On a related note, the Longhorns lost to Texas A&M on Friday.  It was very sad.  Then OU won against Oklahoma State, which means they beat us out for winning the Big 12 South.  Booooo.  Oh well, there's always next year.

 

 

Well I have piles and piles of things I should be doing, however, as the procrastinator (sp?) I am, I have decided that I must, MUST write a blog entry tonight. Yes it is almost midnight, yes I have papers to grade and assignments to work on, but I have been putting this off too long. I declared on September 1 that I would write about my football experiences, and it is halfway through November. So here goes.

My computer is on the fritz and won’t let me load pictures, so you will have to wait for those. But at least I can share my words with y’all for now.
One thing I learned at my first Longhorns football game, way back on September 2^nd was that there are a lot of traditions tied into this game. I mean the Vancouver Canucks had the white towels, but that was nothing compared to the Longhorns traditions. First and foremost is our mascot, Bevo, who is a Texas Longhorn. Longhorns, I learned at the Bob Bullock Texas State history museum, are very strong and hardy and perfect for the harsh conditions on the Texas plains. Currently presiding over games is Bevo XIV. All Bevos have had burnt orange colouring and obviously really long horns. Everyone says that they drug the hell out of him when he comes to games, but according to Wikipedia, that is just a rumor.

So we have Bevo in the Southeast corner of the stadium, and in the Northwest corner is a small-ish cannon operated by a bunch of cowboy-looking fellows in chaps. The canon goes off to announce kick off at the beginning of each quarter and after each touchdown. I nearly jumped out of my skin each time it went off the first game. Even now, when I know to expect it, I still get startled when it fires half the time. Also at the North end of the field is the Texas POM, who are untalented, pretty girls in chaps who sort of dance and kick their legs a lot. Much more entertaining is the cheerleading squad, who I feel are massively talented. The girls are all miniature though, which kind of freaks me out. I swear they are all five feet tall or less. It is necessary to be that petite if you are going to be thrown up in the air and do flips and other stunts though. That brings me to the touchdown tradition, that I think is so cute. After each touchdown, all the cheerleaders do back flips across the field then they all line up behind the goal post and go down the line back flipping one at a time for the number of points the Longhorns have. I have a picture that sort of shows them doing it.

Of course, everyone at the game is in Burnt orange, except the one wedge of the stadium that holds fans from the opposing team. At my first game, we were playing against North Texas who are green and white (picture to come). The first game was a million degrees out, but luckily our seats were in the shade for the first two hours because the sun was behind us and we were under the overhang. Yay! It was still almost unbearable even in the shade. Especially because everyone stands for the whole freaking four hour game! We get to sit down during time outs and at half time, but that’s it. I don’t know where that tradition began, but I think it’s time that it ended. Another unpleasant part of the game is that there is no alcohol served in the stadium. This was a big shock for me because what is a sports game without the alcohol? I mean really! The totally hype up tailgating where everyone gets good and drunk before the game, and then they make you stand in the scorching sun for four hours, so you are basically hung over by the end of it all. What a horrible feeling! Fortunately I did not drink before the game because it started at 11:00 am.

Hmmm, what else? Oh yeah, the marching band. I had never seen one before and it was pretty nifty. They not only play instruments, but they actually march around the field and form pictures, words, etc. with their bodies. I was probably way more impressed than I needed to be at this accomplishment, but it just looks so cool! Brooke and I could not help but make fun of the baton twirler though. I mean really, what is the purpose of having a girl in a sequined leotard throw a stick in the air and catch it over and over? And who aspires to be a baton twirler? What kind of training does one go through to become a baton twirler? It’s all very intriguing.

And finally, there is a new score board at the stadium, and since it is Texas, it just so happens to be the largest scoreboard in the world. Which reminds me, I need to blog about my visit to the Texas Propaganda Museum soon…

Rice says Canada and U.S. are 'Best of Friends'

The first half of this article gave me goosebumps. I have heard wonderful things about the friendly people on the East Coast of Canada, and this just further supports those stories. I need to make it over there one of these years. The second half of this article made me angry. With Stephen Harper in power, Canada is going to become more and more like the U.S. and that frightens me. We are slowly but surely entering the 'War on Terror' (or whatever it is called now.)