NT Web site..FB banquet awards

[OldTimer]

Mean Green Announce Football Awards At Banquet

Courtesy: University of North Texas

Release: 01/22/2006

Courtesy: Rick Yeatts

Senior Patrick Cobbs was honored with the Odus Mitchell and Steve Ramsey awards on Saturday night.

DENTON (1/21/06) – The North Texas football team held its annual postseason banquet on Saturday night, with head coach Darrell Dickey announcing the team’s individual award winners.

First-team All-Sun Belt running back Patrick Cobbs was named the Odus Mitchell Award winner as the team’s most valuable player. Cobbs, the 2003 national rushing champion, ran for 1,154 yards in 2005 to finish as North Texas’ all-time leading rusher with 4,050 yards. Cobbs posted the school-record for 100-yard rushing games with 21, and finishes his career tops in rushing touchdowns and attempts as well.

Cobbs, a member of the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Football Second Team, also took home the Steve Ramsey Award, given to the most outstanding offensive player.

Sophomore Aaron Weathers was also a multiple award winner, earning the Joe Greene Award for the most outstanding defensive player and the Bill Brashier Award as the team’s top defensive back. Weathers was named the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year after hauling in 113 tackles in 2005, the second most by defensive back in the nation.

Johnny Quinn added the Ja’Quay Wilburn Award, given to the most outstanding offensive back, and the Shawn Kramer Award, given to the most inspirational player, to his already impressive resume. The junior was named to the All-Sun Belt second team for the second straight year after leading the Mean Green with 591 receiving yards. Quinn, one of the team’s most valued leaders, also led North Texas with nearly eight yards per punt return.

The Sun Belt’s most bruising blocker, Dylan Lineberry, garnered the Phillip Armour Award as North Texas’ top offensive lineman. A first-team All-Sun Belt selection, Lineberry paved the way for his second straight 1,000-yard rusher in 2005. Lineberry graded out as the Mean Green’s top lineman in 10 of the 11 last games.

The Byron Gross Award for the team’s top linebacker was given to Maurice Holman. The Honorable Mention All-Sun Belt selection racked up 86 tackles and led the team in quarterback hurries. The sophomore earned conference player of the week honors for his 99-yard game-tying interception return for a touchdown against Middle Tennessee.

Jeremiah Chapman was honored with the Bill Bishop Award, given to North Texas’ most outstanding defensive lineman. The sophomore led the Mean Green with nine tackles for loss and four sacks in 2005, earning him a second team All-Sun Belt nod.

Truman Spencer was the recipient of the Abner Haynes Award as the most outstanding special teams player. In his first season in Denton the freshman averaged 38 yards per punt, including 16 downed inside the 20-yard line.

The most underrated members of the Mean Green football team, Isaiah Smith and Isaac Thomas, were given the offensive and defensive Scout Team awards.

The Mean Green will begin spring drills on February 13, with the 2006 season opener at Texas on Sept. 2.

[good_ken]

I see that people are on the board; does anyone have anything to report on the banquet?

[FirefightnRick]

The banquet was pretty good, food was good and coach Dickey, George Dunham and RV did a very good job presenting the awards and speaking positively about the program. Not an easy thing considering the past season. I have no idea which recruits were there. We got to watch some of the Hula bowl on the big screens prior to the program starting.

According to the team, coaches and the program overall, Andrew Smith's jersey is now retired and will never be worn at NT again. They then presented Andrews' parents with his jersey. It was a very moving night concering the loss of Andrew, and his parents seemed surpised by it all with what was said and presented. DD's comments were very emotional and brought a lot into perspective. Mrs. Smith said Andrew loved NT, it was where he wanted to be.

Very few of the seniors were in attendance.

During one of the funnier parts of his presentation DD called me out in mentioning that he had an apology to make concerning tortilla gate. He said earlier in the season the AD dept had decided that we would not throw torts, that we only threw them when we scored a TD, and considering we didn't score a TD for so long that people had forgotten the rules once we did scorre 6 or so games into the season and that was why the mess occured. LOL!

Overall it was a fun night and I'm excited about Spring ball, which starts Mon, Feb 13th, and runs through the spring game which will be Thursday 6 p.m., March 9th.

Rick

Edited January 22, 2006 by FirefightnRick

[PlummMeanGreen]

Very few of the seniors were in attendance.

............................................................................................

Sadly, but that sounds like Dickey Ball style discipline at work now even in the off season. Wonder how many of that group will be buying football season tickets this summer?

NT Exes, you want a viable project that will save this university a helluva' lot of wasted monies (via extended varsity athletic contracts with little or no expectations) and get the UNT alums and fan base 100% behind our school once again and to make us Mean Green Proud again as well; that is, a fan base of which most want to see its football program operating back on the high road or "high profile" track? Then use your campus and statewide political pull to have the Chairman of the NT Board of Regents recalled before he and his leadership skills take this university even further south and pulls this NT football program deeper into the SBC/Bottom 10 (if that is even possible). NOTE: The on-going failure of our system pink elephant, UNT-Dallas, could be reason alone for such a recall. UNT should have had leaders who knew back then that we did not have the financial resoureces (endowment) to give such a school a fair shot of being a high quality institution.

Serious as a heart attach about that with our Napoleon of the North and wouldn't joke about such a thing anyway.. (BTW, any of you have grandsons who get to sit on the NT basketball bench like I understand Bobby Ray's gets to do)? The part of Texas I'm from most might call that some form of nepotism truth be known. It for sure is one helluva' prime example of one taking advantage of their position of influence on our campus. Yet there are some of us who call that type of thing bush league leadership at its best.

FFR, truly, how can you possibly be so excited about all this? At one time, you were going to go up to Denton and kick one of our NT "lifetimers" ass over your own personal disgust with some of the arrogance we get from up there. Arrogance in the NT Athletic Department? They average 15K per home game after uh, "4" big bowl games in a row and we have arrogance? And 2,000 is now a big basketball crowd in the Super Pit? When some of us lived on or near campus as NT students or Denton citizens, that would have been a small and disappointing crowd for the Super Pit. But we have arrogance coming from this presnt group in the NT Athletic Department? Do us a favor, UNT athletic staff lifetimers who are taking us under with veiled success, please do grace some other schools with your Midus Touch.

Rick I admire your tenacity with all this and know you are into all that pre-season BBQ business and tailgating activities big time, but those are not the things that are going to deliver this football program from the depths that we now see and especiallly now that we see how annual poor recruiting has now reared its ugly head.

Rick, if you can give us Doubting Thomases 5 reasons why we should share this same excitement as you and a hardy handful still seem to have (for whatever those reasons) please do share them with the rest of us because we truly don't see the light at the end of the tunnel with all this, and many of us no longer want to support this disguised and veiled sham of a football program any longer led by one who is (still) nothing more than a journeyman assistant football coach. One whose own father and Craig Helwig,, ie, ,the Kansas St. connection, pulled off a hiring coup on North Texans and Mean Green fans before a selection committee could even be formed and now a move that we are all now paying for big time in Mean Green Country. All that "coup" business alone should have pissed off some Texans with how a bunch of Kansans did that to us and probably had one helluva' chuckle before Matt Simon could even pack his bags to leave.

5 reasons to support this Rick, isn't that a fair and reasonable request to ask of you (or anyone else) who (I presume) feel DD will be our next head football coach to be in the NT Athletic Hall of Fame (with an under .500 record to boot)? Only at North Texas, folks, only at North Texas.................................

WE DON'T HAVE A VERY GOOD TRACK RECORD @ NT WHEN IT COMES TO ATHLETICS AND DECSIONS RELATING TO SUCH, RIGHT? After all, this is the same school that told Spud Webb we were just not interested in his services (when he wanted to come to UNT and help us jump-start a varsity basketball program that is still struggling) AND.............we are also the same school that told Dennis Francione that we were also not interested in his services, either (at a time when he was interested in coming to Denton to be our head football coach); so in Denton we come up with a parade of clowns to be our head football coaches and wonder why we are sucking hind teat with all this 90 per cent of the time? And at a time when beating anyone (outside the SBC) is now merely a pipe dream?"

Our NT hiring authorities also seem to have a reputation for not being very adept or skillful when it comes to coming up with those who we have to lead our other varsity athletic teams as well (except a few minor/none revenue producing sports teams, of course). Does any other NCAA D1-A school have a 17 year career coach with an under .500 W/L record and is also soon to get an extension (which is a nasty word to most of us now) by a AD who will probably give here an early Christmas gift and then get the hell out of Dodge to leave us with leftover sludge? Only at North Texas, folks, only at North Texas..............We really do seem to be very gullible as a fan base who will accept anything being dished out to us at times.

So do please give us (lets be fair and now say) only "3" reasons why we are supposed to be excited about a Mean Green football program led by Darrell Dickey, Rick. Many of us want to be excited (once again) about what has been a passion for some of us as long as some on this board (or on the NT athletic staff) have even been alive.

Edited January 22, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

[Baby Arm!]

Sigh....

Only at North Texas can we get a post about the football banquet spawn an 10 paragraph rant railing against:

UNT-Dallas

Bobby Ray and where his grandkids sit at basketball games

Basketball attendance

A 'supposed' Kansas St gang conspiracy to hire DD

Not signing Spudd Webb

Not hiring Dennis Francione

The current women's Bball coach

All of which I fail to see have anything to do with Rick being excited about spring football.

[emmitt01]

Sigh....

Only at North Texas can we get a post about the football banquet spawn an 10 paragraph rant railing against:

UNT-Dallas

Bobby Ray and where his grandkids sit at basketball games

Basketball attendance

A 'supposed' Kansas St gang conspiracy to hire DD

Not signing Spudd Webb

Not hiring Dennis Francione

The current women's Bball coach

All of which I fail to see have anything to do with Rick being excited about spring football.

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Don't you see? The whole football banquet was just an alien conspiracy to take our minds off of the fact that soilient (mean) green is people!

[GreenBat]

Don't you see? The whole football banquet was just an alien conspiracy to take our minds off of the fact that soilient (mean) green is people!

Now that's Funny!

[PlummMeanGreen]

Sigh....

Only at North Texas can we get a post about the football banquet spawn an 10 paragraph rant railing against:

UNT-Dallas

Bobby Ray and where his grandkids sit at basketball games

Basketball attendance

A 'supposed' Kansas St gang conspiracy to hire DD

Not signing Spudd Webb

Not hiring Dennis Francione

The current women's Bball coach

All of which I fail to see have anything to do with Rick being excited about spring football.

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]

Funny stuff, BA, but you really don't need to read my posts if they are going to make you get so tense and feel insecure about our place with all our other SBC friends in low places. LOL!

...................................................................................

FIRST OF ALL I WILL SAY THIS: Some of you who have been bitching about DD and Dickey Ball at tailgating events and other NT get-togethers for the last few years, where the hell are all of you now? Come on, show us some 'nads with all this.

...................................................................................

But once you and a few others have DD (or one of his assistants or now even one of our uh, "press box celebrities" arriving in "your" section at Fouts next Fall and slaps off yalls "green smudged" glasses (along with some of their I'm most assured "very" customer service oriented comments---------NOT), yall can (right along with the rest) enjoy that 0 & 6 start next football season; but please do watch our for yalls boy Bobby Ray who seems to have some serious man-love for Dickey Ball (not the man, even I won't be that ridiculous) because he will probably give the ex Kansas St. Wildcat (who "very easily swung the NT job due to his Kansan St. connection) anyway, our Napoleon of the North will give DD yet another 1 one year contract extension (that will insure that our UNT System experts will have yet another under. 500 varsity coach on a lifetime contract in the NT Athletic Department. "You All Like That?" <>*<> Jeez, some of us really never knew what a nice retirement center for the "not so gifted" we were running up there in Denton.

Our present NT administration and other key leaders are really revolutionizing NCAA D1-A administration with all their new concepts of "rewarding the losing" and having no expectation for them to do anything but............lose...........or win against some no one ever heard about 2 decades ago, ie, our jnfamous SBC/Bottom 10 (of which the SMU Mustangs would have won last Fall had they been in our league).

Anyeay, I really do agree with you 2, BA and Emmitt, there really is much humor with all this and I guess (to some) I''ve supplied some of that humor with all this (while I have improved my keyboard WPM skills tremendously; BUT...............lets just see who is going to get the last big (belly) laugh when this time next year many of you, too, will be at your own wit's end with all this while cussing NT leadership who will have tied us to Dickey Ball for the next 2 UNT administrations (or even the next 2 U.S. presidential terms).

FWIW, this present UNT administration wouldn't know Big Time NCAA D1-A athletics (or the kind of personnel who can deliver such) if it came up and bit them in their "low expection" a$$e$. Others on the UNT payroll need to hang it up too as they broadcast to all this mediocrity and think we really have it going on up there. I'd bet even their own radio ratings are going down right alongside DD's under .500 "8 year" record in "not so" Mean Green Country. Theron J. Fouts really has to be turning over in his grave with all this on-going and non-stop crapola of "no or low expectations" at all from our present (and hopefully soon to be gone) NT leaders.

Even some of our alums/fans stuck in the muck and mire of this adminstration's SBC/Bottom 10 mediocrity can't see the forest for the trees anymore. That part is not funny at all, but (in fact) is even kinda' sad. It's sad what some UNT alums will accept (athletically) on an annual basis and just act like "all is well on the northern front." It's almost like watching sheep being led to slaughter--one just following all the others to the slaughter house oblivious to whats going on around them. It's the blind leading the blind. I see no humor in that at all for any of our fellow NT Exes no matter what era they were students.

YAWNnnnnnnnnn....................so yall just go ahead and enjoy yall$ inve$tment (although my guess is half on GMG.com don't give one red penny or buy season tickets but do give us free HSO's about all this). Actually, there is an upside to much of this as many will be saving some ca$h next Fall because we are not going play any semblance of role in helping to enable Bobby Ray to keep his little "low or no expectations" Mean Green party to continue. He will see a difference in more ways than none.

And many of us bet Bobby Ray will under$tand that part when he and his personal selection of a chancellor, Judge "non PHD" Lee Jackson will (the strong guess of many) see donations go $outh across the board at UNT. So if "here today/gone tomorrow OR "happy today/unhappy tomorrow" UNT AD Rick Villarreal doesn't schedule one of those 3 "body bag" schools mentioned in a MG Report for this next football season, he will surely need to get good ol' Mattress Mac to make up for $ome budget $hortfalls next year (and for years to come).

You do all remember good ol' MM who has himself attempted to hold our school hostage with his "I'll support UNT as long as DD is there" statement? Hey Mattress Mac? A question for even you? Where the hell did you play your college football and get your degree? A HINT: Think on this.................Hayden Fry? What a sad statement that (alone) is and I will say this once again: Only at North Texas, folks, only at North Texas...............................

Yet there is one thing even Matrress Mac cannot do; that is, he cannot fill 2 or 3 sections of Fouts Field for the 2006 (and beyond) football seasons; neither can Lee Jackson and Bobby Ray, but of course they will be sitting in those "world class" Fouts Field luxury suites as it is.

BTW, next time yall see your new good buddy, Bobby Ray, ask him where his MG football season tickets were for the 4 decades preceeding his appointment to the NT BOR's? To this day, no one (I know) remembers seeing that man at NT football games or seeing his name listed in the old Mean Green Eagle Club listings of donors in all those decades past. He seems to have been M.I.A, that is, before Gov. Perry gave him his big "earthly" reward!

A FAIR ENOUGH QUESTION THAT A FEW OF YOU HAVE ALREADY ASKED: A few (of which I've had 2 or 3 to email this question already) as to why I would continue to even care (as they for damn sure don't anymore) or would post non-stop on the subject of our "would be" NCAA D1-A head football coach who continues to show all that his is (still) nothing more than a journeyman assistant football coach?

MY ANSWER TO THE FEW WHO HAVE ASKED: I am going to post (as I know others are doing in other avenues and ways of communication) and raise hell with UNT leadership or state officials that they even have to eventually answer to and will encourage others (who have not been too deeply "affected" by Dickey Ball & DD mediocrity) to do the same until strategic changes are made that will give longtime alums and Mean Green fans something to be proud about once again in a high profile sort of way. Are you all really proud of all this happening now? If so, please list all the reasons why? Are you even proud of this upcoming recruiting class that will probably even be equalled or exceeded by schools in the old NCAA D1-AA Southland Conference?

Is going to Mean Green BBQ's and tailgating (which yall could do any Saturday of the year BTW) really going to be enough? Is that really going to do it for some of you? If so, that, too is also kinda' sad; but all that isn't going to to do it for many of us other longtime fans and supporters of NT and I will guarantee you that.

SO..............SEND BOBBY RAY AND DARRELL DICKEY ON A ONE WAY TICKET PERMAMENT VACATION BEFORE THEY HAVE US PLAYING NCAA D2 FOOTBALL (or no football at all). Is that pretty funny to some of yall, too? OR should I ask...........Do You All Like That?

Edited January 23, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

[DeepGreen]

..."older NT Ex farts..."

[PlummMeanGreen]

..."older NT Ex farts..."

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]

LOL!

Out of due respect for our group, Phil, I editted that part!

[H-towngreen]

How was the turnout? And any news on recruits that were in attendence?

[greenjoe]

I wonder how many on this board know what "Soilent Green" is ?

GO MEAN GREEN

[Rudy]

Did ramon win the Ron Artest Award?

[MeanGreen61]

Sigh....

Only at North Texas can we get a post about the football banquet spawn an 10 paragraph rant railing against:

UNT-Dallas

Bobby Ray and where his grandkids sit at basketball games

Basketball attendance

A 'supposed' Kansas St gang conspiracy to hire DD

Not signing Spudd Webb

Not hiring Dennis Francione

The current women's Bball coach

All of which I fail to see have anything to do with Rick being excited about spring football.

←

Agree......It's a strange logic

Edited January 22, 2006 by MeanGreen61

[PlummMeanGreen]

The strange logic of all this are those who are exhibiting such a deafening silence and acceptance of all this bottom of the barrell athletic program that has (last count) only one "non revenue" producing sport whose coach is over .500 in career wins and losses. If that is what you like for your alma mater's athletic program, then you all should be quite pleased because that is exactly what you got in Denton.

The strange logic of all this are those who are still on the UNT payroll who have not produced, show no indication that they will (significantly) with all the time they've had to prove such and if given another 8 years will probably have a W/L record similar (or worse) than your Lady Eagles BB program's coach who can only beat the (real) sisters of the poor to pad her own wins column (which is still way under .500 with "only" 17 years to get over .500. A coach could reinvent themselves many time over in 17 years, but has our?

Seems to many of us that we have still too many who are quite comfortable with al this overall losing which may be the saddest part of all this not withstanding a bunch of non-UNT educated outsiders on our payroll who will leave UNT and Denton at the drop of a hat (except no one ever seems to want to ever hire UNT athletic personnel away from us for some strange illogical reasons, now do they?

So the "strange logic" in all this all started with a simple question to FFR as to why someone who has shown a great propensity for the want of high standards of athletic performance at UNT now seems so accepting of all this tommyrot of a college football program all of a suddden. I am not calling anyone out at all with this as I just asked a simple question and am just curoius; and who knows, there may be a viable and reasonable answer to my question to Rick (except I just cannot fathom what that would possibly be).

It is anyone's perrogative to follow whoever the hell they want to follow at UNT, but Sagarin Ratings, the now realistic recrutiing results of the last 2-3 years of which losses last Fall to FAU, Tulsa and La Tech tells us all that our recruiting hasn't been too successful at all at UNT in recent years AND NOW EVEN TODAY WE HAVE..................

.................the Dallas Mornning News "AREA" 100 of which NORTH TEXAS is not listed one time on any DFW area recruit and if anything should tell us about our standing in our own Metroplex neighborhood with Texas HS seniors, that (alone) should tell us all who who call themselves Mean Green and say they want excellence at UNT (in every area of our school); anyway, that DMN Top Area 100 list and its shortcomings as far as we are concerned should loudly say to all in the Mean Green Nation that we are not doing too well in this season's recruiting wars.

Many of you on GMG.com have for years shown less than what one might call any semblance of excitement for what some of you even coined as Dickey Ball, but now a hardy handful of you seem suddenly so accepting of all this and seemedly don't want to fight City Hall, ie, our UNT decision-makers on any part of this? What we all say now with all this DD business may have marked influence come this time next year, since I don't think we have NT leaders that are hardly made of the right stuff to take care of this problem now.

So we still plod on with undisciplined Dickey Ball from a coach who shows moreso each day what his future lot in college football really will be and that will be the very same role his daddy and Craig Helwig delivered him from (while delivering to North Texas alums and Mean Green fan their boy all nicely wrapped up in a package) and the role their influence (not anyof our influences for damn sure) was Darrell Dickey's role as that of a journeyman assistant college football coach.

I'm sure his daddy can just as easiloy get his son an assistant job somewhere else just as easily as he influenced fellow Kansas State connection Craig Helwig to hand deliver his son to us. Yep, ol' shooting fish in the SBC barrell Darrell D himself! (Any of you know how many SBC schools were playing 1-AA football in the last decade and that also includes the MUTS)?

The strange logic of all this is what has been coming down from UNT powers that be who are force-feeding all this continued mediocrity down each and everone of all our throats and those of you who are still so accepting of all this bullshit is even just as sad as the performance we are getting from NT Athletic staffers.

In a perfect world, a future new UNT Athletic Director will come in and clean house (like many of you told me UNT's last 2 AD's should have done); because the house we have now is pretty well dirty, in shambles and is a house that shows no sign of those who are presently residing in it that they will be the ones who will be the key players in getting our house cleaned up.

If I were a present NT athletic staffer, I probably wouldn't be planning on buying a house in Denton, Texas, because there are many NT Exes who are not going to lay down on all this this time around, that is, give up until some key changes are made from the top or at least until most of this present group in the NT athletic department have their next jobs at (most likely) a Murray State-type school (since we know few schools above the level of UNT ever seem to be looking toward Denton, Texas, in the last decade or so).

Have A Nice Day

Edited January 23, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

[MeanGreen61]

Logic? Nothing about your long winded, repetitous posts really have anything to do with the award banquet (what this thread was suposedly about).

[untcampbell]

I am always saddened when I can see the graphic results of cousins marrying.

Edited January 23, 2006 by untcampbell

[PlummMeanGreen]

I am always saddened when I can see the graphic results of cousins marrying.

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Inbreeding, eh? So that's the reason every varsity coach we have a UNT (and who have been there plenty of time to make a difference) are all under .500 (save our lady's soccer program).

Thanks for someone finally giving me some answers to this piece of crap athetic program that some of you will continue to throw good money after bad. They don't get another penny from this alum until they start cleaning house (which is a project way over-due).

MG61, I was always taught to respect my elders so (with you) thats exactly what I will do; but you might want to make a trip up to Denton this year so you can see some of this firsthand.

Edited January 23, 2006 by PlummMeanGreen

[untbowler]

Inbreeding, eh?  So that's the reason every varsity coach we have a UNT (and who have been there plenty of time to make a difference)  are all under .500 (save our lady's soccer program).

Thanks for someone finally giving me some answers to this piece of crap athetic program that some of you will continue to throw good money after bad.  They don't get another penny from this alum until they start cleaning house (which is a project way over-due).

MG61, I was always taught to respect my elders so (with you) thats exactly what I will do;  but you might want to make a trip up to Denton this year so you can see some of this firsthand.

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Well the tennis coach is actually over .500 also, but has yet to beat Top 75 opponent nor finish better than 6th in the conference.

[LongJim]

..."older NT Ex farts..."

"...bystanders rushed to hospital after being overcome by fumes..."

[UNTLifer]

FIRST OF ALL I WILL SAY THIS: Some of you who have been bitching about DD and Dickey Ball at tailgating events and other NT get-togethers for the last few years, where the hell are all of you now? Come on, show us some 'nads with all this.

I decided to let it go, because there is nothing I can do about it at this point. I will continue to support the team that represents my university, because I will be around long after DD's era has ended, and I don't want to see us start over again from the bottom. There are a lot of things I don't like at DD, but I have chosen to let it go for now, besides, we are in the middle of recruiting season. If I was a HS player being recruited here and stumbled across one of your lengthy diatribes I would have second thoughts. Then again, if I took the time to research your posts over time, I would see that you were touting the excellence of this program not even a year ago and predicting a new stadium in the next few years.

You throw out quite a few "theories" that don't have facts behind them, so I question your motives. Either provide the facts or let it go.

[Stan R]

Did ramon win the Ron Artest Award?

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LOL!! Underrated post!!!!