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Thanks, Quoner...I must learn how to do that! Appreciate the help...hope lots of folks take the time to read the piece...well worth it.

Yes, there are two different funds, and they can't mix. But Allen ISD and its residents have total control over their tax rates and priorities. FWIW, Allen laid off more than 80 teachers and support staff, as well as applying for a waiver so they can increase class sizes in K-4. AND, it's not like they didn't have an option to raise tax rates or issue a bond to keep from losing those jobs. That's why they just raised the tax rate. Otherwise, they were projected to have to lose another 80-100 jobs. So their priorities were still 1) Build football stadium 2) Protect the teachers and staff and quality of our education. Showing that they've JUST NOW decided to fix this only further illustrates that the priorities in Allen were out of whack. Those 80+ teachers and staff still had to find new jobs. Class size this year still sucked. They still wanted a shiny new stadium that won't pay for itself until most of us will be well in the ground first and foremost. Also, it's misleading to say it will allow them to hire ADDITIONAL teachers. It will allow them to re-hire approximately the number of staff they had to let go, and potentially unlock the salary freeze they put on, which still doesn't necessarily accommodate the need to increase the number of teachers and staff(as student population grows). IOW, they've now funded their standstill.

As most on this forum know, UNT just named its Apogee Stadium media area as "The Bill Mercer Press Club. The video talks about Bill Mercer's numerous caps he has worn since the the late 1950's here in the DFW Metroplex starting with his even being downtown at the Dallas police station covering the Kennedy assasination, his being the "Voice of....the Mean Green, the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas Rangers, Saturday Night Wresting, etc, etc, etc, and with Bill Mercer "etc", ie, the abbreviation for "so on and so on" could be written many more times. Great job for those who produced the above video of whom I'd bet would be the duo of George Dunham, ie, present Voice of the Mean Green and Dallas sports personality at the radio station we all know as KTCK 1310 "The Ticket." along with UNT AD associate and official Color Commentator of Mean Green football and basketball, Hank Dickenson. GMG! PS: Mr. Mercer, don't know if you frequent this board or not, but if you do it was a great honor for many of us on this forum who did get to meet you. I'll never forget being with you, Craig Way and Ron Shanklin for one quarter of a MG football game back in the mid 80's because of a silent auction bid I won at one of Jim Hobdy's Dallas Mean Green get-togethers. I still have pics of all that back in the day as a keepsake. May you have many, many more sunsets. Mr. Mercer, and I know many on this board who've met you over the decades may want to express their own thoughts, too. God bless... Jim Plummer Weatherford, Texas North Texas grad, 1976 Mean Green & Proud of It! This post has been promoted to an article

WTF was 1994 thinking?

Jurk.

Seems like a good place to hold a spelling bee, though.

Take a look at Prosper. Their middle school looks like a community college. I know I will get blasted for this, but as much as I love high school and college football, hockey is THE BEST sport for kids to play. In most sports, if you are not any good, you may get in at the end of the game. But you don't get your time and money's worth. In hockey, every kid on the team plays, usually you go in every couple of minutes. Just my .02

So what is all the fuss about us not being able to compete in the CUSA first year? If you take these rankings as reality then we are better than six CUSA teams.

I bet the real reason RV likes the "North Texas" helmet is because he loves coming here and laughing at all these threads of people getting their panties in a wad over the helmet.

I know you received a J.D. from Tulsa and follow them closely but why do you think that? They have 12 players from the North Texas Area on their roster. They do have a total of 27 from Texas.

God bless those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our Freedom and Liberty. Rick

The script does not show up on television except during close up shots. Besides, when watching a game on television, I usually know who the teams are prior to seeing close up shots of either team's helmets. The argument about people not knowing who were are and the need for the script is worn out.

I totally agree with your premise Kram, I truly do. But let's also examine just how "special" one feels when they pony up (no pun intended) the amount that NT does ask of them. When I pay my $500 donation plus the price of tickets to sit on the 50 yard line I expect that this is gives me some exclusive perk. When I see fans from Houston, Indiana, etc. sitting ON MY ROW when all they did was walk up to the ticket counter on game day...well, where's my perk? I know that I, and quite a few that I've talked to, would rather see those seats empty and the opposing fans sitting in the wingzone or on the 15 yard line. Otherwise, what exactly is it I'm supposed to be selling new MGC members on?

I Love Boobs

Meanwhile student to teacher ratio increases....

Yeah, this isn't great. As much as I like football, the focus here is wrong. Hard to believe adults would spend money on this kind of thing when there are other educational areas needing funding that would benefit the student body as a whole, not just those in athletics. Pretty sad.

Good looking athlete. Harry, I believe #3 was Trey Williams was a 5* RB who signed with aTm and #12 was Austin Garrett who went to Prairie View.

Better than 1995. AlsoI think the flying worm helmets worn during the Fry era are terrible. Seriously, that doesn't even look like an eagle. Some of the old fossils on this site want that helmet back because they associate it with winning. I think Fry had more to do with that than the helmets.

They weren't. No one on the team cared for them either. They were cheap and got torn to shreds after a few hits in pregame. A lot of the logos UNT has worn looks like high school nonsense. Folks on the boards say these design threads are crap but the players are really critical of that stuff. They have to wear it. UNT needs to stop having an image crisis. Figure out something unique and stick with it. It's busch league.

The CROWD at the SuperPit...... Let's do it big

10. Determining if Coleman is the answer at center 9. senior years for Holmen, Niko, Franklin and Walton 8. Patton actually play 7. Resurgence of dynamic soph. duo: Williams and Jones 6. Benford comparison to J Jones 5. All time attendance record 4. Sun Belt Championships (regular and tournament) 3. First victories in NCAA tournament 2. View best player in NT history, Mitchell 1. View best team in NT BB history

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Man-in-crane-causes-concern-on-SMU-campus-155087075.html The gentleman is no longer with us... fell to his death over night.

I absolutely love steel drum music. Did not know UNT had a steel drum band. They would make for some pretty festive game day tailgating at Apogee.

IMO, i think there are only a handful of great X's and O's coaches, on the college level. You could probably say this about most sports. I think there are alot of other intangibles to coaching, such as, recruiting, ability to motivate, relationships with players, etc. Whether, Benford is a great X's and O's coach...time will tell. IMO, i think most top assistant coaches, that land their first gig, are proven recruiters and have won at their respective programs. Normally, the unknown, is to prove they can coach, X's and O's. So....i will reserve my judgement, for what happens on the court. Really looking forward, to this season!

The first ones are available here at the Sports Hall of Fame here in Waco.

The steel drum band has set up and performed on football game days before as well. When I was a student, I used to love walking back behind the library and listening to them practice.

I do have a copy signed by Dave Campbell from a few years ago.

That's not what they wore at Specs. See below...

Ya UN-Texas (sorry that's how I read it) they are eveywhere down here and the stores are great so not exactly hard to give them business. I belive they have naming rights to the future dark spot on my liver.

I never really understood this argument. I'm not partial either way, just throwing this out there: We are UNT. Or NT. Or North Texas. There just are not a ton of major FBS colleges out there for us to be confused with like, fore example, TU, UT (Tulsa, Tennessee, Texas, etc) OU didn't start with Oklahoma on their helmets and then switch once everything was clarified. You want to know why no one knows who we are? It's not because people are confusing us with someone else. It's because we have not won consistently, nor won on a national/televised/whatever level since Europe actually looked like the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. I can't believe I just delved into this helmet discussion, but here I go again.

I always tell people its the Wal-Mart for drinkers and their deli is awesome. I just found a Spec's in Plano that will get my business. I didn't know they where UNT alumni. Pretty cool. I love Spec's even more now.

Fixed.

I didn't know UNT had a steel drum band. Pretty cool, but they really need to do something about those pathetic uniforms.

Please don't put U.N.T on the helmet that would really be baaad...... nobody is going to know who we are.

Man that's great. Except with the new Riddell 360 helmet, no green stripe down the middle, and Nike uni's. UNT green looks super cool on black, the contrast is perfect. Would easily become the most recognizable helmet in CUSA, in a good way. Great for marketing and overall program visibility.

Ok I am going to toss this grenade down the hall of the GMG basketball forum. I have long felt that JJ was a good coach but not a great one. I am excited to see if Benford is the guy to take us to the next level.

I like flat black. It won't happen, I get that. -Although, I never thought we'd have all black BB uniforms. Moving forward into C-USA, the more pressing need is defensive tackles. We're way too small there.

We've used some form of eagle artwork on the helmet off and on for the past 30 + years. Let's stop the rebranding madness, put the SOW (or more accurately, great great great grandson of SOW) on the helmet on the helmet and go win some CUSA championships.

Ugh, enough complaining about the helmet.

So.... On an average Friday night at 10 you're on UNT's football fan forum disputing academics. You sir are the one making it easy, get a freakin life. I can see why people don't want to be around you though, you're obsession with UNT and attempts to marginalize are hilarious IMO. Little man syndrome at its finest.

Spec's in Dallas, not far from SMU earlier today. Not a single Pony item in sight.

Seems like your putting the chart before the horse. When UNT starts winning consistently like Southern Miss does, they can start charging higher prices. The product has to be worth the higher price.

I'm really excited to see a complete Mean Green team with Tony, CJ, Jordan, everyone firing on all cylinders.

Totally Agree Well , we did to Scotty Young ...

I wanted to give this a minus... then a plus... then I gave it nothing... this is just too out there

I'm excited for the Mean Green's first road trip to Atlanta in April!!!

Here you go, Kram: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303610504577419973285034422.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Benford needs to work with the marketing dept. make UNT the 'trendiest' b-ball program in the state... we aren't that far away right now... but continuing to win championships and filling up the stadium would be nice... we just need to replace the speakers in the Superpit now, so that we can play some more of that hip-hop music!

Is it still known as "Frisclosure"? Heard the housing market downturn hit it hard.

First off, let me say I was in favor of Canales getting the job based on the effort put forth over these past 5 games. It was like watching a different team!! And, it made the season actually enjoyable again. That being said, a lot of people think like NM Green when it comes to McCarney, so I feel a rebuttal is in order. My wife went to Iowa State so I have had the opportunity to follow that program a lot more closely than normally would be the case. They were HORRIBLE prior to McCarney. In fact, they pretty much were the laughingstock of the Big XII. I never thought I would see the day when they were THISCLOSE to being in a Big XII championship game. That's right, little ol' Iowa State was a shanked FG away in getting there over the likes of Nebraska, Missouri, etc. After having seen their on-field product previously, that kind of end result was about as impressive as Al Gore inventing the internet in my opinion. When Iowa State ended up canning McCarney because he didn't seem like he could "take them to the next level", I remember telling my wife that Iowa State is in trouble and probably headed for similiar fate as Texas A & M. Namely, A&M got greedy because all Slocum was doing was taking them to Cotton Bowls and other pretty good bowl games but that wasn't enough for Aggie alummni -- they wanted National Championships. Up until this year, they've been pretty much forced to wander in the wilderness with some pretty mediocre football & many people now wished they hadn't run Slocum off after all. It's the ol' "you don't know what you have till it's gone" problem. That is pretty much what happened to Iowa State. McCarney was 18-18 his past 3 years at ISU, they run him off & the "great" Gene Chizik promptly went 5-19 with most of the same players. If McCarney was such a dud, why didn't Chizik kick more ass up there? The moral of the story is let's just wait & see how things unfold. I think McCarney will be a solid coach & you will like the results.