MeanGreenMailbox aka TFLF

??? Or...realizing that many of the Houston players and coaches - and support staff, etc. - have families that have been flooded out of their homes? Maybe? So, there are problems for many of the players, coaches, support staff, etc. beyond preparing for a college football game? Possibly? "My mom has been flooded out of her home, I can't find her, and neither can any of my relatives. But...sh*t...forget all of that...we've got a football game to play!"

The internet of "things" is helpful. Things like...football schedules. Things like...weather-related maps of what areas of Texas are flooded due to Hurricane/Tropical Storm/General Nuisance Harvey.

http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-17/2017-houston-cougars-football-schedule.php

...who do you have for Alvarez - Golovkin? My heart wants Alvarez (because my wife is Mexican, and I'll be watching it at a house full of Mexicans), but my head says Golovkin. Both are incredibly skilled fighters. I just think Golovkin has a bit more power, enough to make a difference over the span of a fight. Because I'll be watching in a house full of Mexicans, I'll probably put my money for the night on Alvarez in a decision. But, deep down, I think Golovkin stops him in the later rounds of the fight. Even comparison of the two, for those who have not seen either in action:

Spoke with actual Chinese person Saturday whose daughter has played on our daughters soccer team for five seasons. He doesn't think China will allow North Korea to do anything; will step in to prevent. That's what I've always thought, inasmuch as America is a huge market ("hugest?") for Chinese goods. Chinese gov'ment loves communism, but they also love them some money - and, love it to the extent that they won't allow Psychopath, Jr. to nuke anyone. My sense is, based on the comments by North Korean higher ups who have recently managed to escape with their families, that Psychopath, Jr. will be done in from within before he has the opportunity to go full psycho on the world. As far as Trump. the only positive thing I can say about his "handling" (no president has ever really "handled" North Korea, outside of Eisenhower) of North Korea is that he, at minimum, isn't giving into their bullsh*t demands though the testicle-deprived U.N. or other past negotiating bodies/teams who simply handed Psychopath, Sr. and Jr. billions of dollars in exchange for false promises of not developing nuclear weapons. In that regard, kudos to Trump. I write this fully understanding that there are thousands upon thousands of academics and politicos around the world who still believe that the best way to handle a tyrant is to shower him or her with billions of American taxpayer dollars in exchange for empty promises to not act like a tyrant.

Yes. I'm not a person of color, but am married to a "minority." These things - the flags, the monuments, building names, school names, etc. - what end does it really support? Some say history. But, we can look back at history without flying the flags and making monuments of other countries who lost to the United States. You can learn about history, and preserve it, without publicly displaying objects that are used mainly to promote racism. By the way, for the same reasons, I don't like when Mexican here illegally parade around with Mexican flags. My wife is from Mexico, and she's disgusted by that as well. The reason she and others immigrated to America was because it is a better country than Mexico. (SIDE NOTE: She applied for American citizenship in April rather than renewing her green card again...so, we're going through that long, but necessary and proper, process. If you've never been through it, it's like dealing with the post office x100.) These illegals that carry the Mexican flag around, they are as duped by their stupid government as the poor farmers and sharecroppers of the South were by the Confederate leaders. The Mexican politicians could care less about its people. If they did, they would be doing everything they could to help their own poor in their own country! Mexico is controlled by a rich class of politicians and business leaders...favorites and friends of the politicians. They love the money the illegals send by home. It takes away, in their mind, that much more of their responsibility to their own people. America has many bad politicians, but none are as craven and self-serving as Mexican politicians. We are getting dangerously close to this political-business control in America right now. Before Bill Clinton, it was mainly Republicans tied to powerful, big business interested. Clinton and post-Clinton, its the Democrats who now get a larger share of that money. Both sides are now dangerously intermingled with big business interests, protecting them at all turns. That's why you see organizations like labor unions and the Chamber of Commerce shilling for illegal immigrants. It's sickening. The Confederate monuments and flags were put up for the wrong reasons, and still signify an incorrect mindset/worldview. The Confederacy was not, and still is not, something to be celebrated. The only thing positive about the Confederacy is that it was defeated. And, we fly the flag of the victor, the United States, today - not their flag.

No. People owning other people as property is not a definition of "good guys." The Confederates separated from the United States, fought it, and lost. The flags, monuments, and anything commemorates the Confederacy is commemorating losers. And, not just losers, but vile losers. Most of my ancestors during that time period fought on the Confederate side, inasmuch as most of our folks going back 300+years were in North Carolina before heading west, ultimately to Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. There is one instance of a relative on the rolls of Union solders fighting with an Illinois regimen. So, when I say these things, I say that the majority of my ancestors were wrong. Ignorant and wrong. They were poor, sharecropping farmers misled by Confederates, and tens of thousands of others in Southern states were at the time. And, that's what makes the Confederate political and military leaders all the more despicable to me: they knew the vast majority of their fellow Southerners lacked education. They played on their ignorance to stir them up against the Union...for the sake of themselves and rich land owners, okay? Also, by the way, I think Trump said the right thing, but the media is just looking for any excuse to criticize him. I am against public Confederate symbols,but I am equally against the behavior of the "mainstream media" treatment of Donald Trump. Both disgust me.

This obviously takes it to a great, humorous extreme. However, I've never understood - having been born, raised, and living almost my entire life in Texas - what the obsession is with Civil War flags, monuments, etc. A few years back, Fake Lonnie had this discussion, and of course, it's always circular. My main point is always this: the Confederate Flag is the flag of a country that was the enemy of the United States; and, defeated by the United States. I don't care whether the argument for or against has to do with slavery, economics...whatever horsesh*t side you push, the Confederacy was briefly its own country, fought the United States, and lost. Period. Nazi Germany lost a war, largely to us, the British, and the Soviet Union. We don't fly the Nazi flag here, and they don't in Germany. The Soviets lost the Cold War. And, when they broke up, the new Russia did not continue to use the commie-themed Sickle and Hammer as its flag. All of you youngsters can google the pictures of former Soviet citizen toppling statues of Lenin, Marx, the founder of the KGB, etc. all over the former Soviet Union, normally within days of overthrowing and/or banning the Communist Party from their new countries. I am by no stretch of the imagination liberal politically, but this Confederate thing never has made sense to me. I've been to the national park at Vicksburg, and the Union monuments there are larger and more prominent the those of the Confederacy, as it should be. I am 164% unmoved by anything Confederate. The Civil War re-enactments. The Flag. The Monuments. The naming of counties, cities, and schools. You have done all of this for the losing side. We don't have schools, counties, and cities named after Hitler, Lennin, Marx, Mussolini, Hirohito, etc. "Yeah...but, they weren't Americans! They didn't fight in America." I don't give a f*ck! The Confederates declared that they weren't Americans either, and then got their asses kicked, okay? I don't care whether their asses were kicked here or Katmandu. They lost. You are flying the flag of losers when you fly the flags of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, or the Confederacy. You are paying homage to losers when you defend the f*cking generals who declared that they were not Americans anymore, but Confederates. You memorialize losers when you name schools, cities, and counties after these losing generals. How much more clear is it? Give it the f*ck up. You want to celebrate and champion losing? Pete's peppers, as North Texas football fans, at minimum, you should know that mindset doesn't f*cking get you anywhere! So, why accept it in the civic arena of life? Are you trying to convince me that there are not other people in the history of all of these states who don't have better representatives to name schools after? Counties? Cities? Horsesh*t. There are plenty of other people in Texas history who are better examples of Texans and/or Americans than Hood, Granbury, Lee, Jackson, etc. Okay? And, here's the consolation prize, if you must: it doesn't make any f*cking difference in the scheme of things. Open your eyes, for f*ck sake! Has any community that has renamed schools, streets, buildings after MLK or Cesar Chavez or any other "minority" leader ever changed the poverty and crime in those neighborhoods? No. It's as much horsesh*t as the people who cling to the Confederate flags, monuments, and names. It means nothing. You still have to get up in the morning, put on your big boy pants, work, and earn your way in the this world, no matter what Avenue you live or drive on - MLK or Lee. It doesn't f*cking matter. At this point in history, it's just fodder for the infantile extremists on both sides of the political aisle. Just give them what they want when it comes to these pointless, dumbsh*t "controversies." Just let them tear the sh*t down, rename...whatever. For f*ck sake, in most of the places you are talking about, the white people left decades ago anyway? I haven't lived in Dallas County in two decades and would never move back there. I could give less of a f*ck what they do with their building, school, and street names, and which monuments they want and don't want. If it f*cking bothers you so much, move back down there and try to live as safely and comfortably as you live now in the suburbs, exurbs, or country. My only monument/naming problem is when they want to rename things named after World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnamese War generals and admirals, and Cold War politicians, who led the battle against real Nazism, real Fascism, real Imperialism, and real Communism. There, you are f*cking with the times the United States was the winner.

http://www.dentonrc.com/news/denton/2017/06/16/denton-code-enforcement-case-gets-complicated-hudspeth-family

I don't think anything major could happen to change how competitive we will (should?) be before the season starts, so I'm taking a break. Lamar, SMU, and Army were scheduled because they are (supposed) to be winnable games. They are the gauge for where we are. Because of UAB's situation/return, I think you also throw them into the Lamar, SMU, Army mix. There's no reason we should not go at least 2-2 against those four because our rosters are roughly the same talent-wise. If we are 1-3 or worse against those four, it's a problem. If we are 3-1 or better against them, bowling should be in order.

Hairgel Hands/Tech blocked Mayfield due to an intra-conference transfer rule. Wouldn't apply here because we're not in the same conference with KU. Even if we were in the same conference, I seriously doubt Beaty would invoke the rule because the player involved wasn't in the KU two-deep in the first place. There would be no point in it. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/mayfield-still-held-hostage-by-texas-tech-while-thriving-with-oklahoma/ Mayfield/Hairgel Hands/Big 12 rule...from a couple of years ago. Big 12 has since given Baker the year back...which is why he's playing this season. Sorry, Hairgel Hands, Mayfield can only beat you one more time...unless you've been fired before the October 28 game with OU.

Small, rural, state schools seem to pile up their share of national titles in college football: Bama, OU, Nebraska, LSU...Clemson. Population means nothing. Otherwise, New York and Chicago would have national caliber college football programs. SMU, anyone? Houston? Is there a national power school in St. Louis? Schools like USC and Miami, "big city school" don't really cater to the general populous of those cities because they are private, not public. Again, winning gets the recruits' attention.

6-6 or GTFO.

Here's the $1 million question for those enamored of Littrell & Co.'s recruiting ability: If this preferred walk-on from Kansas was such a hot prospect, how did they overlook him? I mean, hello...he was just down the road at Lake Dallas :-) So many preferred walk-ons without FBS offers in DFW, so little time.... Yeah...tough to get on the field for Kansas being on the wrong end of a season's worth of blowouts. I think says more about the state of Kansas football than it says about him. Gotta run someone out there after the first and second team have had their brains beaten in for two or three quarters.

In the link I provided with the entire story about his acceptance of the preferred walk-on status. A DMN story, no less. Second time, same thread: https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/high-school/high-schools/2017/07/20/joining-college-team-preferred-walk-good-deal-high-school-hopefuls I'll go ahead and do the hard part of clicking and reading for you: "After former Lake Dallas quarterback Dagan Haehn worked out the details to walk on at Kansas, he made a call to Jayhawks coach David Beaty. 'You might want to check out Keegan Brewer,' Haehn said. Soon after, Haehn and his No. 1 receiving target at Lake Dallas were both making plans to enroll at Kansas for the spring semester. Haehn and Brewer, a potent duo that helped Lake Dallas advance to the 5A Division II state semifinals, are "preferred walk-ons," meaning each is guaranteed a spot on the roster but not a scholarship." So, not only was he not being recruited by any FBS, his wasn't on anyone's preferred walk-on radar until his high school QB told the Kansas coach...a coach with strong ties to this area. The story is, then, a P5 walk-on is now here.

??? So if, say, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Texas, Okie Lite, LSU, etc. had come along and said, "Here's a scholarship for you," he'd have said, "No thanks! Kansas wants me as a preferred walk-on!"

Was a "preferred walk-on" at KU, not a scholarship guy. No other FBS offers. Small. Fits the Littrell Recruiting Mold to a T. https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/high-school/high-schools/2017/07/20/joining-college-team-preferred-walk-good-deal-high-school-hopefuls http://www.espn.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/_/id/205494/keegan-brewer

Good. Was in the car on the way back to the office when I heard the dimwits on The Ticket trying to figure out why he could be suspended even if he wasn't convicted of a crime...as they read part of the CBA that says nothing about a conviction being necessary to suspend! I've tried to explain this before, and can't for the life of me figure out why no one at The Ticket can figure it out - or, have someone with a legal background explain it to them: A Collective Bargaining Agreement is what it is. It is an agreement between one organization, usually a company, and a group of people working for it, regarding things like benefits for and conduct expected from the organization and the people it employs. If you have a CBA in place, that is your discipline template in addition to whatever State and Federal Law may be...as long as nothing within the agreement stifles State or Federal Law. It's not f*cking difficult. Elliot is an NFL player. He is in the "union," the NFL Players Association. NFLPA has a CBA in place with the NFL and the owners of the clubs belonging to it. He does not have to be convicted of a crime to be suspended under the CBA agreed to by the NFLPA. For. F*ck. Sake. How many times does this have to be explained?

Wow...did you see UFOs land as well? I've criticized the new guy about dropping Army in favor Liberty and for giving Littrell a raise when he hasn't shown he can recruit any better than Dodge or McCarney. I am also not on board with the new guy wasting money on an IPF inasmuch as it has not been shown to give anyone a competitive advantage, college or pro. You should change your definition of "sucking up"...or, at least pay attention to what is being posted. I've been skeptical of the new guy since he was hired, due to the challenge UNT athletics poses in general, having been behind for decades, combined with his inexperience. Liberty's AD stealing a home and home from him is simply the most visible example of this, so far. Although, giving Littrell $1 million a year to recruit FCS/Division II guys is a really close second.

No, we have an idea of whether or not he was working hard enough in the classroom. We have a great idea about it because he was never eligible at any level except JUCO and, possibly, DII. Except that, like Dajon Williams...he isn't on Texas A&M-Commerce's rather extensive roster: http://lionathletics.com/roster.aspx?path=football So...try again, maybe? The simple facts of reality answer any question there might be about it. Every school has plenty of tutoring and academic help. Plus, he has figured out how to spell correctly and constantly promote himself - even while not playing football for two years - on twitter. So, I doubt we're looking at a severe learning disability. What we appear to have is a severe inability to motivate himself beyond weight lifting and posting pictures of the same on twitter. Football is played on a football field, not in the weight room. You also stay academically eligible by leaving the weight room now and again, going to your classes, putting your butt in a library seat or athletic academic center and studying the sh*t they talk about in the classes you've attended. Hey...they don't require these guys to major in physics, okay?

Yes? Minor has started nine games in three seasons as an undersized linebacker. He's not lighting it up either. But, you still have the one main difference between the two: Minor, good enough to warrant one FBS offer out of high school: us (a recurring theme among the coaching staffs); kid from WT A&M, none. So, I'll go ahead and say it again...it doesn't look like the recruiting services - or other FBS coaches - were wrong about Minor either. He was listed at 195 as a recruit; way too small to play FBS football at LB. And...fourth year on campus and he hasn't been a consistent starter. Yes, he's valuable to us because, at the very least, he has experience. But, like the majority of other in his situation (no FBS offers), he didn't light it up in college to the point where you say, "Wow! Can't believe OU/Texas, etc. missed out on that guy. What a bunch of dumb coaches they've had in Norman and Austin. Can't even recognize talent within a short driving distance!" Iowa's coaching staff won't be watching game film for prep and say, "Boy...our coaches who recruit Texas really missed out on that guy!" We're not in a vacuum. Everyone sees these players in high school in the 21st Century. The days of Pat Jones not sending Barry Sanders' game reels back to his Wichita high school coaches to get to other schools is long, long gone.

Agree, 164% But, you know how people are...just watch politicians and their sycophants...everything is the fault of "the rich." If there is blame to be had, it's the people who are actually doing the work - and, in college athletics, most of that work depends on giving. For better or worse, it's "the rich" that have the money to give. If you can't respect the administrators, at least respect the people who voluntarily give millions of their own dollars away...for your entertainment a few weekend out the year! Here's the other part of the people who disparage donors, saying, "I'd stop giving funds unless they fired "so and so"...if you stop giving, you're hurting the program and athletes. Bitching is one thing. It's your/our right to bitch and be heard. Fine, all good and well. But, why punish the athletes and program just because you have a (real or imagined) beef with one guy in the athletic department?

I can't argue this any longer. A kid who cannot play at the DII level is not going to miraculously become an all-conference player at the FBS level. Sorry. I'm too old to buy into Disney/Pixar-type dream fantasies. And, yes, this is becoming a ding dong staff. We are not recruiting well with our peers, and these guys are into their third recruiting class. We have had the same type of recruiting for two decades since we came back to this level, and history (painfully) shows the results. As with all new hires, we were told Littrell would be different. Would create excitement among Texas high school coaches and players. It isn't happening. Not even close. Coaches and players are not dumb. We are damn lucky to be in the C-USun Belt with a sh*t ton of other teams also in our predicament. If we were in the AAC or MWC, where many - including myself - wanted us to go, we'd be staring down a one or zero win season in 2017. C-USun Belt allows us to f*ck around and, perhaps, notch up six wins. RV gifted us with an incredibly winnable OOC slate for years to come as well. But, pete's peppers...comparing a walk-on from WT A&M to Taylor Casey in any respect is crazier than a damn road lizard! Period.

How could I see him play - I don't go to West Texas A&M games. And, besides, he only played two of the four seasons there. So, even the West Texas A&M faithful didn't get to see much. He started 12 games over four years in Canyon, alight? Twelve. He's nothing like Taylor Casey. Nothing. Casey was the Byron Gross Award winner as a freshman, a starter as a Sophomore, and all-conference his junior year. I mean, you're going to say this kid is anything like Taylor Casey? He's not even on the same planet as Taylor Casey. If only he were! That's becoming the problem with this ding dong coaching staff. We're not getting Taylor Casey (recruited by his dad's ala mater, Texas Tech) guys in here. We're getting DII/FCS guys. We're not getting a lot of guys transferring in from FBS schools. We are getting them transferring in from DII and FCS. It's not a way to "build" a program...an FBS-quality program, anyway. I'm sure we'll stack up against Lamar and, hopefully, new UAB.