mad dog

Underrated.

Because thread necromancy is funny in an amtrak-versus-toyota-corolla way???

Bad news, once again Just like that doctor's visit: Turn your head and cough...

Dunno... but I'll give you a while to think about it.

I appreciate your support for the school, but you really do give me tired head sometimes. I think you're insinuating several things about my post that are pretty wrong, and, although I won't be drawn into a war of words, I felt it might be good to correct them so that others don't take your opinion and run with it. This board, as you might conclude from the site name, is dedicated to North Texas althletics, chiefly football. So my focus of what North Texas means to me, when posted on that forum, should be taken in that context. Your conclusion that I don't or won't support the university as a whole because of how the football team performs is truly a straw man argument. I always love to see great things happen with the university: my Public Administration department, for one, has been a monumental success and continues to draw top students from around the nation. Football has nothing to do with them, so it doesn't affect my contributions or service to them. Likewise, my support of them has absolutely nothing to do with football, which is, again, the whole point of this particular forum. Your posts lately have switched from a "good things are happening for Mean Green Football" to your current alignment of "good things are happening for the University of North Texas." And, not to douse your fervor in any way, but do you think the fact you DID graduate from three different schools maybe helps you out a little bit? When it comes to colleges, I don't have any other option besides North Texas. I can't simply put a blindfold on and play random selection with my diplomas. You said you have had a few weeks where all of "your colleges" have taken it in the shorts. Well, all of "my colleges" have been taking it in the shorts most every week for the past four years. When they lose, it hurts. When they lose a lot, I hurt a lot. When they have a bad week, I have a bad week. That is the nature of being a fan - an emotional investment with the intent of drawing an emotional return. But the risk is that return may be negative. When that fire gets too hot for too long, you may need to step out for a while. Is it fair to my wife, my family and friends to be in a bad mood every weekend during the fall? I am not "defined" by a win-loss record, but I am defined by how I treat others. If you, though iron control, obliviousness, or some other mechanism, are able to steel yourself though the same fire that I feel, then I wilingly concede that you are a better man than I am. Your trophy is in the mail. But please don't confuse, though intention or not, my stepping away from the table with abandoning the university. As you say, there are many facets and avenues of support that I might choose to explore. For the moment, though, none of them can be found on a football message board.

I have held off voicing my opinion for a while, out of respect for the team and the job they were trying to accomplish. I held off because, somewhere, there was a tiny flicker of hope that I may have been completely wrong about this program: that maybe a .500 season wouldn't be out of the question. Last Saturday, after looking at the score, I discovered something truly disturbing. I just didn't care. Somewhere along the line, that tiny flame got snuffed out. I don't know if it was Troy in particular, or some other game where we found a way to lose in the final second. I don't know which demoralizing loss did it for me, or if it was even the net result of any game in particular. It may have been reading Ira Smith's comments about "it's going to be tough, but we are going to go to work" and knowing that this team has mentally checked out already. It may well have been the pervasive atmosphere of failure and despair this program has exuded for the latter half of this decade. Whatever the reason, my support, which had been on life support for years, finally flatlined. At the beginning of this season, I decided not to renew my season tickets. The reason I used was that my wife and I recently moved into a new house, and we needed the money at home. While that was a good reason, I honestly could have come up with the money if it meant enough to me. Looking back, I believe I talked myself out of it because I was tired of getting kicked in the groin every single week for three years. I was tired of defending my school, and exhausted from getting up for each new season - finding the positivity when I knew there was none to be had. It isn't that I don't want the best for North Texas - it will always be my school. It isn't as though I can just drop UNT and adopt another team (though, to my shame, I did actually try - I just couldn't do it). It is just that I hated feeling terrible all the time, with no end in sight - I simply ran out of faith. So, with my emotional investment withdrawn, there was nothing to sustain my financial investment. Will North Texas ever find a way back to competitive play? Will the Administration find a way to whip this thing into shape? Will Coach Dodge find success here? I hope it does - I really only want what's best for the team. I just got tired of pretending the plate of manure in front of me tasted like ice cream.

This is going nowhere fast. I'm going to cut the red wire and see what happens....

Please stop with the personal attacks on pumpkins. I wonder how many posters would say some of these things to the pumpkins' faces, rather than hide behind a screen name. Whether or not you like the pumpkins, they are OUR pumpkins, and we ought to treat them with respect.

There are a lot of things wrong with this team. Nathan Tune is not one of them.

Yeah... I'm pretty sure they care about winning, too. Which, in a way, makes our win-loss record even more disturbing. Like the difference between failing a test with a 0 and failing it with a 20: you can at least claim that you didn't care at all if you get a zero. But a 20 means you tried, but failed really really hard.

If I get mentioned first, do I win something?

Yeah... i don't know what to say without saying something mean. So I'll just be nice and not say anything at all.

I know everyone's angry, but please remember that this is still a family board. Keep you language PG please. Thanks!

Inappropriately dramatic language fail? Or humor win?

?

Looped GIFs are maddeningly hypnotic.

Breaking News!!!! Michael Jackson is dead at 50.

Not to make things awkward between us or anything, but I love you.

Agreed. Also, he can't hang around his mama because he scares her.

Srsly. ROFLcopter commencing in 5...4...3..2..1.

Scoreboarding America = Win.

Click here.

Be polite to board visitors. Mods will weed out the trolls. True, thanks for posting. You're welcome here any time.