ADLER

On the other extreme are the Ohio State uniforms. They look too cheap to be used in an intramural league. It's sad, Ohio State has so much talent, is currently ranked #1, but will be doomed to lose because of their hideous unifoms.

And you may ask why this story is relevant on our board. Well, North Texas is currently doing a feasibility study for building a new stadium of our own. Do we currently need an 80,000 seat stadium? No. 80,000 seat stadium? No. 70,000 seat stadium? No. 60,000 seat stadium? No. 50,000 seat stadium? Again, No. But we do need to realize that the current standard for Division 1 football stadiums, especially those at larger state schools, excedes 70,000 seating capacity. Should we build a 70,000 seat stadium? Once again no, but it would be practically criminal not to build something not intended to be expanded to that capacity in phases over time. It would be best if North Texas designed a 35,000 or 40,000 seat phase 1 of a MUCH larger stadium. This plan would instill our future in Division 1 football. Failing to plan is planning .......

LUBBOCK, Texas -- A master plan for improving Texas Tech's football stadium includes the addition of 30,000 seats over the next 20 years and a five-story building for club, retail and suite space. Athletic director Gerald Myers presented the plan Tuesday to the facilities committee of the Texas Tech University system board of regents. Improvements to Jones AT&T Stadium would cost an estimated $40 million. Myers also presented plans for $14 million to $21 million in upgrades for baseball and softball facilities on campus. The plan presented to the committee had few details on funding. "The funding for all of this is not complete at this point, but we are working diligently to do all of these things," Myers said in a story for Wednesday's Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Planners want to start adding 10,000 seats straddling the north end zone by next spring. The athletic offices, suites and retail facilities would be built on the east side of the stadium. Proposals for softball improvements include a new fieldhouse, stands and practice facilities. For baseball, improvements would include upgrades to artificial turf, concession additions, and a new press box and eight luxury suites. "I'm glad to see they're doing a master plan," committee chairman Bob Black said. "I think it's been long in coming, but very, very encouraging to see it coming out of the athletics department."

Well, I was right in the middle of of the middle-aged, overweight, beef BBQ eating North Texas fans. I had a pretty accurate crowd assessment even though it was complicated by all three of the other teams having fans wearing blue. Memphis had more fans there than anybody. The Memphis allotment sections were filled with their fans and there were lots of Memphis fans mixed into the general seating areas. They have a strong following and will absolutely dominate the crowd for Sunday's game. North Texas had the second largest crowd. Our allotment sections were full and there were pockets of Mean Green fans scattered throughout the arena. Not bad, but not overly impressive considering that we're a 33,000 student school only 8 hours away. Nevada was third. They sold their allotment but not much else. Creighton appeared to have sold it's ticket allotment.

Shouldn't this post be on the GMG Domesticated Animals page?

Good, because I would be pretty disappointed if they went down there and focused on sightseeing.

Welcome to the North Texas Exes. Hey, at least sending out this list gives an impression that they may actually be doing something.

USA 39, Syracuse 38, at the half

I love the City of Memphis as a tourist destination, and I doubt we could find too many people that would say the same about Denton. I went there several years back and had a wonderful time; stayed at the Peabody, toured Graceland and the Elvis museums, visited the Memphis Belle, bar-hopped on Beal Street, and was at the Lorraine Hotel to comemerate the 30th anniversary th MLK Jr assassination. Thanks for the picture of the parade Jeb.

There’s a difference between the two. At LSU there were hundreds of out-of-control idiots running around the place. At NMSU, the out-of-control idiots were running the place.

Here's my story about the Memphis fans that made quite an impression on me. I went to the New Orleans Bowl with my bride and our 17 month old daughter. It was a pretty warm day when we left for the pregame luncheon so we were dressed accordingly, and my daughter was wearing her little cheerleader outfit. We left the Hilton Hotel and headed to the nearby Superdome. We stayed after the game to watch the trophy presentationto the Tigers, and when we left it was cold, windy, and it was sprinkling. We couldn't get a taxi at the dome so we walked back to the Hilton. My daughter was freezing and shivering a I tried to do my best to warm her. When we got to the Hilton there were already dozens, if not over a hundred, Memphis fans already waiting for taxis. Everone was very anxious to get back to their hotels and to the Bourbon Street post-game revelry. I got in the line outside and had my wife take the baby inside the hotel to wait, but they kept having to come outside to see how close to the front of the line I was. Most of the taxis that were coming into the Hilton circle were getting commandeered by Bourbon Street anxious students from both schools before they could even get to the line. Finally, after a very long while I was up toward the front of the line, but the taxis kept being taken by the kids. I was gritting my teeth trying to stay shut up when several of the Memphis fans in line behind me walked out to the street to get the next taxi before it could enter the Hilton area. I stayed quiet but was close to having a turrets moment on these damn Memphis fans. Suddenly, the taxi that they had grabbed turned into the Hilton circle and stopped at the front of the line. A 50ish year old Memphis fan with a grey beard got out of the taxi and said "I know you've been out in this cold for a long time, and you've got to get your baby somewhere warm before she gets sick. I wanted to make sure you got a taxi before the students grabbed it." The few Memphis fans that were in front of me that had been waiting even longer than me insisted I take the cab, saying that they would wait for the next one. The Memphis fans that were there that night proved themselves to be class acts and have formed an opinion for me of what great fans are like. Whatever happens in the game Friday, I'll be cheering for the winner throughout the tournament.

Does this school history seem vaguely familiar? And apparently Memphis endures some of the same insults that we do from our common competition: Click this LINK The thread linked above was after Memphis had soundly beaten somebody in basketball. Doesn't it seem almost exactly like the reaction that the same school had after we beat them in football? I think Memphis fans would have an even better understanding of our position if they had to share a metropolitan area with certain people.

Did you get my PM? I would like to reserve 2 rooms if possible.

Here's a 3D seating chart for the game. New Orleans Arena Buy your tickets NOW and drive as far as Baton Rouge on Thursday night. Go all the way to N'awlins if you need your Bourbon Street fix. The game starts at 11:30 on Friday, but get there early because traffic and parking will be an issue, and you'll still have to pick up your tickets from the North Texas ticket desk at the arena. FIRST ROUND Friday, March 16 At New Orleans Arena New Orleans Memphis (30-3) vs. North Texas (23-10), 11:30 a.m. Nevada (28-4) vs. Creighton (22-10), 30 minutes after previous game. SECOND ROUND Sunday, March 18 At New Orleans Arena New Orleans Memphis-North Texas winner vs. Nevada-Creighton winner, 1:15 p.m.

I think spontanious travel costs could become an expensive nightmare and all time between games would be dedicated to travel. What about playing it at home/neutral sites the same way it was for this tourney, tourist/resort locations could bid for this event and it could be taylored for a weekend. Then play the finals 2 days after the semifinals and at the home of the highest seeded remaining team. I'm not sure if two days to prepare is enough for the SBC and ESPN people, but it would do wonders for attendance. Wouldn't everybody benefit?

And I Feel Fine. I'm one of the few that has been privalaged enough to follow this team closely through both the 88 tournement season and this year. Last time the team was shipped off to Salt Lake City and the price for short notice air fare was too high for most students to attend. I'm hoping that the Mean Green wind up in New Orleans for the first round this year.

Wouldn't the Daktronics (commonly referred to as the Jumbotron) monitor in the Super Pit better serve a function if it always showed the action in 5 second delay? Seriously, why would anybody watch the live action on the screen instead of on the court? The screen doesn't seem to fill any purpose during the games. A five second delay would allow fans to watch an instant replay of every rebound, every steal, every assist, every foul, every basket, and would give us twice as much to cheer about. It just seems to make too much sense. Is there a reason that this is not done already?

SCREAMING EAGLE-66, like I stated earlier, it's probably best to ignore your response, well, because you weren't even at the game you're complaining about. You were sitting at home playing on your computer and didn't make the effort to attend this "very important home tournament game". I don't doubt that you had other obligations which kept you from being able to attend, but didn't the targets of your attacks also have prior commitments?

No, I but I can state this with the utmost confidence that I have done everything in my power to promote North Texas atletics, as well as support the athletic department through involvement in the Mean Green Club, NT Exes alumni association and the Presidents Council. I have hosted preseason events for athletics at my home, have for years made a substantial investment of time and personal finances hosting (with others) the largest tailgate events that have ever been held at North Texas, and those tailgate functions have always been open to everyone and have never charged for food and drinks. There are very few fans that travel to road games like I have for the last few decades to support our athletes, there are others, but the list isn't long. I have never left a game before the alma mater was played or before our team has left the field/court. There has never been a cookout for the team or the coaches that I have not participated with, and I have never missed a postseason football or basketball banquet. I have not only made the trip for all four New Orleans Bowls, but participated in setting up the Bourbon Street activities for each. I have always tried to make time available to support the university when I have seen there is area where I can help. I think I possibly do a little to support attendance. What's your involvement to change things, or do you, in your own words "have no trouble accepting being a failure"? I am prepared to ignore your personal attacks directed at me, but I refuse to ignore your attacks on the students. I am disgusted by your overzealous attempt to implicate those fraternity and sorority kids on campus. The Greeks on campus have historically been strong supporters of Mean Green athletics. Their leadership conciously planned an event so that it didn't interfere with any basketball games. Their Greek Week events were scheduled several months in advance. The Wednesday basketball game was only scheduled after results of the preceding Saturday night's conference games were tallied and would not be announced in the campus paper until Tuesday. So, until very late there was no game scheduled and it would have been nearly impossible for the fraternities and sororities to postpone their Greek Week events. Personally, I hope their event was a success, much the same as I hope for success in so many of our university's non-sports related endeavors. There are a lot of areas where our university can improve, and I applaud their involvement the same way that I support any and every campus organization that is striving to raise the the university's profile. My question to you is why are you so overanxious to attack that group, or any group in the university community, especially while they're working on a university sanctioned event? If they are not being singled out because of hate, then why?

SCREAMING EAGLE-66 is too busy hating people to let reality interfere with his warped viewpoints. History is full of people like that, and I think it's probably best to ignore him that to debate the issue further.

Here's a post that I made a few years ago addressing this same subject. At the time we had an opportunity to really highlight our athletic programs and their success. The football team had just clinched another conference championship, and we were playing metroplex rival TCU on a Saturday night. Results, relatively nothing was done by the athletic department. Most seats sat empty, as always. The Pit Crew promoted the game on campus. A few of us alums pitched in and paid for a single search light, Sound Man set up a concert for the Pit Crew, and the Pit Crew arranged for a couple of bands for the pregame concert. Other than that, it was just another game. Opportunity lost. I still think that every suggestion was valid and worth pursuing. I find it disheartening that the people in positions to make things happen didn't. Oh well, I guess we can keep discussing low attendance until somebody somewhere decides to ..............nah, let's just blame the Greeks, the alumni, or the people of Denton. That's much easier than asking people to make the attempt to improve things. Oh well, fire away.

The people that get involved in campus activities and organizations and actually make an emotional attachment to the university are not the issue. Many of those people stay involved as alumni, season ticket holders, and financial contributors for the university. It's the enormous apathetic faction that treats the university as merely an educational appliance that is, and always has been, our El Guapo at North Texas. Those are the twenty-something thousand students on campus that refused to attend the basketball game on Wednesday even though they didn't have anything else planned that evening.

You guys are plain silly. Those Greek Week activities have been planned for months. This basketball game was only scheduled late Saturday evening. This season just wasn't so successful that everyone would drop all other previously scheduled engagements. It's a nice thought, but it's not going to happen that way. And, if anything, this highlights what an integral part of university support that the Greeks play. Although they are such a small percentage of the student population, their absence is notable when they have other obligations. It may be important to us that the Greeks attend the athletic events, but, it's even more inportant that they support the activities that help the Greek system on campus prosper.

OK, only because you grovelled so eloquently. I will explain it for you. Every time that North Texas plays anybody that matters, their fans always state how the game is insignificant to them, but how the game against them is North Texas' Superbowl. If the day still hasn't dawned, I was making a smart aleck remark by stating about them what they state about us.

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