Hadn’t really followed the football team at all before that, but somehow I quickly became aware of the myth surrounding the program, the hopes and expectations, the enormity of potential begging for fulfillment. The Longhorns became my team deeply and unreservedly. I rose and fell as the program ebbed and flowed. About a year ago I did a Google search for Longhorn blogs and came upon the BON community. It quickly became a staple of my daily reading, my attempt quench the unquenchable thirst for all things Texas sports. What kept me coming back was the exceptional writing of PB and all the other contributors, as well as that sense of community that humans search for so deeply.
I don’t recall what led me to football as a fan. As a lover of sports it was easy. Coming from the Midwest, I associated football with the changing of the seasons, that beautiful melancholy of the fall as the leaves change color and drop from the trees. In the season of death my love for sport was reborn every year with football. The incredible combination of finesse and brute physicality.
As for Mack Brown’s quoted forty times, it seems likely that they are not correct, although there is a significant difference in speed between 4.30 and 4.39. Regardless, I think his message is that these players are fast. Colt looks noticeably quicker than the 4.74 that he ran in high school. And Mack is an advocate for his players, so I think most ardent fans know that his comments should be taken with a grain of salt.

My freshman year and the year of the shock the nation tour (that ended in a cold slap of reality). Interest waned over the next few years until the following milestones occured:
 
-Sun Bowl win over UNC
-Beating the Aggies on a somewhat consistent basis
-Winning the last SWC championship
-Beating highly ranked NU several times, including the first Big 12 Champ. game ever
-Ricky’s senior year
-Signing Chris Simms
-The recruiting class of 2002 (when I first started really following recruiting)

Since I transferred to UT Fall ‘66, and saw Chris Gilbert run (and read DR’s comment that CG “could get traction with both feet in the air”). Absolutely cemented with the Wishbone and all that followed. And my time in the 40-Yard Mosey was not recorded.

Daddy was a Texas fan my whole life (see below), but more for basketball. I started following the football team in earnest in ’98 when I was applying to colleges (yes, I was factoring football into my decision process). The rest is history. And I already had a closet full of orange!

Born into it. Born right by the stadium in St. David’s in ‘62. Uncle played for Texas in the early 50’s. First football I remeber at age 2 and a half was the Orange and White game. One of the first stuffed animals I remember was Bevo (you know with the wires in the horns?… probably couldn’t give one to a child now, it would be "unsafe").

Grew up with Danny Akers, Fred’s son and played football with him in High School. Met James Street at age 6 and the rest was history. Oh, and I have a really cool program with the 1970 Team picture on it from the football banquet that year with all the guys having signed it… that was quite a feat for an 8 yr. old to accomplish in Austin back then, lot’s of walking around and talking with some really big guys (really big back then at age 8).

Wife and I graduated from Texas and I bleed orange and long for football season. I bought in to the myth long ago.

They’re just too serious about things like this. Vondrell McGee’s drag coefficients are too high and his propulsion system needs a boost before he can run a 4.3 in Earth normal atmosphere. Have HB crash him into the moon, and all bets are off.

The longhorn mythos was ingrained from an early age, though always from the adversarial point of view (the family composition is otherwise Ags, Raiders and…land thieves-though as faculty rather than the less tolerable graduates). My blood turned burnt orange when I arrived at UT in ‘02. I can’t explain how I contracted burnt orange hemoglobin, though I credit Nathan Vasher for making me aware of the condition. Symptoms further exacerbated when I started going to a C-USA school and moved away from my UT kindred. There were severe withdrawal pangs as I my outlets for regular, quality longhorn discussion became scarce…you don’t know how much you love the best things in life until you have to work for them.

My citizenship in Burnt Orange Nation came recently, though I’ve visited since 2006 (thanks to a link from EDSBS), I was one of the silent majority who came just to enjoy the information that editors and posters compile and analyze. Like many others I came for the information and became a regular because of the community. Besides being cordial, witty, and well informed, folks around here are impressively tolerant of a guy posting under the name of a dead circuit judge. It’s an impressive place.

As for my 40 time…Suffice to say, I am acutely aware that I have never had the speed for D-1 (and maybe D-2) football.

I came to visit a friend in Austin during my freshman year at a college in SA and decided I needed to transfer to Austin the next semester and I never left. It was so big and so incredible that even sco-pro couldn’t keep me from getting my degree and that Texas Exes window sticker.

I became fully orange blooded my first football game, can’t remember exactly who we played, it might’ve been because the free pizza and beer at some pizza place on MLK at 7am before the game. Texas/ou 14-13 in 1990 may be the most incredible sporting event I have ever been a part of in my life. Louder than any rock concert by far.

Stumbled on BON by chance during the 05 NC run and have visited just about every day since. Best Longhorn coverage bar none.

I know for sure that I can still run the 40 in 40.

I have loved football and basketball for as long as I can remeber. Moved to Texas at age 8, and discovered there were two sides to cheer for. Fell in love with Texas during Earl’s Heisman year. Attended UT starting in 86 and have not left Austin since. My fastest real forty time was 4.4, although during PE our coach set up a 20 yard shuttle run (20 yards there and 20 yards back). He put us in a line dropped a cone, where we stood, turned his back and walked 20 yards. Turning his back was a huge mistake because we picked up the cone and walked 5 yards toward him. I ran that shuttle 40 in 3.8. Of course it was really a 30, but it went in the book. I came to BON in 2005 (My UID is 68) meaning I am an early adopter.

Good line, whills. To a great extent that’s the function of football in our culture, as it is in many others going back to the early civilizations. It sustains the ancient warrior cult and provides the tribal identity that humans are ingrained to need. By identifying with our team, we gain a sense of belonging and a reinforcement of group values.

Though my dad was a UH grad, his best year was spent at UT in Austin before the war and he remained a Texas fan all his life. When I made my own decision to come here, it strengthened the bond between us — especially when my little brother ran off to A&M. That made football a family affair for us, and even though the two of them are no longer living, I can’t watch a game without thinking of them. My mom is still around and feels the same way. Longhorn football and basketball are something we can share. I guess my point is that in addition to the tribal identity, there is a generational dimension that is equally important.