For those who do not know, I attended The University of North Texas and obtained my teaching degree. I have mine in History and maybe one day, I would like to teach high school history. But as for now I am happy at Woosong University.

When I started an UNT, it was a small Division 1 Football team that played in the Big West Conference. The next year the Big West abolished their football ties and UNT was left to join the Sun Belt Conference, where they still play as of now.

I had usually followed The University of Texas as my College football team but I had no real ties to them. I knew a few of the players and coaches who had gone to the school, but that was about it.

This changed for me on Oct. 2001 when I went and saw 0-5 UNT beat 5-0 Middle Tennessee State 24-21 at Fouts Field in Denton Texas (Where UNT plays their home games at). The students, me included, stormed the field after the game and we tore down a goalpost and carried it to Fry street (Where the college bars are at) and had a great night of drinking.

Later on that year, UNT had to beat Idaho ,at their home, to clinch the Conference title and get to go to a college bowl game for the first time in 50+ years. I went to the main college bar and we all watched the game on Fox Sports Southwest. When UNT won the game 50-27, we went nuts and yelled and jumped up and down and someone went streaking outside the bar (No it was not me)It felt like, OK, we are finally on a big stage and maybe just maybe this school will have turned a corner. They lost the game but hey, they got to go to a bowl game.

The next year I went to all of the home games and watched and cheered and they won all of the SB conference games and played The University of Cincinnati in a bowl game, Once again I went to the main college bar and we watched, (at this time I was living in the dorms, so it was a small walk to the bars on Frey Street) I watched and cheered and went insane when the final score was, UNT 25 U of C 19. The whole Fry street erupted and we partied until the bars closed down.

What I will always remember is that on the way home, I told the campus police that we were walking home and that we lived on in the dorm and we just gave a little nod, because the party I was with had a least 4 men under the age of 21.

So I wear the UNT shirts and am honored to say that I am an "UNT Mean Green" and every now and then I will play, Kermit the Frog's "Its not Easy Being Green" and it always brings a little smile to my face.

So you can imagine when I was following this season and it had not gone well and then I read this and when WTF...



Are Wayne Brady and Mike McStay Gonna Have to Choke A Bitch?


Fired North Texas Coach in Black Mood

By Rogers Cadenhead

My alma mater, the University of North Texas, made national news this past week when a booster for its football program threatened to withhold a $1 million donation after the team fired Coach Darrell Dickey.

In nine seasons, Dickey led the Mean Green to four straight Sun Belt Conference championships and the first bowl trip since 1959. He's one of the most accomplished coaches in the school's modest football history, but two losing seasons and criticism over recruitment led to his ouster. He's receiving a buyout in excess of $540,000 for the remaining years of his contract and agreed to coach through season's end.

UNT Mean Green player in black jersey for 2006 Florida Atlantic game



Two incidents that took place during Saturday's North Texas-Florida Atlantic game show how wildly things have spun out of control at UNT since the firing.

According to parents of current players, right before Saturday's game Coach Dickey snuck new black uniforms onto the team without the school's permission. The rec-league quality jerseys, pictured here, didn't contain the names of players or the school and conference logos. They weren't cleared with Athletic Director Rick Villareal or announced to the press before the game and might violate agreements with the school's uniform supplier.

During halftime of the game, offensive coordinator Ramon Flanagan allegedly started a physical fight with wide receivers Coach Chip Garber after being told he should play seniors because it was their final home game. The incident got so out of hand the offense received no instruction before going back out to start the third quarter.

As you might have guessed, North Texas lost the game, 17-16, and fell to 3-8.

I'm a small donor to the Mean Green Club, the school's booster program, and a longtime fan of UNT football. Because I've been digging into these incidents on the GoMeanGreen.Com message board, I've gotten independent corroboration from sources affiliated with the program. I'm withholding their names at their request.

I can't recall a situation where a head coach sprang new uniforms on a Division I college football team to "piss off" his athletic director, as Dickey reportedly acknowledged to players before the game. Combine this with a coordinator putting another coach in a choke hold until being pulled off and it's a meltdown of historic proportions.

Dickey, who also abandoned his customary attire for all-black clothes and a black cap.



He told reporters it "wasn't anything other than kids liking that color," drawing the ire of parents who didn't like the stunt being blamed on players. When I saw game photos on Sunday I thought Dickey had declared a period of mourning for his job.

I left two messages today with new UNT President Gretchen Bataille to relay these events. The departing seniors on the team deserve a better send off than childish stunts from coaches nursing a grudge, fans deserve better, and a school paying Dickey another half-mil not to coach deserves better.

I'll be disappointed if Dickey and Flanagan make the trip Saturday to finish the season against Louisiana-Monroe. I was on the fence about Dickey's firing, but I think he's shown his true colors. (UNT LOST 28-3 vs. L-M)

I really could not believe what the heck I was reading and when i went to the web site Go Mean Green it kinda confirmed the above story, I just wanted to go back to UNT and choke a fool or fools in this case.

Hopefully next season will be better. There are 2 young coaching prospects who are interested in the job, so we shall see, but if this happens again we really need to think about cleaning house at UNT.

Well a general update blog.

I have not written much in the last few days due to me being sick, I feel better so this will be an interesting update.

First, yes I am going back to Texas for 1 month between 3 Feb and 1 march 2007. I will try and go to California to see the kids, if the ex will let me, if not I will go to El Paso, to see the parents graves.

Well we had T-day here once again and once again I went to the USO Club in Seoul and had a very delicious dinner. The day before, Stephanie had a T-DAY party at her house, I brought the rotisserie chickens from Costco. We had mashed potatoes and other things. The Canadians there had never celebrated the American holiday before so it was a fun day.

On Trey's blog, he did the woe is me, I am away from home for the holidays blog. I left a comment on his but he deleted it. I told him to quit whining because it will does more harm than good and that if he wanted a holiday dinner he could have had asked me and I would have had taken him to the USO with me.

I also stated that Steph had a party and that he should try and have his own with his friends. I also told him that we are not back in Texas and that, from a man who has missed too darn many holidays due to being stationed all over the place, he should just make himself one very different Korean t-day with his friends and have fun.

Guess he did not like the comment! Sorry, but I have no patience for those who whine and do noting to alleviate the problem at hand. I had 2 great dinners on Wend and Thursday and would always love some more.

I just about have all of the xmas gifts mailed out, one box looks like it will be late but I can mail that one with express here in Korea and it will take 1 week.

next week I will have to go back to Seoul and finish up the paperwork for the airplane ride back home. They need a copy of my passport.

Next week are finals for my students and I hope that they are ready for their final exam. I have 3 of them on one day, Tuesday Dec. 5th 1 will be on Monday December 4th and my last one (the 2 different projects) will be spread over Wend the 6th and Friday the 8th.

I will miss seeing most of my students. I have been lucky, I have some really good kids.

Looks like I might be playing Santa, again this year. Once again, if I do, photos will follow. Hey I'm tall and big. The look on the Korean faces last year when I was walking in Song Chon Dong with me yelling "Merry Christmas" was priceless.

Now for some sad news, a few people have had to leave Korea because of family problems back home. One girl left because her mom was dying, she made it back in time to say goodbye before her mom died. The other young lady was Nichole's replacement and she has a family crisis and she had to return home. I hope that everything works out for them both.

Thats about it for now, please remember its the Christmas season and lets try and be better people this years end. Please remember if you can not find any Chirstmas cards, try the E cards.

Transformers Movie

Well talk about just being at the right place at the right time. This is the first shot from the above linked movie. It sure looks a lot like Starship Troopers to me. Looks like a July 2007 release date in the USA. (No date listed for Korea yet)

Enjoy the photo.

Well take a look at the new Harry Potter film.

What a nice poster

Well It slowly getting towards xmas here in Korea.

A few updates, after 3 years of hearing nothing, my ex has made contact and I know something more about my 2 kids. I am trying to decide what to get my son for Xmas, what he likes as toys, they do not sell in Korea so I will try and email the ex and see what else he likes.

I have the daughters gift allready and I hope that she likes it.

I am going to try and go home for 4 weeks in Feb to March. I will call home later if they allow me to have the 4 weeks off at a time. I will try and see my kids, if possible. So I will keep you updated on that.

Ben has returned to work one more year in Korea, He was telling me that people did not belive that we ate dog a few months ago. Hey its true and the photos are posted on this blog.

I still havent written my frist article for twitch yet, I am wating to do the review of I'm A Cyborg and Thats OK, So it looks like that will be the first one that I do for the site.

I am still doing the movie reviews for socius, so as always, check them out. I still need to see 4 more films and write up one that I have allready seen. Thats the funny thing about Korea, the film come in Waves, here, some weeks alot of english films and some weeks nada.

Saw the preview for Spiderman 3 and wow it looked good. Next year should be intresting for films with the next chapters of Shrek, Spiderman and Harry Potter ready to go. I so wish that CGV would make an IMAX here in Daejeon.

Now for some sad news, they interviewed the president of YUM Brands (They own KFC PIZZA HUT AND Taco Bell) They are talking of expanding more into Korea but Taco Bell will not be comming back anytime soon to Korea. (in the mid 90's they tried but it did not work out.) Yum please, I want a taco bell here in Korea that is not on the military base.

Well to say I was sad about the elections would be a lie, Our enemies cheered at the result of the elections, this is never a good thing. I wonder what the Democrats response will be to terrorism, give them a hug, or burry their heads in the sand and claim that nothing is wrong and that appeasment is great, like the video I posted on the Dredge report commercial. It should be intresting to see.

I got to see the Reskins game vs Dallas and to be honest I still can not believe that we won that game. It was a good game and so much for TERELL OWENS, Man I can not believe a man with all of that tallent is such a cancer.

Sad to report that Daejeon lost in the Korean world series finals 4 games to 1

the ticket cost me 25,000 won, but hey, it was the championship! for all of the 5 playoff games I saw live the total cost was less than 100$ try that for the MLB Baseball playoffs in the USA. I had a ball watching and cheering for the Eagles, I even have a baseball cap that I am wearing of them, my students love it.

speaking of the university, I have my sophmores final doing a real world senario tied in with their text books. One class is going to try and update the Korean ebay into english and their ideas for that.

in my 40 student engineering class i have divided them into 2 projects.

Wend test will make me a Sears store in Korea. (I know that they is not a store here, but I wanted the student to research online)

Fridays test wanted to make me a new city hall for Daejeon. The results should be intresting next month, and I will post some of their efforts online.

Well thats all of now,say prayers for the soldiers in the US Military that are doing their best.

Its been awhile since I have updated this but today is Nov. 11. Here in Korea its Peppero Day. To me its Veterans Day. In awhile I will poor some brew for the friends of mine who died while they served in the army, Those who went before me in the Army, those who did time with me in the Army and for those who serve on the US Army.

Last year I told you Matt's' story and I thought of him today, he is still 20-22 in my mind, and in my mind he will always be that age. In the review I talk about "Trip" and how he became a hero and how he wanted nothing of it.

I saw Flags Of our Fathers and I did the review for Socius. Please see it if you get the chance. Tonight, whereever you are in the world, buy a vet a drink and say thanks!


Movie Review: Flags Of Our Fathers

Written by SPC(p) Flynn Michael McStay

Tuesday, 07 November 2006

Flags of Our Fathers


Opens up In Korea: Unknown


How I saw it: VCD Screener


Opening Weekend in USA. $10,245,190 (22 October 2006) (1,876 Screens)


Plot: The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at The Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in WWII.


For Information on the 6 men who raised the flag and what became of them and a look at the battle please check out this website. Iwo Jima Battle

In the film “Flags of our Fathers” we are asked one question throughout the film, “What is a Hero?”


With the war in Iraq the US Army has attempted to give us 2 heroes who initial clams of super hero feats to inspire the US public. The stories we were told were of Pat Tillman and that of Jessica Lynch In both cases the initial US Army claims were no where close to what actually happened and recently Pat’s brother Kevin, so disgusted with his brothers death, recently wrote this article at the truthdig web site. Kevin's Tale

While I was watching this movie, I recalled a story from my past on how we had a hero in my unit and how it actually happened was no where close to the truth.


One day we had a murder, suicide on Ft Sill and because of a leader in charge, who should have never become one in the first place, the person in question ordered the search everywhere but the area where the witnesses said that the person went into and they heard a shot. The search lasted a few days and we were catching hell because the Military Police had not yet found the body, finally the command realized that we had never searched the area where the body might actually be. So they sent in a new soldier and by his not paying attention he tripped over what he thought was a tree and in actually, he tripped over the dead body.


The chain of command was so happy that they gave him a medal and praised him for being an excellent person to have on searches and what a great future he would have in the US Army. He actually tried to tell the truth that he tripped over the body but that was not the story that the chain of command wanted to be told. He got a real nice easy job after that and soon he met and fell in love with a real nice young lady. When asked how he met her, the unit reaction was that he must have tripped over her. For as long as he was in the unit, his nickname was “Trip” I recall when he left Ft Sill he was so happy to put that, trip, story behind him.

The movie tells about, how in 1945, 6 soldiers, were given an order to raise a second flag at Iwo Jima. The film tells you what happened to the 3 survivors in the following months after the battle and you are shown how the other 3 men died in the battle of Iwo Jima. Please watch how Ira Hayes life stars to spin out of control and see how he deals with being called a hero.


If you are thinking that this film is Pro-US Army or you don’t want to see the film because you think its anti-US Army. Then you need to check those ideas at the door and go into this film with an open mind. The film tells us a truth of how these 3 men became heroes and they never wanted any of the attention and when you see how it effects them all for the rest of there lives, you will ask the question, “If this is what a hero is all about, why in the hell would anyone want to be one? “

“Doc Bradley” (One of the 6 men who helped raise the flag, played by Ryan Phillippe) said this of his day in the sun, “People refer to us as heroes--I personally don't look at it that way. I just think that I happened to be at a certain place at a certain time and anybody on that island could have been in there--and we certainly weren't heroes--and I speak for the rest of them as well. That's the way they thought of themselves also."


Clint Eastwood directs this film and in Feb. 2007 Letters From Iwo Jima

Will be released and told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.


What I really enjoyed in the film was then actors’ reactions to the insanity all around them. The moment of the film is when Ira Hayes meets the mother of his friend, who died on Iwo Jima, and you see him just break down and cry. That happened in real life and it was well shown here in the film. What I also liked was that the film told the story of Harlon Block (played by Benjamin Walker) When his mother Belle saw the Flag Raising Photo in the Weslaco Newspaper on Feb. 25, she exclaimed, "That's Harlon" pointing to the figure on the far right. But the US Government mis-identified the figure as Harry Hansen (Played great by Paul Walker) of Boston. Belle never wavered in her belief that it was Harlon insisting, "I know my boy." No one--not her family, neighbors, the Government or the public--had any reason to believe her. But eighteen months later in a sensational front-page story, a Congressional investigation revealed that it was Harlon in the photo, proving that indeed, Belle did "know her boy."


There is also a small story of what haunted “Doc” the rest of his life, with his friend “Iggy”

Iggy


The film does not show any of this taking place nor the aftermath, all you see is Doc’s look of horror when they find Iggy’s body, The next film (Letters..) may show this scene. Doc later said in life, he remember how his friends lived, not how they died. Please stay for all of the credits and you will see more, on one half of the screen is a montage of incredible photographs from the actual battle and it ends with the famous shot that the movie is all about.

Grade. A+ (While Bradley had a public image as a war hero, he was a very private person. He avoided discussion of his war record saying only that the real heroes were the men who gave their lives for their country. The Global Media reported the death of a World War II icon on January 11, 1994 at the age of 70. But his hometown newspaper best captured the essence of Bradley's life after the war: "John Bradley will be forever memorialized for a few moments action at the top of a remote Pacific mountain. We prefer to remember him for his life. If the famous flag-raising at Iwo Jima symbolized American patriotism and valor, Bradley's quiet, modest nature and philanthropic efforts shine as an example of the best of small town American values." ---Editorial, "The Antigo Daily Journal")