Today I was in a prop airplane, flown by Druk Air. (No, not drunk). This is the only airline owned by Bhutan and the only one allowed to fly in to their one international airport, in Paro, a town of 39K, elevation 7300 ft. For more, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutan We flew past Mt. Everest from Kathmandu Nepal and it made me think how faw away I was. I am posting to DTN from Thimphu, Bhutan at night after work. So just curious.... how far away have you sent in a post from? or at least read the daily post to get news of your Red Raiders? This is certainly not the farthest or most remote place to post from. There must be some great stories out there, someone spice this up a bit. I want to hear some feel good stories about how we can still be Red Raider fans no matter how far away at the time.

It has been great fun now that we have a Red Raider telling us to look for references to Texas Tech in TV shows. How about posting some pictures of Texas Tech or Red Raiders or Double-Ts "hidden" in news pictures or movies, or post pictures from servicemen, travelers, and explorers. I would post a picture of me holding up my "guns up" in front of the Arctic Circle sign in Alaska, just have not figured out these fancy computer gimmicks yet. Anyone have pics of a Tech flag they took to unusual places like Everest or in front of the Statue of Liberty or the Coliseum in Rome? Or meet someone in a foreign country wearing a Tech logo? Guns up in front of the Capital in DC or the Great Wall? Show us how you took your school pride across the planet. Meanwhile, I'll work on posting mine.

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Just a few thoughts...

Air Force has fans all over the world, TV watching fans.

Many grads are in high-level positions.

They represent our entire nation.

They are near Denver TV market.

They are reasonably close to the Hub.

We can compete well against them.

They are a good school, they make their players go to class, they are a class act all the way around.

I would pull for them when they do not play against Tech.

No matter what else goes down in the next months to years, this move by Kansas State makes sense to me. And it does not seem to be a big point of angst for anyone else in the conference, the networks, the lawyers, or the NCAA. This was poosted on ESPN so it is not a paid service. I hope it is alright to forward it.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6863681/kansas-state-wildcats-upgrade-online-network-hd

Just asking why we don't do this also? I would pay $80 per year to see all otherwise non-televised games, if that is what we would get. Does that sound right?

I guess I got my hopes way up the way we started the 2012 recruiting class for football and men's basketball. I am now having withdrawl pains because I have heard nothing new in a while. I am confident in our coaches and their choices, but also a bit nervous as some of the good players trickle off the boards and our name does not appear. I have hopes in the fact that we have at least made offers to a lot of great talent. Would love to see us add about five more 4-star players and a few of them being top 150. Maybe I just need to be a bit more patient, and morer realistic, but short of paying for a recruiting site membership, this is my only source of speculation about who we have a good chance to bring into the 2012 class. Any good gossip going on out there?

I used to subscibe to Bleacher Report for Texas Tech Football. At first they had some good information and some coverage I was not getting at DTN or Texastech.com. But in the last 6 months their stories seem to be the negative news about Tech. Usually four of the six will be bad news or a slam or just a hidden way to compare us unfavorably to UT, A&M. I wrote them and asked if they would focus on positive news. No reply. This last one had a headline about a Texas Tech recruit being arrested for assualt! My information was that Derek David was no longer a recruit when they arrested him. So am I wrong or was this just another slam on Tech? I cancelled today and told them why. The reason I prefer DTN is that Seth monitors the comments. Many of the comments on Texastech.com are rediculous, name-calling, cursing, garbage from fans of other schools, many comments not even related to the story but just hate on the positive comments. I don't read their articles or if I do, I ignore the comments. I contacted Red Raider Club and they acted as if they did not know a thing about it.  So for me, give me the Double-T (Nation, that is...) Y'all come back now, ya hear?

This morning, I caught a mention by Coach T about a Junior Day. I recall that UT had held a Junior Day last year and attrracted many of this year's rcruiting class. So I went searching to see if Texas Tech had one. I found an article in SportsDFW from Mar. 27, 2010 about a Texas Tech Junior Day, and Allen High School receiver Jonathan Lee was the big buzz. I could find no earlier mention, but I did see that there are some national Junior Days and also that OU had a Junior Day and that A&M plans one. What is a Junior Day? Is it the same as an "invitation only" combine? The coaches can take times and watch players. Can they make offers? How new is this for Texas Tech? Did Tommy get this started or have we been doing it for years? Just asking. I think we have one scheduled this spring again. Florida State had theirs at the end of January...........Just curious. I wonder how many of the recruits we got this year attended our Junior Day in 2010? Anybody have that?

Here is a paraphrase from SportsDFW in March 2010. "Several football recruits trickled into Jones AT&T Stadium on Friday's practice on the eve of Texas Tech football's Junior Day on Saturday. Junior Day is a way for juniors to get exposure to the Texas Tech football program early in the process."

    Just gotta let Seth C and his understanding better half how much we all benefit from such a fine moderator, teacher, leader, or whatever your job title is. For those of us 1,500 miles away this is the only free site where you can get great information on the teams and players and school we love. Bleacher Report is full of dark matter that makes a plop sound when it hits the ground. Some is interesting but many stories are slams on Tech, disguised by misleading headlines. They really hit the nail between the eyes with their guess of the new DC, didn't they? ESPN finds a way to print negative news even when it is not even news anymore. Even Stewart Mandell recognized that. But report a positive? No way. Just pound on Leach every chance they can. They still list Rodgers as one of our commits. Rivals and Scout are fine for recruiting tidbits but should we have to pay big bucks? And now for the Red Reaider Sports/TexasTech.com site. Seth, their stories are fine, but they do not moderate the comments. You asked us and most admitted that some moderation is needed. and you hit the mddle ground well. They stink. There are more pure negative garbage comments on there, many from fans of our rival teams or just peple who want to feel like big shots because they can put someone down nasty but not have to face them in person or even learn the facts. They just hate on people and on our school. I do not read them anymore, and a lot of the DMN reporters rag on Tech every chance they can. That is definitely UT and A&M run and operated. So kudos to you, keep it up.

    While on the high horse I want to wish Seth and family a great recruiting trip.  Been down to DHR in Lubbock, and two joined our family in the early 80s. It is a great thing you do. The next infinite years will be full of an equal number of very painful experiences and pure joy that cannot be compared to any other situation. Both you and the children will be forever better off because of the new family you are forming. KUDOS squared.

I'm betting on one of Tommy's former coaches at Miss or AU or a promising DC from a mid-major school being recruited. Must be able to speak Texan and recruit. Would be great if they could coach too. I would love it if the DC got to call the onside kicks. I bet it would be different! Would randy Shannon consider being DC for three years until he gets another head coaching chance? How about Mark Snyder at South Florida? How about UF DC Teryl Austin if Muschamp goes another direction? Rocky Long (DC – San Diego St)? Would Pete Kwiatkowski (DC – Boise State) leave out of frustration? The DC from No. Illinois?

Oh, Santa, I have been thinking about the perfect gift....a perfect AD for Texas Tech! I want them to be really good at fundraising and schmoozing with the good ole' boys and gals who might send their sons and daughters (painted double-t girl) and big bucks to Raiderland. I want them to be confident and agressive but not too cocky. I want them to want Tech to be as good as Tech can be, but I want them to have very high and slightly above realistic expectations of how good Tech can be. I want them to lead us into a stable conference with a better TV revenue contract than now. And I want them to expect and demand excellence in all sports and academics, Raiders and Lady Raiders too. Hmmmm, now what did I forget to ask for.....

How we can develop a bitter rivalry game that would attract viewers and news interest?  Baylor was fine for a start but if we had a version of UT-OU as part of a double-header at the state fair on the same day it would be a blockbuster state rivalry weekend, feed off of  publicity for the UT-OU game and we would be seen as a defenders of Texas pride. We need that as part of our identity, to be one of the big three Texas teams, not the biggest step-sister or Cinderella. TT should challenge Arkansas for a noon game, have the UT-OU game next or A&M-LSU triple-header. Think about that. Texas against its neighbors every year. State fair people would love it. Thoughts?

We also need rivalries that fill stadium seats and living room couches to be a good choice for conferences and TV stations. I say start scheduling Arkansas every year, OKSU in Dallas as part of a double-header with OU/UT, and Houston in a dome in Houston every other year. Play SMU only in Lubbock. Beat UT half the time, A&M more than half, Houston and SMU all the time. Fill the stadium, no matter what the ticket prices are. No empty seats. Be exciting to watch! Get the best AD available at any cost. Make some noise!