High school bans football T-shirts with slogan that glorifies rape: Report

A Texas school district has banned a football team from wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Shhhhhhh just let it happen" after questions over whether the message could also glorify rape. 

The shirt was designed by senior members of the Arlington Martin High School football team and printed by the football booster club. 

It reads "Martin Football" in big gray letters above an image of a Native American man that represents the school's Warrior mascot. 

To the left of the man is a pirate flag, with a skull and crossbones, along with the words "We take what we want, and below the flag is the phrase "Shhhhhhh just let it happen."

The issue came up after the school's newspaper staff raised concerns about the shirt in a meeting and published an editorial in the bi-monthly publication.

 The editorial titled "Out of bounds" read: "The shirt's main message is to state the player's idea that there is no need for the opponent to put up a fight in letting our team take the ball away from them. 

"Can this saying be easily misunderstood? Yes. Though it certainly was not the goal of the shirt, its slogan connotes rape culture. This is not what we want to display as a slogan for our Varsity football program," it adds.

The Warrior Post's editor-in-chief Jerred Osterman, a Martin HS senior, told NBC 5 that the newspaper was motivated to write its editorial after a female student approached a staff member with concerns over the T-shirt.  

The coach of the team, Bob Wager, said that they did not consider the shirt to be inappropriate or offensive in any way adding that they would never have allowed it to be made or worn if they had.

He claims it referred to "the act of piracy, taking what you want. What we want is the football."

School district spokeswoman Leslie Johnston said that officials believed the team had not intended the slogan to be offensive but, nevertheless, that the t-shirts have been banned. 

Texas mayor postpones Halloween for Friday night football game: Report

When Halloween falls on a Friday in a town where high school football is king, there's only one thing to do — reschedule the holiday.

Facing an upcoming Friday night dilemma, one Texas mayor called an audible by postponing the trick-or-treating and moving it to the next day so it wouldn't interfere with the big game, reported KETK-TV.

Van mayor Dean Stone made the Halloween call partly because of how well the undefeated Van Vandals have been playing.

And in Texas, crossbars beat Hershey bars.

Stone claims it gives fans a chance to attend the road game against Wills Point, and still enjoy Halloween the following night.

But there are some in the community who think it will just cause unneeded confusion, and don't want their family plans altered because of a football game.

"I thought about it, I had several calls over the last weekend and I came in and talked to the city manager and I made the decision to change it to the Saturday night due to the fact there'll be a tremendous amount of people out of town Friday night," said Stone.

Originally, they had decided to keep trick-or-treating on its designated night, but after the 7-0 start for the team, mayor Stone reevaluated the original call.

"This is one of the most family oriented towns probably around, you know, and yeah we like football but when you're winning you really like it. I think sometimes changes are necessary and it won't leave our town quite so vacant," said Stone.

But city hall has received calls from people in town who disagree with moving the holiday.

"Even it they're not winning a lot, people go to these football games because it's their children.  It's all about a family operation."

The Van Independent School District had nothing to do with the decision, said Stone. This was his call.

2-year-old, $60 million Texas high school stadium closed for 'extensive cracking': Report

A $60 million Texas high school football stadium that got national attention for its perceived extravagance and excessive price tag will be shut down indefinitely just 18 months after its opening, school district officials said Thursday.

Eagle Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Allen will be closed until at least June for an examination of "extensive cracking" in the structural concrete of the stadium's concourse which officials have called "unacceptable." 

The closure will likely affect home games at the stadium this fall, the district said.

School officials said the cracked areas — possibly caused by weather and shifting soil — have been covered by tarps.

Built in 2012 as part of a $120 million bond issue, Eagle Stadium rivals some college stadiums. It seats 18,000 people and sports a 38-foot-wide video board.

The stadium's opening was a moment of pride for the community of Allen and its taxpayers, a fast-growing Dallas suburb that has become home to a high school football powerhouse. The Eagles won the Class 5A Division I state championship last year.

District officials defended the cost — a budget-busting figure even in football-crazy Texas, home to hundreds of schools playing under the "Friday Night Lights" — by calling the stadium an investment for generations of future Eagles fans and a much-needed upgrade from the district's previous 35-year-old field.

There's no word on where the funds to repair the damage will come from.

Longhorns are still college football's most valuable team: Report

Texas may be south of the Top-25 when it comes to the college football pollsters, but for the fifth straight year, the 8-and-4 Longhorns are still number one with the accountants.

The Longhorns football team is now worth $139 million, almost 20% more than any other team in the country, according to Forbes Magazine.

Texas has been college football’s most valuable team since 2009, when it took over the top-spot from  Notre Dame with a value of $119 million. The team’s unprecedented value is built on the back of the nation’s most dedicated fan base, which has helped Texas lead all schools in merchandise sales, secure the most lucrative school-specific TV deal and become the only college football team in history to cross $100 million in revenue, which the Longhorns have done for the last two seasons.

College football’s second-most valuable team in 2013 is Notre Dame, which rebounded to $117 million after suffering a down year. The 14% surge in value is mostly tied to the Fighting Irish “hosting” an additional home game (which was played in Chicago’s Soldier Field), providing support to academic programming that’s unmatched by any team in college football and qualifying for the BCS National Championship, which netted the school a unique $6.2 million payout.

Alabama has risen from sixth to third this year, with the Crimson Tide’s value up 15% to $110 million. It’s the first time an SEC team has cracked the top three since Georgia held the No. 3 spot in 2007. Alabama’s rise stems not only from the financial rewards of dominating on the field, where the Crimson Tide have won three of the last four BCS National Championships, but also the one-time payout it received for playing Michigan in a season-opening game at AT&T Stadium last year.

To determine college football’s most valuable teams, Forbes considers each team’s value to its athletic department, its university’s academic endeavors, its conference and its school’s local economy. Athletic value consists of football profit that is directed toward supporting non-revenue sports, like softball or gymnastics, while a team’s value to academics consists of money that supports football scholarships or other non-athletic programming, like faculty support, non-athletic scholarships or a library fund. Conference value consists of revenue generated for other conference teams by participating in a bowl game, and a team’s value to its local community consists of the direct spending injected by fans visiting the area on days of the team’s home games.

The Longhorns are still number two in Lone Star State football though. The Dallas Cowboys dwarf their college rivals with a value of an estimated $2.3 billion.

Following Texas, Notre Dame and Alabama, says Forbes, are LSU, Michigan, Florida, Oklahoma, Georgia, Ohio State and Nebraska.

Lindsay Lohan getting cozy with ex-NFLer Matt Nordgren (Remember him?)

Lindsay Lohan has been getting cozy with Matt Nordgren, a 30-year-old former football player who starred on the defunct Bravo reality show “Most Eligible Dallas.”

Sources told N.Y. Post's Page Six Nordgren, who was in New York this week on business, is telling people the two are dating. Nordgren — who never threw a pass while he played one season for the Philadelphia Eagles after being a backup quarterback for Vince Young at the University of Texas — is reportedly having no problem hooking up with the troubled starlet.

Nordgren seems to know his way around the C-list dating pool. He’s also been linked to ­Vienna Giardi of “The Bachelorette” and “The Hills” star Audrina Patridge.

When Page Six quizzed Nordgren directly about dating ­Lohan, he said: “We’ve hung out. But I have been a friend trying to support her for many years now.”

He explained that he met the "Mean Girls" star about seven years ago through mutual friends in Los Angeles.

When asked if Lohan, who was spotted at the Purple magazine party at the Top of the Standard last week, was sober, he told the gossip site: “She’s completely sober for months now. She’s in a great place, she’s thinking clear and working hard and meeting with all the right people."

Good to know.

Referee flags school band for playing too loud

A Texas middle school football team was penalized for the band in the stands doing what it supposed to do — play the team's fight song.

A referee threw the flag and told the student band he wanted quiet during the game and warned the Hudson Middle School's band director that he would keep throwing flags as long as the kids kept playing too loud.

The stunned band members packed up their brass instruments and drums and left before halftime.

They sure take their football seriously in the Lone Star State.



Students and parents were outraged at the official's maverick call.

"Hudson had the ball, our band started to play ... and that's when the ref threw the flag," said one mom.  "I know a lot of parents will say football is more important than the band, but us band parents, we don't believe that."

If there is any justice to this story it's that the official was ordered to leave the field before halftime too. Garland ISD, the local school district, told the officiating organization to never assign that referee to any other events in the district.

"This was a first," said the Garland ISD spokesman Chris Moore.  "First and last time it happens here."

Moore said the Garland ISD does not have a policy regarding bands playing at games and it appears that the ref was enforcing an NCAA rule set for college football games.