Leaderboard

Thanks for being reasonable with me. I'm not very adept at the website so please bear with me as I respond to you point by point. To your first point, I see attendance as a symptom of a larger problem. I think SMU's worst problem is leadership. It's president was quoted last year about how it was okay to win one game a season but not to go winless. As though he were clever. That's why the stands are empty. I meant the cross-country AAC to only exist if things remain relatively stable. We're in agreement, these are very uncertain times. If things fall apart and we lose a season then there can be no predicting what comes. P5 for SMU is an interesting topic and to call it a longshot would be an understatement. That said, I only brought it up because I see it as the best path for North Texas to move up to the AAC. It's funny you should mention regional conferences. An SMU friend and I regularly discuss this sort of thing and he insists on their coming. For whatever reason I have a harder time seeing them come to pass, and not simply in an SMU-North Texas way. Maybe that's stubbornness on my part. I imagine part of why I have a hard time with it is I think a lot of the potential regional members in such a conference wouldn't be able to last. Texas State, UTSA, and UTEP would all be easy selections for such a conference but they're more likely to face financial ruin than anything. La Tech and Rice are the next best I suppose, but Rice hasn't cared since the '50's and I don't know about La Tech's finances Long story short, if regional conferences come to pass, at least for the AAC schools, it'll be because too many of their conference mates couldn't survive (I'm looking right at ECU and Tulsa).

Well, I appreciate your thoughts on NT so much I will reciprocate. SMU biggest and long standing problem is that you can't draw fans. SMU has made an art at living in the past. SMU is a private school with a good academic reputation, but who knows what kind of financial shape their athletic program is in. As far as your pontification on the AAC, why would anyone think this is a good time for anyone to think that expanding a conference across the nation is a good idea? The chance of SMU moving up to P5 status is next to nothing. Looking realistically what does SMU offer? A school with a low level of support and a history of being one of the most dishonest programs in the nation. No one knows what the new college athletic environment will be or evolve into. This maybe the time for tight regional conferences and a lot more financial responsibility.

Biden's "your not black enough if you vote for Trump" comment was just plain stupid. If he's elected, Biden will be no more than a puppet with Pelosi, Schumer, etc., running our country.

I think everything you said is a horrible truth for us at UNT. We aren’t getting into the AAC. Networks and the conference isn’t bringing us in to duplicate a market that they already have. This isn’t 1980. Our path will continue to be in CUSA. We will need to win that league many times to get the attention of those Above us in other conferences. It’s not gonna be the AAC, though.

Not that it makes a difference really, but at least he manned up and admitted it. Most people are willing to forgive and forget if you can admit a mistake, apologize, and move on. Which he did. Besides, his bragging was just that. No one, to my recollection, came forward and accused him of grabbing them by the p. Dems, on the other hand, will look you straight in the eye, point their finger at you and lie until the cows come home or until the truth comes out on a blue dress. Biden is a fake as anyone I've ever seen, as are most democrats. Just put them in front of any demographic and hear their dialect and vernacular change on cue. Pathetic.

Real dugouts instead of the above ground ones that cut off field views from much of the bleachers.

One of their assistant coaches, David Hill, played at Arizona under Littrell. That’s the school where 2020 signee Jonathan Pickett is from, and we offered a lot of their 2021 guys shortly after we landed Pickett.

Arrow is my guilty pleasure. Not a great show or acting but it takes my mind of real life for a while and all the female actors are easy on the eyes. Lots of shirtless scenes with the male lead for the ladies (and @Censored by Laurie)

I think we are mostly on the same page here. I think a Supreme Court Justice is one of the most important positions that protect our rights and American democracy. Much more important than a congressman - and we can get rid of a bad one of those. I hate that the appointment process for judges has become such a partisan shit show.

I looked at all our offers on 247 last night and we seem to be hitting Las Vegas pretty hard. We have four offers to one high school there called Desert Pines and now this one. Is this Bowen?

Oh, STOP IT!

If memory serves, our muffed punt inside 5 yard line just before halftime gave La.Tech the lead and the game.

Your absolutely correct on all of the above, but that’s the way it usually always is. . We never seem to get to vet a life time appointee near enough most of the time. But then we’ll turn around and re-elect a Grainger, Kennedy, Cornyn, or a Biden for a life time despite countless hiccups over the course of their careers. I’d suggest Mark Levin’s book on the history of the Supreme Court “Men In Black” for a good insight to how interesting and imperfect the choices have been over the years. But as far as Kavanaugh goes...I’m not sure how much more blood they could have squeezed from that turnip. They were down to digging through the man’s high school year book and guesstimating over what kids wrote in it for crying out loud. It was becoming beyond ridiculous imo. Rick

Bummer. Would have been a game changer for Benfords legacy here.

Exactly what Louisiana Tech did to us when they blocked that field goal in 2018.

You are really undermining my image of a SMU fan with all of these sound comments.

Here are some pictures of the new hitting facility and bullpen at Lovelace. The girls certainly deserve the upgrades. Can't wait to see them play next season.

It's always nice when we beat out Rick Pitino for a recruit. Rhode Island recruiting thread on Abou

A lot of those guys are big time recruits too. I think 2 are predicted to go to Southern Cal

Now that you mention it, I think Wren spoke about new dugouts for Lovelace too. But like I stated, I have no idea how many of those projects are still going forward. I'd like to see seating capacity expanded too. I watched the girls beat OU in Norman, and wanted to get tickets for the game in Denton, but it was already sold out.

All while Blue Horse is in the corner playing with fuzzy balls

From what I have read, Lovelace was due to get new turf and outfield wall this off-season too, which is almost like getting a new stadium. I don't know if that is still the case with all that is going on, but those projects were planned.

Bunny's backhand has been erratic all day. Probably one too many Bloodies before the match....

What they need is a new facility entirely.

Mike to Judy.... ..

My own argument has been based on how many times you see a basketball school get the nod over a football school - none, by my count. Memphis, Kansas, UConn, even Louisville until they won at football - they all get passed over until they have a good football team. As far as budgets and facilities are concerned, I'd assume they're identifying metrics that are attempts to gauge programs long-term potential based on more than just last years win-loss records.

Waiting to see how they will spin this.

I'll add another Netflix show - Rust Valley Restorers, about some Canadian car restorers. Mindless entertainment but addictive.

Just finished Parks and Recreation. Enjoyed it for the most part. My son is trying to get me to watch Green Arrow.

I have thoughts on how it will play out in November but I try not to comment too much on specific purely political happenings. I agree that things are way too divided. Normally crisis brings us together but this time it either widened the divides or at least makes them more evident.

I think if you dislike Biden you might be better off focusing your attention on his running mate. Do not believe he will serve a full 4, by his choosing, if he gets elected.

Great post. There's no reason that UNT--largest state school in the region--can't be the one to do that. Built-in potential TV fanbase, and overwhelming # of alumni in area. Have to consistently win. It's not an instantaneous process, but it's right there for the taking.

I enjoy re-watching “the drive”, “The stand”, and “the punt” over and over.

Isn’t that tweet from over six months ago?

Term limits are a tough one. They look great in theory but do have drawbacks. I think the argument that permanent staffers will have all the power is somewhat correct but really they already do in many cases. Professional staffers in the congressional committees have a great deal of influence. Really committees are where a lot of the power is at (if not most of it). Seniority plays a large role in committee assignments for congressmen so teen limits would affect that as well. Not arguing for or against on that one. Whether term limits are even enacted or not, they need to continue to strengthen restrictions on congressmen going straight into lobbying. I think term limits would make that worse without stronger ethics rules. I tend to favor voting as the best term limit but would be open to it if done thoughtfully. I wonder if it would drive down voter turnout in any way. We already struggle with turnout in midterm elections and maybe people would just shrug and think “well s/he only has two years either way so I guess it doesn’t matter.”

Here's a question, is it just football or other sports? We have some teams such as basketball that are pretty good. Non revenue sports are really pretty good too. Granted, Football is the 800 pound Gorilla. NT is a big school with a ton to offer any conference and I don't think our current conference would want to lose us. I don't think facilities are an issue anymore either. Maybe a new basketball stadium but the current venue is pretty damn good. Either way I like communicating with people like you. I like SMU myself. You guys are great to play in anything because we are neighbors and we both do better playing each other.

My money is in AAC to think long term and take a wait and see approach . Power 5 T.V. contracts expire 2023 - 2005 and if Big 12 implodes they could pick up some good gets.

For the record, I don't disagree with you. Rutgers and Maryland aren't in the Big Ten because of their gd football teams. But I'm telling you as plainly as I can tell you, and I'm having this argument on the AAC boards: The AAC needs a football team. If 'P6' is the goal, and we say it is, then the conference has to win on the football field - has to. The conference media deal has just been signed, and isn't going to change significantly over the next decade, so in the meantime the biggest step forward has to be on a football field. As a result a team could exist in a city or state that 'brings' 5M to the TV sets, but if they lose on the football field nobody cares or wants to watch them and nobody takes the conference seriously in the most important field, so that school is dead weight; UConn fit this description to a T. So you can take this for whatever it's worth, but I say whichever program can show that they can be a consistent top-25 presence is the answer. App State went 12-1 last year and beat two respected P5 programs, so they're on peoples radar. ECU may not like it, but if ASU does it again the next few years (I know their schedule this year includes Wisconsin) then they make a compelling case, and the pirates may get voted down. If you could triple the TV contract the next time around, like the AAC did a year ago, by letting in a local competitor then you need to do it. If anyone tells you otherwise, they're a fool. I'm not being funny, or cute, or anything - if you dangle $25M/year in media rights in front of SMU then I'm willing to bet we'd happily go along with it, regardless of the addition.

We don't have any more pull than any other school. It's simple: Win and you're in.

Like Texas, OU and Tech dumped you??

That building is only a couple buildings down from mine. I've got this.🙂

Has anyone noticed that Ryan is all over CUSA sight and official sponsor of the conference?

At least we know where to focus the billboards

I guess I could ask how you "young and we know more than everyone" are so self-convinced that they have the answers for everything. And please, give me some facts, not your typical BS, that show how you reference the "easiest" lives when Gen X and Millennial are best know as the "you owe me and you need to do more for me", and "I deserve". Again, you once again, as you do on many issues, refuse to address the question of is there a double-standard, rather you once again act like a smart-ass with you "olds" comments.

You say no pass for Biden, but when questioned you reference/ask "what" about Trump or say "well Trump did this or that." The fact that there is a complete set of double-standards has nothing to do with who did/did not do something, rather the way that most and in the media and the Hollywood liberals will yell that a Republican "accused" is guilty unless they can prove otherwise, and then they were probably guilty of something else that they got away with; as compared to when a Democrat is accused they are not only declared innocent until proven guilty (as it should be), BUT a concerted effort is made to discredit and even try and destroy the accuser. This is well highlighted overall, when the video clips are shown on the comments made when one person does something, and then the side-by-side comments by the same people when their "opposition" stands accused. So again, regardless if you like/hate Trump and what he, or other Republicans did or didn't do, if you try and say there is no difference in the handling and coverage you are by the very nature showing your bias and being hypocritical.

I just shake my head at that last sentence.

If you're looking for movies The Marvel movies in chronological order is good to kill a few days. Watching them in chronological order instead of the order they were released ties everything in. Sicario and Sicario: Day of the Soldado Anna:About a female KGB assassin Spencer Confidential Bad Boys For Life 1917