It’s unfortunate that the past year will remembered as the Year of the Almost. In a decade, most Longhorn fans will remember what failed to happen instead of what actual happened. We will remember the invisible asterisk next to 37-21, the volleyball team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the basketball team imploding faster than Enron, and baseball falling painfully short. For this Bonny Award, let’s forget final outcomes and reminisce over the great moments that we were lucky enough to witness. If you think about it, there were a whole lot of them. This award is more about the emotion derived from those moments rather than the moment itself. For example, I know I wasn’t the only one who got goose-bumps watching Colt lead the seniors around DKR for one last team.
My picks...
The Roomates vs. UCF
If you happen to be reading BON, you are probably familiar with the utter euphoria that was a McCoy pass falling perfectly into the roommate’s hands. Against UCF, we saw it happen eleven times for 273 yards. I’ll always remember Colt taking a big drop to his own five and launching one of the most beautiful passes you’ll ever see to a streaking Shipley at the fifty. Those thirteen seconds it took Shipley to sprint eighty-eight yards were pure euphoria.
Skip to 6:22 and try to tell me your day isn't a little bit better for it.
The Best Pick That Shouldn't Have Been
Defensive backs learn at a young age to drop interceptions on fourth down. When Gideon intercepted that fake-punt-pass two minutes into the National Championship, I don’t think I could have cared less. It was a statement play. Muschamp had Saban’s number for three downs and then Gideon rejected their shenanigans. At that point, I had no doubts that Colt would be holding a crystal football over his head that night.
Doo-Gus Balbay Day
The Texas Tech at home was Dogus Balbay Day. In one day, he went from unknown backup to campus legend. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I corrected people for calling him "Doo-Gus" that week. One play sticks out: as a Tech player went in for the dunk, Dogus jumped higher than any Turk has before and slammed the ball into the stands. That was far from an important game but it was one of most fun regardless.
I think you can even see txtwstr7 in the stands
What moments stood out to you?