I saw this at last week’s game but was too far away to pick it out… I thought it was just a normal Come and Take It flag, but no.

I had to explain half a college course’s worth of Texas history to Erik to make him understand because apparently he’s never heard of this phrase, seen the flag, or known anything about Texas because he is a retard. He’s also never ridden a horse but calls himself a Texan. Roots for the Astros and Spurs but also the cowboys (WTF?) and is a ginger… So all around, just a complete special-ed head case.

If you are like Erik and uneducated on the Texas Revolution this is one of the famous flags flown during it… specifically the Battle of Gonzales where a small squad of Texans held off a much larger force of Mexicans coming to take the cannon.

There are good advertising campaigns… and then there is “What Starts Here Changes The World.”

Everyone who has watched a football game in the last couple of years or has heard of the University of Texas probably knows what I am talking about. Simple, to the point narratives stretched over different imagery of Austin and the campus, the ads ‘give you the chills’ if your a UT student / alumni and pretty much tell everyone else what they are missing out on.

First off the tagline is great. It is carried over in all the literature and campaigns that go on around a university and has become commonplace on campus, but when voiced over by David Carradine (the whataburger commercials) evokes a completely different emotion. It has its roots in the new plan of the University to not just be a world class institution of higher learning but to spread its emphasis in research and a few other areas; but has coincided with a spreading of UT’s image for a couple of different reasons.

This is not the sole reason, but UT Athletics in the past few years has an absolutely unprecedented string of notable achievements. There is still no greater advertisement than a winning football team. (Applicants to the university shot up 50% after the national championship team and continue to destroy records every year since then) The university was already headed in a very positive direction pre-Vince Young, but the ability to showcase that on a national scale can’t be matched. Then UT came along and got serious playtime for this bunch of ads during that time.

Everytime this commercial comes on (they play them during the football games on the godzilla-tron) it gets the same kind of cheering you would expect from a winning touchdown. Every arm is raised with the ‘horns up and eye turned toward the screen. What kind of ad evokes that reaction? It really is powerful not only to the 100,000 in the stadium on gamedays but every time it is played on TV.

The ads are simple but the images are powerful . Watch ‘ em.

Put Your Horns Up During game :

Quicktime Links
(favorite) : Horns Up
(same vid, different message, hook’em horns)Rallying Cry

Breakfast Tacos

Soul

Quote from Mack Brown this month’s issue of Texas Monthly : 

More than anything else, I am at a point in my life when I want this place packed. I want the fans having fun. I want them wearing orange. An I don’t want it to be just a football game. I want it to be something you do if you are in the state of Texas on Saturday. You make time in your schedule for it, you plan weddings and anniversaries around it. Because this is Texas football. 

Put. Your. Horns. Up.

Decently funny… more importantly, how did they do that?

Unbelievable McCain Vs. Obama Dance-Off - Watch more free videos

Other News : Colt McCoy is coming back for his senior season. That’s right. Heisman winning - championship ring toting Colt McCoy is coming back. Did I speak too soon on the second part?

Oh its another wonderful football weekend coming up in Austin, Texas. #1 TEXAS vs. #7 Oklahoma State University. You may remember them from Vince Young’s epic 27 point come back during the championship season…. or from being beaten alot by us. Anyways, this year they are better, and after the last 2 weeks of playing ridiculously high ranked teams why not throw in a third.

I plan on having a wonderful time tailgating and here is my personal guide from 3 years of experience.

1. Print your ticket, twice, and put one in your wallet and one in your pocket, boot or wherever else you won’t lose it during the hours pre-game. I will not return to the house for a man without a ticket.

2. Texas Exes Member Card. This is the most important part (and a very new addition to the list). If you are not a texas ex, grab a student texas ex membership, its worth it, OR find a friend who has graduated and is really old (like Erik Stark). We will touch on this later.

3. Find a good parking spot. Tailgating takes place everywhere… so this is going to take a little work on your part, but plan your exit well. If you live south of the stadium you want to park south of the stadium even if you tailgate north of it… walk ten minutes and save yourself an hour of drive time on the way out. I park to the north of the stadium in a good little neighborhood where there are always a few good spots, it just goes overlooked, don’t give in to the $20 per spot places too quickly… but sometimes they are worth it.

4. Wear boots, and wranglers, and orange. Don’t wear white. I don’t care how hot it is outside… you wear orange. If you don’t wear the boots or wranglers we will lose. Ask Erik, he wears boots FINALLY, and we score  35 in the first half.

5. Mooch. At any point in time have multiple tailgates lined up. Sure bring your own case of cheap beer if you want, but its better to just tailgate-hop. Due to the sheer quantity of tailgates on Martin Luther King, I normally aim my time to that location…

6. Use the MLK creek. There is a wondurous creek in the middle of the MLK tailgates. Don’t use the hopelessly outnumbered port-a-potty system…. Follow the line of guys down the dangerously steep slope to take a pee in the creek. Saves time.  Good commradory. Makes you feel like a man. Not entirely essential to be a guy… but just preferred.

7. Go to the game. Take those 3 shotguns seconds before leaving… walk the distance to the stadium and whatever you do … go through Gate 1 if you are a student. Gate 25 is stupid. Don’t bring a bag… they slow everyone down (that was a note to the chicks).

8. Halftime - This is where I am going to drop some knowledge on you kids. It is a new addition to my weekly tailgating schedule. A lot of the time your at the game… your there for a while … the drinks start to lose their effect and then you have a semi-headache and no enthusiasm for the rest of the game. How can the longhorns win with a hungover crowd barely cheering them on? They can’t. Therefore… it is your DUTY… to leave a few minutes before halftime (as long as no one is in scoring position) run to the Texas Ex center… use that pass I told you to remember earlier… and spend money on ridiculously overpriced beer. Well, not ridiculously, but still, alot more overpriced than that 50cent Natty you drank earlier. Anyways, you down two of those, eat a hamburger and get back to the game before the 2nd half kicks off.

You can watch the other ongoing games in the sweet setup of the Ex center… with its tv’s and projector screens etc…. and get a break from sitting behind that fat chick who keeps falling off her stadium seating into you.

It is the key to the enjoyment of the game. Then you walk home after Texas wins and go to sleep. The nap is also important. So you can go back downtown to celebrate with the other Texas folk and make fun of the losing team’s fans.

Note to girls : Do whatever you like… just keep doing what your doing.

…That only means one thing. Fringe is on.

Great mess up of the day :

Sean Connery was heavily pursued to play Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but declined because he ‘didn’t understand them’ and had never read the books. At one point in the proceedings he was offered up to 15% of the worldwide box off receipts…. In case you were wondering how the movie did… that would have been $400 million in the bank.

Picture of the day : 

Tiger Woods caddies for the winner of some contest. Yeah…. I would probably still carry my own bag.

Humor of the day : 

Britney Spear’s sister getting pregnant…. 2 months after the first kid was born. Hi-larious, even if the news is a month old.

Little known info of the day :

This is Colt McCoy’s Girlfriend.

 Good Ol’ Peoria, Texas. From The Texas Handbook : By the 1980s the town had a population of eighty-one, two general stores with gas stations, and a garage. Peoria residents, who primarily raised peanuts, cotton, and hay, attended the Baptist or Presbyterian churches still active there, and their children attended Hillsboro schools. Through 2000 the population of Peoria was still reported as eighty-one.

Don’t ask me why… but I got an e-mail from the Mozilla team and they put my theme up in the fully open area of the website. Weird, considering, a week ago I got the official removal notice.

Not sure what the deal is, but for now its up and running.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8247

Download it, and tell your friends.

Anything else to say after that game? Perfect. PERFECT, first half of football. 5 possessions, 5 touchdowns. 3 points given up on defense (last minute field goal).

Colt McCoy ridiculous stats : 29 of 32 passing, 2 TD’s passing 2 TD’s running. More touchdowns than INCOMPLETIONS.

In the last two games Oklahoma & Mizzou, Colt McCoy has thrown 85.1%. Over 80% for the season. Yikes. The stadium was on fire from the beginning. All of Austin was a buzz for Mizzou in town, when the buses rolled up three hours before game time the outside of the stadium was packed.

I haven’t seen an enviornment like that since the Vince Young championship season (my freshman year)… but even more than that the home games this year are pretty insane tickets. Arkansas (was a top team coming into season) Mizzou (#11 , could have been #3) Oklahoma State (Currently #8, maybe higher), Kansas (#16 currently) and Texas A&M (Terrible team, but on thanksgiving and one of the better rivalries in college football)

Normally the season tickets are one good game, or a decent game, and a bunch of baylors or whatever. This year its stacked.

My getting chills moment of the game : Colt McCoy after being pulled to sit and rest in the 4th, standing 5 or 6 yards onto the field apart from the rest of the team, just watching the game when the camera hits him and the crowd (a record 98,383 ALL of whom stayed until the end) started cheering. It slowly built up and was a roar before he realized why we were cheering, saw himself on the screen and just did the hook’ em. Teammates / coaches stared to come over and congratulate him , regardless of how the rest of the season goes Colt is officially a Texas QB legend.

By the way… how sick was the almost-sack / fumble / kick it in front of you / pick it up and throw it for 23 yards play? That is one of those where you need to just run to the middle of the field and do the heisman pose.

Also of note : I started the Over-Rated chant…. in the first quarter.

Final Note : New addition to UT cheering: Some random kid started a slow clap that spread to the whle stadium. Sounded awesome at the end of the game.

Hook’ em.

Today is Texas vs. Mizzou. College Gameday was on campus, and while I missed it due to being asleep. I have heard about some pretty funny signs… For all you UT Fans here they are :
 

1. Chuck Norris checks under his bed at night for Will Muschamp.
2. I’m Claustrophobic! (it was super packed)
3. Chase Daniels ate my sign! (hes fat)
4. Chase Daniels head was cut out and pasted on the fat kid from the goonies (hes fat)
5. Chunk Daniel (hes fat)
6. We still don’t want you Chase (We got colt over chase)
7.  Not a sign but should be : Orakpwn3d
8. i hate tim tebow. <–classic
9. More Chase Daniel w/ pillsbury dough boy (hes fat)
10. The only good Tiger plays golf

Its a few days away. Texas Vs. Oklahoma. # 5 vs. # 1. A possible trip to the National Championship on the line.

The Big 12 is ridiculous this year. Absolutely. Getting through the schedule is tough enough, but Texas is the only team who has to play all 5 of the other big 12 top 25-ranked teams before the season is through. It begins this week… Oklahoma, then mizzou, and somewhere down the line we have to fit in OSU, Kansas and Good ol’ Texas Tech. Of course toss in a Thanksgiving Day A & M game and you have the makings for a mighty fine football season. (Made all the better by my OU , mizzou, and A&M tickets) 

So, get fired up, Dallas should be hopping this week. I just watched the 06 Rose bowl. Most epic game ever. Here is a video a buddy of mine put together from that season :

(The first part in black and white is quotes / clips from the 05 season & training camp)

PASSWORD IS SOCCER

Texas Passion from tyler lee on Vimeo.