It’s that time of year again, I (Dave) am missing Mean Green football. My obsession with my alma mater’s football team began in 2001, actually a year after I graduated from college. I was working/living on-campus as a residence hall director– and it was the Year of the Mean Green.
All week long I’ve been reminding Gloria of how awesome that year was. She listens to me tell the glory stories, and now you get to “listen,” too!
- The Tragic Louisiana-Monroe Game: We had zero wins and four losses to start the season and the team was playing terribly. But I had a free weekend and wanted to go on a personal retreat, so I drove five hours to Louisiana to watch the game. I left my credit card at a store in Denton, ran out of money, barely had enough cash to pay for a run-down hotel room, bummed a free game ticket from someone, and got a raging stomachache and vomited all over the side of the road on the long drive home. Did I mention that we lost at the last minute?
- Bending the Goalpost: I’m not sure when the last time was that the fans tore down the goalposts at North Texas, but clearly this flock of faithful fans had no idea what to do. The opportunity to rip down the goal post presented itself after we beat the undefeated Middle Tennessee team. With 8 seconds left on the clock I led the students onto the field to try and tackle the goalpost. Once we got to the end zone we realized that none of us had ever done this before. So our attempt to display massive amounts of school pride ended in a dozen kids dangling from the goalpost– which just leaned a little bit.
- Miracle in the Desert: A bunch of my friends and I took a road trip to New Mexico. Jason, Brandon, Ross, James, Rob and others– we all had a blast. The game was incredible. All New Mexico State had to do was “down” the ball and the game would be over and they would win. Instead, they ran a play, fumbled the ball, and we made a miracle pass around the field to win the game!
- Yo Idaho: Apparently, a revolution had been started. Well, not really… but our team just began to win games and people got excited. More and more fans showed up to cheer on the team. It was my new goal to get as many of my students and staff psyched about school spirit so I started dressing in ridiculous green and white costumes and leading parades of college students down Maple Street to watch the games. My zeal for UNT was so appreciated by the Athletic Director that he invited me to fly with the team for the big game against Idaho. If we won this game then North Texas would go to a bowl game to play the mighty Colorado State. We won the game by 30 points! Everything was awesome except the flight home– I was stuck in between two offensive linemen who had just played in the game.
- New Orleans: What can I say? This adventure was so much fun. The guys and I turned our hotel room into a painting studio as we constructed the world’s longest manmade football stadium sign out of butcher paper. Well, at least it was the longest sign that any of us had ever seen. It may have been about 150-meters– no kidding! It wrapped halfway around the stadium and featured the lyrics to a song that we sang: The 12 Days of North Texas, sung to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas. (FIVE conference wins!)
Well, that’s all for now. 2001 was a good year. Let’s just hope North Texas can get a big win against Clemson this Saturday. Go Mean Green!
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Mel and I will be watching now and thinking of you! Great memories.
Oh…, I love the photo of the two of you!!!!!!!
CAW! I think I went to a whopping two football games and they lost both of them. : (
hey dave, i’m going to go by and snap some pics of the new stadium that UNT is building and I’ll send them your way! It’s pretty impressive looking!
awesome Jenny…I’d love to see the pictures of the new stadium. I wish I could be there for the first game!
It was a great year, can’t believe you can recall each game.
Loving reading this! I miss my Denton (most of the time). Hope you guys are doing great!!
Well Dave, I hesitate to write this…seeing as how I am from the enemy team. Yesterday Carmie and I went to a sports grill in Denton to watch the UNT vs. Clemson game. I was the only one in room supporting the Tigers. I was quite impressed with the school spirit of those who came out to watch the Mean Green. Carmie made a small effort to align herself with Clemson, wearing her orange shoes. We won but I have to admit that UNT looked pretty competent out there.
Ross….I was thinking about you on Saturday and was hoping that I could have some trash talk after the game! It did look like North Texas moved the ball, but they just couldn’t score. I hope you guys are doing well!