If anyone is attending and see a guy with a Htowntakeover shirt, jeans and a snapback UH cap. That’s me. Come say hello. 
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Look for me, I will be the one in the red shirt
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Alfred, did not see you. Did you end up in time-out?
Maybe you meant you would be at cage rage.
Will look for you at Rice game, your friend in red.
My plans changed and I was unable to make it. Anything exciting other thank coach speak and a bunch of “Go Coogs” mentions?
crazy thing…my gf and i came late (around 6:30ish). her sister came as well to come to cage rage so i didnt want to leave her out since i only can bring 1 guest. we went to cage rage instead. i saw coach sampson on the concourse.
how was the kickoff event?
The Cage Rage event was first class and left me thinking the AD and team will upgrade the game day experience. The event opened with the coach Applewhite and team hyping up the crowd. Next, Paul Wall and Lil Keke put on a great show. Then came the fireworks show. The event ended with the students having a huge water balloon fight on the field. This will become a big event and I will be back next year. Great job by the AD and staff.
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Cage Rage was great. The whole thing was well done from the corn hole, tattoos, red area, VR, DJ. That new DJ is really going to be a staple at our stadium and the firework show and balloon fight were first class. (50K balloons i cant imagine who did all that but respect). My ONLY 2 complaints were the new houston chant and the sound system ONCE AGAIN. Towards the end you could not hear anyone recite it because the camera was not on the words and it died down but it started off well it reminded me of the hotty toddy ole miss chant. The sound system once again is failing me. Its not loud nor clear enough. Other than that good MC, Good on pez for getting the students fired up and the players.
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Both events were good. The food from BBs was outstanding. Talked a few minutes with Carl Lewis and Leroy Burel. CL really hyped the track team. Nationals will be in Austin next year.
The new pre kickoff cheer looks like it will be a work in progress, too many cue cards to keep track of. It just seems too long, but we shall see.
I believe they played the team intro at the kickoff event and honestly it was, meh. I just dont get why the ditched o’fortuna. It has no shout out to the past (like sacking the UT qb). Not to mention the sound system is still an epic fail in the stadium.
they should have the words on the screens so people can see them good. it will be a work in progress but i like the concept.
There were a bunch of “Go Coogs” mentions when the coaches spoke. One interesting thing though was when Coach Sampson spoke, you can tell he has heard the complaints about the basketball scheduling. He said something along the lines of those complaining about the schedule need to just deal with it. He said we have a good schedule and mentioned the OOC games with Oregon, LSU and St Louis at the Fertitta Center and road games at BYU and Ok State(which both those teams coming here next year).
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Coach Sampson said they called 57 P5 teams trying to get games. You can’t play them if they don’t want to play you. He said, paraphrasing, that we need get to the point where we go to see the Coogs regardless of who we are playing. I’ve said year after year that I like the schedule, every game had the Coogs in it.
I was wondering when we would get BYU on the schedule with David Rose coaching them. He was a really good player for us and a top 6th man.
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Yep, I knew I left some detail out. He said he thinks there are around 65 P5 teams which means we called pretty much every one of them. Probably didn’t call Texas because we already knew what their answer would be.
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He’s said in the past that most schools want one-offs at their place or 2 for 1 deals. Also has said that their have been multiple occasions where schools backed out at the last moment. TCU has done it at least once.
Horns won’t play us because they don’t want to play us in Houston. Same for the Aggies
Sampson said tthat?
a&m played us here at the hof a few years ago.
UT played as too a few years ago. We beat them at baseball one day and then beat them at basketball the next.
It was 2012 when Dickey was here. Aggies won’t play us here now with CKS. We’ve tried.
Horns played is here as part of the CBI tournament; wasn’t on the schedule prior to the season. Otherwise, we haven’t played them since 2000.
Both played here a few years ago in the Toyota Center…against other opponents. Texas played UCLA in NRG a little further back as well. Both have new ADs now so maybe policy will change a bit…maybe. I know they have a lot of fans that wish their football and basketball teams would play more here, but they also have a lot that see us as underneath them and don’t want to risk a loss to help us build our brand.
As I said before, many Longhorn fans treat us like many UH fans treat Rice.
The good thing about basketball, plenty of non-P5 conference teams that have the ratings and prestige to make up for the snub.
So how many of these schools did coach call?
Xavier, Gonzaga, Loyola-Chicago, Seton Hall, Western Kentucky, Saint Mary’s, Butler, Creighton, etc
All of those schools have as much or more history in March Madness than the average P5 school.