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If you look at any list of famous alums from any university or college, you can be sure that if they are famous they need not have graduated to be 'knighted' as an alum of that institution. Joe Blow might just be a former student, but a celebrity is an alum.

Sadly, he was only 61. I am not sure of the exact cause of death, but the obituary asked that donations be make to the Diabetes Assn.

Dan Christie, former President of the NTSU Trustees and former football player, passed away this Saturday. Dan was a longtime supporter of the Mean Green and was a longtime donor to the athletic department. He served as President of the Trustees ($1000 donor group) in the 90's. He was always interested in the progress of the program and put his money and his time where his mouth was. He also won two awards from the alumni association. He was instrumental in raising the money to name the old men's gym after Ken Bahnsen. He will be missed. I will miss his smile and enthusiasm for North Texas.

There will be no way to tell about season ticket sales...last year or this year...since ticket sales are a closely guarded state secret at the athletic department.

sedalia smith-cotton, home of the fighting tigers. never heard of it?...it's in missouri.

I have a little experience in selling out SMU at Fouts. If the athletic department doesn't work hard with advertising, etc. a sell out is not a guarantee. You just can't take anything for granted. Everyone pray for no rain that day. Should it sell out, yes. Will it sell out, yes, probably. One thing to note about this year's game vs. the game in '89 is the size of the SMU crowd to attend. I really don't think that they will bring very many people. Once again, it is up to NT to furnish the crowd, which it should since it is a home game.

As my feeble memory serves me, we had 100 Trustees at $1,000 in cash, 39 Trustees in gift in kind gifts and about $150,000 in Eagle Club donations in 1993. We had about 250 in the Eagle Club. Donor information is available using the freedom of information act, should anyone want to check the figures.

I emailed them the idea of 'Guzzlin' Cajuns', but apparently it did not make the cut.

Good idea but UIL only approves a small number of out of school activites for the bands. We probably would not be at the top their list to 'use up one of their out of school activities.' Also, if they came, we would have to feed them.

A law suit in the making...you cannot use the Longhorn without paying licensing fees and it must be approved by UT. If LaLa did a cap with our new 'son of worm' with a black X through it it would be in violation of the tm and licensing agreements. We would have to approve their design, which we would not do. Good idea, but in this world, complicated.

1966 at Fouts NT vs. Texas Western...we beat Billy Hughes' miners barely. Most memorable early game...NT vs. New Mexico State in 1967 ( I think)... there were signs all over the NMSU stadium that read 'Beat the Buffalos"...they thought they were playing West Texas State. It ended up a tie...long drive for a tie.

Having sponsored the cheerleaders for six years, I can attest to the dangerous nature of the 'sport.' I was always struck as to what great athletes we had. We had great kids who were dedicated, but I was always a bit disappointed in how they were preoccupied with the athletic nature of the cheerleading and not so preoccupied with yelling and drumming up enthusiasm at the games. My cheerleaders did show up for all football and basketball games, however. We had about 30 kids in the program and had moved to partial scholarships for them when I left. Unfortunately, the scholarship money 'dried up' when Helwig arrived. Good luck to Oregon State for refocusing cheerleaders to being CHEER LEADERS.

I was visiting with a friend this morning and asked if he had gotten caught up in the George Mason hoopla. He flatly said no and that he never pulls for a basketball team that does not have a football team. He thinks that basketball only gives a lot of small schools an edge against teams that have football. As you know, in order to have division one football you have to sponsor about 400 sports, while basketball only schools do not. Is it fair? Does it hurt mid majors who have division one football? Should it be changed? Curious at to what the green meanies think.

Nice stuff if you are heavy into orange and blue and have a wish for the return of Craig Helwig.

I like the tag line "Be a Maverick"...it draws the reader in....be a part of this thing, what ever this thing is. Much better than the NT tag line " Don't call us, we'll call you."

I was at the breakfast held for Eagle Club members back in '81 or so. Hurley came in and told the group that we would have the type of athletic program that the donors supported and asked for pledges right there. Obviously, everyone was caught by surprise and the committment from the breakfast was puny. The entire Eagle club was never asked about this question and before we knew it we were down to I-AA. The fix was in even before the breakfast. The major reasons given for the drop was lack of donor support and the advantages of being in a conference. As you may remember, at that time we were independent with no bowl affiliation or conference affiliation. I always thought that Hurley's approach was like a teacher going to the class room and telling the students that the curriculum for the class would depend on the wishes of the class....a complete surrender of leadership.

The majority of regents are North Texas grads....now if we could just get that ratio working in the athletic department.

Did you notice that South Alabama is seeded 14, while Northwestern State out of the Southland is also seeded 14. Is the SunBelt just a glorified Southland?

Is this a CLC licensed product?

Here is what is needed to cure your blues about the green. Hire away a head football coach from an established program and do the same with the men's and women's basketball programs. This will take money and commitment, but it will be the only indicator that the NT administration is getting serious. We want to drive a Cadillac but don't want to pay for one. We constantly hear that we don't have the resources, but the reality is that when NT really wants to do something they find a way to find the money. Will this day ever come? Who knows. I concur that funding the existing programs very much a crap shoot with no winners thus far. The only way we will get the necessary funding is through 'venture capital' from the administration. A big, well planned and outlined objective will attract donors.

I don't share the distain for South Alabama. These guys really get into your face and run a sound offense and defense. Don't count them out just yet. I cannot remember their depth situation, but that will be a factor. Point of fact....UNC Charlotte out of the SunBelt made it to the final game in the 70's ( As my poor memory serves me). The 49ers were a charter member of the SunBelt.

They have five teams in the NCAA and another one or two in the NIT because their fans don't post 'Now we can get back to football', like has been said on this board. Just as a reminder, we need a balanced athletic department in order to ever rise above the conference mediocrity we now enjoy.

I like Johnny, but I like my alma mater even more. This is pathetic. The largest university in the conference cannot even make it past the first round of the tournament....so sad.

Just pitiful. Now what happens? Are there consequences for going out in the first round for two years in a row, coupled with an anemic out of conference schedule...we will see. Pohl sat and watched this mess all year.

Giving the full story on Jamario would require some investigation and time spent....do you really expect sports writers to waste that energy when they could be out having a cold one with the boys?