U-S-A!

I can't buy the comparisons that some analysts are making between today's USA-Canada hockey game and 1980's Miracle on Ice. Yes the US was a big underdog and Canada a huge overdog coming into the Vancouver games, but a game between two teams made up of all pros should never be mentioned in the same sentence as the Miracle. But it was an extremely entertaining game nonetheless. And an excuse to watch one of my favorite sporting clips again...

Come Early. Be Loud. Stay Late....I wish.

After the Kansas-Texas basketball game this past Monday, I came away with a sour taste in my mouth. It wasn't the loss that put this taste in my mouth, but the Longhorn fans at the game. After spending all week pondering the state of Longhorn fans and sports fans in general, I planned on writing a piece about the sad state of Texas fans. But halfway through writing it, while flipping through 100 Things Longhorns fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, I decided this was a topic that merited more attention than the short rant I had pieced together.

What intrigued me were these two quotes I ran across:

Jane Weinert Blumberg wrote this in the 1930's about UT students, "...students were reluctant to express too much enthusiasm because that would not have seem sophisticated."

Joe Frantz had this to say in the 1970's, "Lord, I wish Texas audiences would arrive on time and remain in their seats until the game is over!"

I have never felt Texas fans have lived up to the t-shirt slogan: Come Early. Be Loud. Stay Late. But now I want to find out the history behind why a university with one of the nation's premier athletic programs has such crummy fans.

Now don't get me wrong, being crummy fans doesn't mean Longhorn fans aren't highly knowledgeable and very passionate about their teams. But this alone does not a good fan make.

In my next piece(s) I'll give my definition of a good fan, why Texas fans are not good fans, where this comes from and how I wish Texas fans would act.

'til then,
Hook 'em.

Coming Soon

Texas "fans" make me sick. More to come soon.

Terrifying

You should know writing a blog terrifies me.

Right up there with jumping out of an airplane, one of the most terrifying things I can think of for an acrophobiac like myself, is having my writing out there for anyone to read. I can barely write a text message without compulsively worrying about the way it will be interpreted and what it will say about me. I am constantly concerned with what light people see me in. And to me writing is a 10 million candlepower spotlight shining right down on me.

But you should also know that I love conquering my terrors. It thrills me. Skydiving may be the most horrifying thing I can imagine, but I will do it some day. Not because I want to, but because I have to. I have to feel the thrill.

So with this I post the first of many thoughts accessible to the entire world. Something that has terrified me for a long time. Something that I can finally feel the thrill of conquering. I have no idea where this blog will lead. I only know it scares the hell out of me. And that's a good thing.