Bozo-worth

I was introduced to this game back in 1981 while attending Eastern Illinois University. I had talked a friend of mine into joining me for an insane road/plane trip to Dallas in the middle of the semester to visit a friend who attended SMU. I guess I was a little impulsive...anyway, I was in a frat house on a Saturday wondering why everybody was watching this game. Texas and who are playing? What is the big deal?

Fast forward a year. I am now a student at The University of Texas and I am once again in Dallas. I now sleep on the floor at that frat house at SMU for the weekend, but now I am going to the game with my roommates. Texas loses the game. As I am leaving the stadium, an Oklahoma fan jokingly says to me, "I'll give you a nickel for that shirt." (I had on a Texas t-shirt) Since I was already almost bawling because they lost, this hit a nerve.

The next year, I was in Dallas once again at the game, and this time Texas won. I searched high and low for that Oklahoma fan who had injured my pride the year before...but no sign of him. So, it has been GAME ON ever since. I do not like them and they do not like me. (I got into it today with some Sooner fans on facebook, imagine that...)

There was a particular player in the 80's at Oklahoma who embodied this rivalry. His name was Brian Bosworth (We called him Bozo-worth because he was such a clown.) The guy was from Texas, but played for Oklahoma. He wore a Mohawk and wrote weird messages on his shoes about his dislike for the Longhorns. Problem was Oklahoma was pretty good when he was there and they were able to back up the taunting. I remember feeling rather helpless as then #1 Oklahoma pounded Texas. All the Sooner fans were rabidly giving the upside down Hook'em Horns hand signal. It was ugly. I remember telling myself that someday, Texas would be better and beat those stinking Sooners.

I think it took like 5 years, but Texas did finally win again. I jumped for joy when a player named Johnny Walker caught a touchdown pass with like a minute to play to beat them.

Since then, the series has gone back and forth with each team winning in streaks. The last streak was 5 in a row by Oklahoma back when people called Mack Brown "Mr. February", a nickname given to a great recruiter, but poor coach. At the same time, Oklahoma's coach Bob Stoops got the nickname "Big Game Bob", as he enjoyed his success over the Longhorns.

But Texas has won 4 of the last 5 games with a National Title thrown in there for good measure in 2005, so Oklahoma fans are hungry for victory now more than ever. Texas fans found out last week that our run of excellence has come to an end. So now, not only does OU SUCK, but Texas sucks as well. Should be an interesting game. Might be a 49-0 butt kicking by OU, might not. As an old-timer from Oklahoma once told me in a bar on a Friday Night in Dallas on OU Weekend, "We'll see tomorrow on the field son." How true.