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Blount thread and get back to seriuios stuff around here...like...[deleted] about the coverage in the Park Cities People, or the pros and cons of having the Dallas skyline on our helmets, or maybe we can chat about Barry Switzer coming to the Hilltop to coach our squad, how about where to find the best peanut butter hamburger in town, or maybe we can debate Fresno State's punting stats....jeeeeez, listen to yourselves..this whole thing (SMU football and some of the fans who follow), is comically weak. Long Live Eric Dickerson, did you ever see him play??

Yes, HtoL, I saw Dickerson play. So did a lot of other people. In fact, whenever I wear an SMU shirt around here, that's the first name that comes up, quickly followed by an interminal round of "the best running-back money can buy" jokes. Har-dee-har-har. Too funny. You see, I'm not sure a lot of you realize this, but outside of Texas, nobody knows or cares that UT, A$M, et. al. were doing it too, true as that may be. As far as they're concerned, it was only us, and our "payroll" was the only thing that made us good. Perception is reality, my friend. Which is why I view comments (joking or not) about bringing back a banned booster and "guerilla recruiting" on an SMU fan board as tantamount to saying you have plastic explosives in your carry-on. It's irresponsible. And it's how rumors get started. Rumors this program doesn't need, in my opinion.

Don't you just love being lectured by somebody who calls himself "KnuckleStang?"

One is hard pressed to see the point in having a cheating program. Let’s assume that SMU did get back to cheating. What would be the ultimate results? Very little. We don't have the infrastructure to support a cheating program. The alums willing to fork over the cash, the more sophisticated financial schemes needed to avoid detection, the pathetic academic programs to keep well paid athletes eligible (this one is really tough. SMU can have a BFA in dance but nothing that a football/basketball/etc athlete can pony up to) and the will to cheat are key components that SMU doesn't have. Without an adequate infrastructure, the scheme to cheat will not produce the desired results.

About the best thing to come out of an effort to cheat at this time would be the upset posters that want to fire the cheating alums because we aren't buying the best athletes or can’t keep our professionals in school. One or two loses and there would be threads like "Fire the blundering Bs, Blount, Bennett, & Bopeland." Hours of entertaining reading would follow but we would still be unproductive in football. And lets face it, UT and TX A$M would turn us in a heart beat. And the NCAA couldn’t wait to pound its chest like Tarzan and slap us with triple witching death penalty.

The days of buying professional athletes to compete with other colligate professional athletes are over. We need to find a working model that allows us to be competitive and have the best graduation rate in the nation!

A private school with academic standards can have a honest program that is also commpetitive. Even Rice has had some modest success. So can we.