When it comes to football rivalries, I am definitely not an expert. How or why they start, I usually have no clue. And why there is a rivalry still in effect, once again, I have no clue.
The big UT/OU game was on Saturday and Dallas was again the midway neutral territory area. Plenty of out-of-towners came and pumped piles of money into the local economy, including some of my favorite bars in Fair Park. (That is a great thing.)
While coming back from dinner with Diana, Ryan, and Matt, an SUV filled with dejected (and drunk) UT fans moaned, "OU sucks." After politely telling these people that everybody in my car did not go to OU (there was one TCU alum, two from UNT, and one from Southern Illinois), they kept moaning how much OU sucked.
The idea of rivalry at TCU is really a joke. As far as what I saw in my four years there, the tension between SMU was more or less about which school was snobbier. Yup, that's it. No spraypainting each other's property. No fistfights over taunts or anything like that.
I was once mistaken for an SMU fan while walking around campus the day of a TCU/SMU game. A dude-bro said "TCU, baby!" and I kept walking in my neutral-colored black and white jacket. Not happy that I didn't respond to him, he called me a "little bitch" as we walked in separate directions.
There are certain universities in Texas that essentially brainwash their students to give a lot to the football program. Whether it's buying season tickets, wearing school colors, or chanting chants, it's part of the curriculum. And that pride is supposed to remain well after graduation.
Maybe because I wasn't forced into the world of TCU football is why I'm a little in the dark about how intense a rivalry can become. I mean, I have only watched one bowl game TCU was in, and that was last year. When it comes to bowl time, I'm hanging out with friends and family and preparing for New Year's; not determining how many games I will watch.
The big UT/OU game was on Saturday and Dallas was again the midway neutral territory area. Plenty of out-of-towners came and pumped piles of money into the local economy, including some of my favorite bars in Fair Park. (That is a great thing.)
While coming back from dinner with Diana, Ryan, and Matt, an SUV filled with dejected (and drunk) UT fans moaned, "OU sucks." After politely telling these people that everybody in my car did not go to OU (there was one TCU alum, two from UNT, and one from Southern Illinois), they kept moaning how much OU sucked.
The idea of rivalry at TCU is really a joke. As far as what I saw in my four years there, the tension between SMU was more or less about which school was snobbier. Yup, that's it. No spraypainting each other's property. No fistfights over taunts or anything like that.
I was once mistaken for an SMU fan while walking around campus the day of a TCU/SMU game. A dude-bro said "TCU, baby!" and I kept walking in my neutral-colored black and white jacket. Not happy that I didn't respond to him, he called me a "little bitch" as we walked in separate directions.
There are certain universities in Texas that essentially brainwash their students to give a lot to the football program. Whether it's buying season tickets, wearing school colors, or chanting chants, it's part of the curriculum. And that pride is supposed to remain well after graduation.
Maybe because I wasn't forced into the world of TCU football is why I'm a little in the dark about how intense a rivalry can become. I mean, I have only watched one bowl game TCU was in, and that was last year. When it comes to bowl time, I'm hanging out with friends and family and preparing for New Year's; not determining how many games I will watch.
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