games a year....

First - The atmosphere was 10 times better than I've seen it before. The Pit Crew had a GREAT showing especially since it's their first year in existance. I can't wait to see that section grow, and I enjoyed watching them almost as much as the game.

Second - The ticket sales really pi$$ed me off. They only sell tickets by the section, and then randomly pull them out of a stack. I figured we'd just be able to sit wherever we wanted in that section, but the ushers were telling everyone in their assigned seats. I have an 8 month pregnant wife and a two year old daughter. We really just wanted to sit toward the back on the aisle, but were given tickets halfway down in the middle of the row. We ended up moving to seats we liked better, but were forced to move as people came to sit in their seats. I don't have a problem with sitting in my assigned seat if I'm given a choice of where that will be. We ended up sitting in the upper section where you can sit wherever you want, but it got the game off to a bad start for us.

Third - We tried to tailgate, and actually did get a couple of free hotdogs (Thanks to everyone who put that together), but it was pretty cold outisde to sit around, so we went in early.

I was thinking, maybe in the future, we could set up a kind of tailgating zone down one of the sides of the Pit, and then use some kind of screen, like on the football practice fields, to block out the wind. Maybe in a more enclosed area, it would be warmer, and would make it feel like there were more people because they'd all be grouped together. I know that'd cost money, but I was just trying to think of ways to make the Tailgating work a little better in cold weather.

Coach · December 6, 2004

I remember an anonymous Mean Green skill position player running roughshod over our defense, and when we finally slowed him down with a triple team, someone else became wide open and the scoring resumed.

Back to basketball, the atmosphere in the Super Pit and the product on the court does not even compare to the Trilli-era experiences I had. I came along his last season and that team would get beat by about 40 by this one. I feel bad saying that because one of the best players in green ever Chris Davis was on that squad and he did all he could, it certainly wasn't his fault. The attendance needs to get better, but coming off of some rough years, this was a good foundation. The Pit Crew did, and will continue to do a great job of getting students out and into in the game, and the team will improve over the season as they become used to playing ball together. By the time the conference tourney rolls around, the Super Pit will be rocking.

The only gripe I had about the game was that we were subjected to YMCA twice. That song is slightly ahead of Fly Like an Eagle in songs that make me want to stick a screwdriver in my temple and hearing it twice in one night was like a warning from God of what Hell may sound like. YMCA is overplayed anyway, just like Space Jam, the "I like to move it move it" song, and Gettin Jiggy Wit it. Let's update our database of songs...

That is a small complaint though, it was the most fun I have had at a basketball game in a while, and I know it will only get better. If we were to pull an old fashioned college basketball upset tomorrow night, how many new faces would show up at the Super Pit? I say we try it out.

Edited December 6, 2004 by Coach