TheFranchise

I'm in a class with one of the players. If I'd sat near him and didn't have to wait for a paper I'd written to be handed out, I would have asked him today. Oh well. I'm betting SSP and Mrs. Y'Barbo's thoughts are right in line with what I would have heard anyway, though.

Keep in mind campus was already going to be all but closed tomorrow . . . it's Reading Day. But still, unlike my employer, UNT wasted no time shutting the doors today, which I really appreciate. I just wish it had been BEFORE I'd already attended both of my classes today.

Oh God, where do I start? Buttermilk, apple, more buttermilk, more apple . . . pumpkin, pecan, another slice of buttermilk . . . later made a "sandwich" out of two slices of pumpkin and a slice of pecan in between . . . had a slice of red velvet cake . . . Granted this was all during the entire four day weekend, but still, I feasted . . . It was a good pie weekend for me.

Here's the deal though, guys that are against an extension: One 8-win season and a bowl appearance (hopefully a bowl win, to boot!) is enough to get the attention of the poachers out there. We know there will be firings and we know that will trigger a coaching carousel. I can guarantee you a school that is above us in the pecking order will be eyeing what Coach Mac has done here and will entertain the thought of pulling him away. A competitive and fair contract extension would help deter him from entertaining some of those thoughts, himself. Not to mention, it shows recruits that we're committed to Coac Mac.

I'm with the rest of the population on this. While I'd rather have the HoD invitation (still laughing about the "invitayshunnnnnnn" moment from years ago that we were reminded of yesterday, sorry -- rabbit trail) the Armed Forces Bowl would be a dang good consolation. New Year's Day at the original Cotton Bowl trumps a regular Monday at AGC Stadium, but still being local and having CowTown to party in is awesome, too.

That's CBS Sports Radio, my friend. While the Ticket does syndicate Yahoo! for the other hours of the evening, CBS has a contract with all Cumulus stations to air Ferrall during his time slot. That's why The Fan airs their version of the Top 10 from 12-1 and doesn't pick up CBS's syndicated feed until 1:00.

A-FREAKING-MEN!!! The Christmas season I worked at Best Buy was the worst. You hit the nail on the head, too. It's never the good Christmas music. It's the stuff that's monotonous enough to loop endlessly in the MP3 player of your mind until you finally fall asleep . . . only for it to return when you get back into work the next day. I find that thoroughly flushing it with about three straight hours of a smoke alarm will kill it. That, or standing next to your local air raid siren. After that, I totally forgot about how the Christmas music was wearing me down. You see what I'm gettin' at? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jJQ0Nmzf7c&noredirect=1

This is exactly what I was hoping for.

I have to agree that this is a pretty harsh response, man. Especially when you consider that the Rangers are actually making moves this off-season to make the team better. I don't know if you remember the late 80's-early 90's entire history of the Rangers pre-2010, but I sure do. This team's history is chock-full of sitting on our hands and waiting in the offseason while other teams go out and acquire talent on a regular basis. Will I miss Gentry? Sure! He's a great hard-nosed ballplayer and is arguably one of the fastest guys in the game. But we just traded what was essentially our fourth outfielder for an up-and-coming prospect from the A's organization. (Which by the way, is dang-good at raising farm-fresh corn-fed talent and they just gave us some!) I guess if you're into the whole "keep the same guys here that we had last season, who didn't do anything aside from almost making the playoffs" thing, then having that same group that failed and a year older must be your thing. But as for me, I like the way J. D. is trying to improve this lineup while not sacrificing anything from an already solid pitching staff. And the crazy thing is, I still think J. D. isn't done yet! I'm excited about the little Rangers in 2014!!

You're probably right, but I think that is more of a compliment to an athletic program than a knock on them. Crap, we get all giddy when someone at JC Penney sees one of us sporting UNT gear and says "Heeeeyyyyy!! You guys are doing good! It's making me a fan of the Mean Green!!" Imagine a little more of that. I'm all for it.

It all depends on who is doing the writing. There are two types of writers out there that are published by Bleacher Report, Examiner.com and other sites as such. 1 -- The person that was told by a few friends that they are "good writers." This person typically takes a "Let's toss this against the wall and see what sticks" approach to writing. Maybe they've made a couple of good sports points here and there over a few beers and has a very supportive and loving family that doesn't want to tell them to their face that they don't know the difference between there, their and they're. On top of that, they're not that well-informed and so they have to rely on speculation with a sprinkling of hopes and dreams. It's like the guy that tries out for American Idol that was coaxed by his friends after a karaoke performance that was, well, the nice thing to say to them. Little did his drunk friends know that he'd actually take them up on it. These writers make the next group look bad. 2 -- The serious sports writer that is actually trying to make a name for him/herself. These writers can be pretty reliable if they do their legwork properly. Sports programs have actually granted these kinds of writers access to their programs.As they build their reputation and make a name for themselves, they move onto bigger and better opportunities. (See Aaron Torres and Kevin McGuire, http://bloguin.com/crystalballrun/) Those guys have built a pretty reputable site for themselves based on work they used to do for Examiner.com and Bleacher Report. Kevin actually is a member of the Football Writers of America and does local blogging for NBC and CBS in the Philly area) So, all of this to say -- just look at who is doing the writing. The proof is in the pudding. Honestly, the chances are that the writer is average to below average, but don't paint them all with such a wide brush. There are some gems out there to be found. Having said all that though, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

I guess that's kind of my point. Yeah, our coaches screw up sometimes, but they've gotten a LOT right this season, too. If they hadn't, we wouldn't be rolling towards "hitting eight." Our run game has been our meat and potatoes all year. Byrd is a beast and Jimmy is our burner. (As evidenced right there!) But when you feast on meat and potatoes you can't really complain when you're too full for dessert.

Hey genius, read the post again. I didn't say "goes out to all of you that think we run at the wrong time." I said "goes out to all of you that thin we run too much." Try to keep up, professor.

That 91 yard Brandin Byrd TD run goes out to all of the people that think we run too much. I will agree, though . . . There was a LOT of running on that play.

I don't think anyone's argued that we have. But freakin-a, man!!! This team has performed well beyond the expectations of a crapload of people around here. Before the season started, people that said things like "My gut tells me we're no more than a 5 win team again. All of our reasons to hope for improvement are complete unknowns and I fear we're getting Stratford'd all over again," and "Until we get a more productive defensive line and some pass rushers, no game is a given. I'd say anywhere from 4-8 to 6-6. 6-6 means someone forfeited to us." Come on! Even with after what's been our best season in nearly a decade, people still want to take a dump all over this team. I don't get it, man. It's just like that handful of people that were down on the Rangers after the Giants throttled them in 2010. This wasn't fully pointed at you, greenminer, but I've read some things in the past few days that have really frustrated me around here. Sure, the UTSA loss sucked and I have to have a God-awful avatar for a few more days, but still. We're freaking playing in the post-season!!!!

Ribby Paultz would be proud of that story title.

I'm aware of that, but it's still a steady green most of the time

Word on the street is, the Bank of America Building will be lit green that night . . .

There. I've made the change now. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. However, the Roadrunners earned it. Congrats, guys! Now go win out and make it not hurt so bad.

Fun fact for ya: The Kinsler-to-Fielder pickoff ratio is 1100%

I would agree. I'd put it on par with playing "God Save the Queen" when the Cowboys travel to Foxboro to play the Patriots or something. I just find it not cool and very anti-Texas.

THIS! GP had his name mentioned every single time one of the big AQ schools started coach hunting, when TCU was not an AQ school. And every time, when asked in interviews he'd always say, "I'm not leaving yet. I have a job I promised to do here, and I haven't done it yet." That goal? To win TCU an NC. I could easily see Mac having this same mentality with us. At least, I hope he does. **Not proclaiming that we're going to win an NC soon, but I want that kind of high aspiration from our HC**

As long as it's not before we do . . .

Offensively, it's night and day. Defensively though, Moreland is better.

Man, I'm enjoying CFB season, but I already can't wait for baseball.