Where I Come From: Bleeding Burnt Orange

I preordered NCAA 2011 for ps3 last week

I should have been a Tiger.

I grew up in an LSU family. Both my parents went to LSU, as would my brother down the road.

I remember many a Saturday night listening to LSU football games on the AM radio (hey, this predates ESPN!), my dad having drawn a line on the radio to point out exactly where the faint frequency of the Baton Rouge station could be found. I think my dad hot me up for a donation when he wanted to raise funds to buy out a coach’s contract. I think I donated a quarter. And I had a Mike The Tiger poster above my bed, propaganda brought back from a game at Tiger Stadium.

So my parents tried. It didn’t work.

For specific reasons which still escape me, I instead became a rabid Longhorn fan from my earliest days. The only reason as to why which makes sense is that I was conditioned to be a sports fan from the start, I was growing up in Texas and therefore I should root for “Texas.”

Even with that slim basis, it was a deep connection I had as a child with UT. The highs were high, and the lows very low. The loss, as the #1 team, at Arkansas in 1981, and the Cotton Bowl loss at the end of the 1983 season were particularly painful memories. (Although I have recently discovered a silver lining from that Cotton Bowl loss. In addition to the Cotton Bowl tickets, I received a game-worn jersey as a Christmas gift a friend of a friend had swiped for me from the locker room. I wore it for a while, then it got lost. In the last year or so, I came across it again. It was a Jeff Leiding jersey. A Number 60 jersey. How cool is that?!?)

Now, as my user name implies, I did not wind up following my heart and go to UT as an undergrad, but that had nothing to do with Texas and everything to do with a 17-year-old’s desire to get as far away from home as the college admissions process would allow. But while in Baltimore, I halfway knew I had made a mistake and got the paperwork to transfer a couple of times, but never quite had the guts to walk away from my budding (and now long-forgotten) friendships in Baltimore and move back home. But when it came time for law school, I knew I was Austin bound. (Though I did apply everywhere for law school as backups, as I kind of knew some of the talk about things going on in the admissions process and wanted to ensure acceptance somewhere. Even though I did get in, the “talk” I heard which led me to diversify my applications wound up being substantiated over the years, as my incoming class was the Hopwood class.)

What’s strange is that, even at five years old, I gravitated to the school which made the most sense for who I am. There is no doubt that I was meant to be a Longhorn and not an Aggie or Mustang (a real choice growing up in the Pony Express era Dallas) or a Red Raider or anything else out there.

Nobody in my family went to Texas but my dad was a big fan. I remember my dad taking Saturday’s off (no pay for a blue collar worker) when the Horn’s would play on the tube (back when you might only be on TV once, at best twice a year). I also most went to the agriculture school because I did not take a foreign language in HS. I had every intention to not fall into their evil brainwashing. But the day the acceptance letter came there was no doubt where I was going. Went for three years (bad football years), in the Army for three more. During that time I really started to understand bleeding burnt orange. When you get outside the state, it can be tough to get information about the boys (pre-internet). You plan days around game time (4 am in the morning to listen to Texas-OU in Korea).

After my Army days, I finally finished up with that piece of paper we all longed for. Bad part was it was more bad football, even though we won the last SWC title (actually the year after I graduated, but I was still using Army money to wait for the future Ms. Bevoboy94 to graduate.) I still regret th e day I should have run over John Mackovic and his staff while driving the 40 Acres bus route. I believe I would have never been convicted (especially after the Route 66) because of our wonderful lawyer alumni base. But no I hit the curb instead.

You really know you bleed burnt orange when you have lived in the Land of Thieves for over ten years and you make it to every home game you can. I never had season tickets till I move up here to hell. I put up with 5 straight losses but never waivered. I wear and own more burnt orange now than I ever have in my life. When both of my daughters were born, I was brainwashing them within minutes of birth. Even though they have spent most of their lives in the Land of Thieves, they know where the best University is and the rest are there just for us to toy with. They know of the evil school most worship in this state but my girls have remained strong and loyal to The University.

Go Horns.

My Dad graduated from UH and Mom from TWU, so nothing really pointed me to UT. I was a “sputnik” kid, which meant that everyone was so scared of the Ruskies that the brighter students got force fed a whole lot of math and science. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that I would be going to Rice, which had the best science and engineering programs in the State, until I made my campus visit. It was a miserable, hot day in Houston and the more I saw, the less I liked the place — the campus, the students, the dorms. I could already feel the pressure. After I came home, I sent Rice my withdrawal letter and decided to go to Austin with some buddies to check out UT. Soon as I got here, I felt I was in the right place. The Drag, the scene on the West Mall, the hippies, the girls, the football — this was the college atmosphere I wanted. So I signed up for something called Plan II and headed back for Orientation. Three days later, shots rang out from the Tower. I had been spared. It was destiny.

Vince Young, Colt McCoy

That thinks Vince Young is the greatest. We personally witnessed his growth over 3 seasons, and I still consider our 2-1 record vs. Vince one of our great accomplishments. Now that I am thinking of it, did he even start the first game? Either way, Vince Young was by far the most dominant player I’ve seen in cfb, and I scoff every time somebody lauds Tebow.

I grew up in Houston, Tx and attended Clear Lake High School. My parents divorced when I was 7 years old. In my father’s absence, my grandfather played the role of the Grand Poobah of all that is sports. We went to Astros games as often as possible and he was a Cowboys season ticket holder. Now, living in Clear Lake, my grandfather commuted to Port Arthur as he worked at Chevron/Texaco. My great grandmother (still alive and will be 98 this August) lives there, and my grandfather would drop me off at her house for a few days and then I would return home with him. Invariably, one direction of the trip fell on a Saturday. This was 1976-1978. He would ALWAYS have the Horns on the radio and I recall him telling me about this RB named Earl Campbell. He said he was the greatest RB he had ever seen from the state of Texas. I was introduced to Earl, the Horns, and Burnt Orange at age 7, and I was hooked.

I played baseball through high school and I recall being enthralled with Clemens and Swindell and looked forward to the CWS each and every year, furthering my love of the Horns. My grades prevented me from being admitted into UT (I partied a bit too much in HS). Yet, even as a Cougar graduate, if the Horns are across the field, you will find me in burnt orange. They were and will always be my first love.

I was an Army brat, always moving around. My entire family is from California, so Cali has always had an incredible pull on me. My dad taught me to believe in the power of sports and the teams I followed (SF 49ers, SF Giants) did nothing to disappoint. But I never had a college team, only pro teams. Everyone in my family went to the University of San Francisco, which hasn’t fielded a football team in about 40+ years, I believe. So college ball literally meant nothing to me, except for a passing fondness for the Cal Golden Bears.

However, the last place my dad was stationed was here in Texas and I ended up finishing my high school career here. I was always a pretty smart kid and I had enough California propaganda to want to go to school on the West Coast. But my first choice, Cal-Berkeley didn’t want me and I was reluctant to accept a music scholarship to my hometown UTEP. I was offered an academic scholarship to go to UT and I thought about that for awhile. My friends in high school had always had a supremely high view of UT. According to them, it was paradise and they pushed hard for me to come here. Still debating, I took their advice to look into the phenomenon that was The University of Texas football and experience it. That senior year, I sat back during bowl season to watch my first ever UT game. It just so happened to be the 2001 Holiday Bowl. I watched a Texas legend Major Applewhite outduel a Cody Pickett-led Washington team in a shootout and I was hooked. The next day, I accepted their UT’s offer.

Now, I have a degree from UT (with a second coming in December, hopefully) and I still look back and silently thank the army for putting my dad in Texas. Then I thank my friends for exposing me to the magnificence of UT and the beauty of Austin. And Major Applewhite for showing me the Texas spirit and the fact that my blood must’ve bled burnt orange all along.

Living in the state of Wyoming can be rather lonely on Saturdays during football season. As a Texas Ex, BON has been my escape for both praise and ranting during and after games. Thanks Peter for creating BON for all the Texas expats!

Good stuff, brother. My dad’s side of the family is from Texas and my mom’s side is from Oklahoma. Thankfully I chose the good guys. I can’t remember when I started watching Texas football games, I was so young. I never went to Texas but my heart has always been there. I make it to Austin whenever I can. I was at the National Championship in January and it was just an awesome experience. I absolutely love watching the Texas Longhorns play football.

It started very early for me I would imagine, as my father and grandfather were die hard longhorn fans, so therefore I grew up a horn my whole life. However, things took a turn for me once I moved out of Houston and into a little town on the outskirts called Crosby in 1995. Now Crosby is a hick town, and as you can imagine hick towns are known for producing “Aggy” fans in vast quantities. My father joined the fire department which usually consists of Aggies as well due to the best Fire Academy in the state being at A&M.

So while being pulled in different directions between family and friends, I found a haven in something that we like to call The 1996 Texas Longhorn Football Team. I thank the Lord for Ricky, Priest, James, Mackovic, and Roll Left as that season took away any doubt as to where I wanted to go to school. As I grew up, I too became a fireman, and ironically spent 4 months at A&M going through the fire academy and had the time of my life there. So A&M will always have a place in my heart for what they’ve done for me, however I’m as die-hard a longhorn than anyone else in my opinion and nothing will change that. Hook em boys!

there is no greater feeling than living in SoCal with a Horns auto emblem proudly displayed next to your plates. USC fan absolutely hates Texas. \m/

Hook Em` Horns!

From political emails to sports emails to All Things Longhorn to Burnt Orange Nation, it’s been quite a ride!

Along with the help of authors and readers, this is one of the best sports blogs on the interwebs, and I’m just proud to have been a part of it.

The reason why I attended the University of Texas and bleed Burnt-Orange go back to one person, my mom. Neither of my parents went to college. In fact, after high school graduation my dad enlisted in the army and went to ‘Nam. My mother had been a raving lunatic fan of the Dallas Cowboys since she was little so to pass the time and to help her not think about my dad, she also started following college football. Well, this would have been the late ’60s so the team in Texas doing the best was UT. So she started watching Texas football and fell for the team and school. When my dad got back in ’69, he contemplated using the GI Bill to go to college and my mom pushed for UT. Well, my mother got pregnant with my older sister and my father couldn’t see going to college when he had a new mouth to feed so he joined Ma Bell and became a telephone man and the dream of someone in our family going to UT was put away. As far back as I can remember, for me and my family, the weekends meant UT football on Saturday and church with Dallas Cowboys football afterwards on Sunday. I fell for the football team and the school just like my mom did. What’s funny is I knew where my mother wanted me to go and she knew I knew where she wanted me to go, but she never pressured me. She let me make my decision on my own. I flirted with some Ivy League schools, some East Coast school, and even a California school but ultimately there was only one school for me. So in 1990 when I received my acceptance letter from the University of Texas in Austin I thought I was the happiest person in the world. Turns out I wasn’t even the happiest person in my own home.

People in my family attend the University of Texas at Austin. It’s what we do. And, for the last seven years, it’s what I did. It’s still what my sister and three cousins are doing. Further down the road, it’s what my little cousins, second cousins, and future children will do when they graduate high school. It’s just what we do. I always knew I would attend UT, and no other school was ever under consideration.

Wearing the t-shirts started in elementary school, which was when everyone else was solely fixated on the Cowboys. I cant tell you too many of the players, but I can tell you that, to my eyes, there was no better logo or mascot in all of sports. The power of the Texas brand—and especially the Longhorn—is apparent to even a seven-year old.

The rotating series of UT Baseball hats started in intermediate school. I was wearing one of those hats as I listened to our Overtime loss to OU on the radio during a family camping trip in Oklahoma. I started crying, which seemed like the most sensible reaction at the time, especially after it mutated into a PG-13 temper tantrum. When my mother said that we would pack up and head home if I didnt stop, I told her that I wanted to head home, as I couldn’t stand the thought of spending another night in the state of Oklahoma. That feeling hasn’t changed over the last 14 years. It may never change.

Middle school was when my infamous burnt orange windpants made their first appearance. In fact, I think I wore them to school the Monday after the “Rout 66” game, just so everyone knew that my fanhood wasnt shaken. It would never be shaken. Not even when we fired John Mackovic, who had been our coach ever since I really started paying attention. I still remember reading in the FWST that Mack Brown and Gary Barnett were the top two candidates for the job. The same article had a blurb saying Tommy Tuberville “would crawl to Austin on his hands and knees if that’s what it took to get the job.” The article was probably right.

By high school, I was essentially the “Texas Guy” in a high school that produced a ridiculous amount of Aggies and Red Raiders. It was a role that I cherished and embraced. It was also a role that was easy to fulfill, all throughout my four years at Keller. I guess I never fully understood how someone would want to go anywhere else. I still really dont. Due to the Top 10% rule, there was really no drama over my acceptance letter, but it was something I knew that I would keep forever. To this day, it’s sitting in a scrapbook in my room. And, to this day, it’s still the most beautiful letter I’ve ever read.

Getting to Texas was a dream come true. It’s what we do, and it’s what I did. I wouldnt have had it any other way. Hook ’Em!