The Rivalry

While I was attending Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois back in October of 1981, a friend and I took a little road trip. We drove to St. Louis in a car that was leaking oil so badly that we had to stop every so often and pour in a can of oil just to keep it running. We made it to St. Louis, but that was not our destination. This road trip included a flight to Dallas where we were going to spend the weekend with another friend of mine at Southern Methodist University. The things college kids do...

My friend in Dallas was attending SMU and was in a fraternity. I remember hanging out at the frat house on Saturday morning wondering what the big deal was about the game everybody was watching, Texas vs. Oklahoma. Apparently this game was not just another game. I picked up on the fact that you were either a Longhorn or a Sooner and that this rivalry was passed on from generation to generation. Families had been split on this border war similar to those in the civil war, which by the way is still going on in the minds of the confederates down south. Hello, a Yankee is now a baseball player, get over it.

The game that day was not going well if you were a Texas fan. Oklahoma was leading at halftime 14-3. I remember that there were all of these fumbles in the 2nd half that turned the game around for Texas who eventually won going away 34-14. Little did I know at the time that not only would I be back in Dallas the following year, but I would be a student at The University of Texas and I would be attending the game as well.

My new roommates and I sat in the upper deck in the Cotton Bowl that next October and watched the Longhorns lose to the Sooners 28-22. I was devastated. As I walked out of the stadium, a rather large Sooner fan walked up to me and said he'd give me nickle for my Texas t-shirt. I was not a happy camper.

We stayed with my friend at SMU again that year. We all slept on the floor in his room. SMU was pretty good that year, so we were given a hard time about losing to OU and that SMU was going to beat UT as well. We left town humbled, but not before we pasted our "Beat the Hell outta OU" sticker on one of the frat boys cars as we sheepishly headed back to Austin.

SMU with Craig James and hall of famer Eric Dickerson did beat Texas that year. Another humbling loss. Texas was in position to make a big comeback in that game when a pass deflected out of Jitter Fields' hands into an SMU player's arms and he ran untouched for a touchdown. ESPN analyst Craig James would later seal the deal with an easy touchdown catch off a fake run in the end zone where I was sitting.

Losing to an opponent creates a rivalry. An Indian judges his greatness on how mighty his enemies may be. Those losses are remembered far more than the wins. The next season, I got great seats on the 45 yard line for the OU game and Texas won 28-16. I got the VHS tape of the game for Christmas that year. It was and is that important.

Texas and Oklahoma have played 104 times with Texas holding a 58-40 advantage in the win column. But as much as that matters overall, it means nothing when the two teams get together one Saturday a year at the State Fair of Texas in the Cotton Bowl to renew the Red River Shootout. Records and ranking mean nothing. So, this coming Saturday, as they say, get ready to rumble. Sayings like: "Better Dead than Sooner Red" and "OU SUCKS" will ring out in Dallas. I am nervous...once again.