2006 Political Bowl

Even in the 2006 Political Bowl, pitting the UC Berkeley Golden Bears against the Texas A&M Aggies, it was better to be a liberal than a conservative. Apparently sports, like art, can imitate life.

The Pinnacle of Texas Sports

The top sport in the state of Texas is football. And nothing really riles up the folks in Texas towns like the high school variety. This weekend, I had the opportunity to go to a 5A quarterfinal game. My little sister's school was still playing, so I drove out to meet them and watch them play a tough game against a team that was bigger and faster. More exciting than the game (which was plenty of a nailbiter, and her high school will be playing again next week) was the pageantry that goes with the overall event.

To start, the teams ran through smoke in their inflatable tunnels with animal mascot heads to the sounds of bands playing fight songs, erupting crowds and the announcer reading off the list of all 44 starters (offense and defense for each team). The cheerleaders and mascots for both teams were then introduced individually. Then there was the playing and singing of the respective alma maters, a prayer, and then an announcement of what good sportsmanship really means to the UIL group regarding high school sporting events. The singing of the national anthem came next, followed by the bands playing musical challenges at each other. All of this before the game ever commenced.

I was struck by how many people really come together to make a high school football game happen. At our particular game, between players, managers, drill teams, cheerleaders, bands, and everyone else, there were 1100 kids participating between the two schools. Absolutely incredible.

Being an Aggie in Austin

For those of you who don't follow football or championship games or watch the news, you may not realize that the University of Texas beat the University of Southern California last night in the Rose Bowl. Good for them. It was a very exciting game to watch, and they can be proud of themselves.

That being said, while I live in Austin, I am not a Longhorn fan. I know, I know -- shocking. My husband and I both went to Texas A&M (and regardless of the fact that he's spent the last 7.5 years gettin' ejicated at UT, he still calls himself an Aggie). I am a very proud Aggie. I'm also aware that if it was the Aggies that just won the National Championship (don't stop me with trivialities like our 5-6 season this year -- this is just for illustrative purposes), I would be ecstatic. I would want everyone to know, and be happy for us.

That's just harder to do when the team that wants that from you is your biggest rival.

So, I am putting on my game face today. I will do my dead-level-best to be truly happy for them. Just please don't push it. I have a limited amount of happy-for-UT available.

New Levels of Affection in Football

My recent highschool football excursion also brought to my attention the fact that some football players have gone beyond the butt slap to show their affection for one another. The quarterback was injured during the first play of the game. He was back in the second half on the sideline, this time on crutches. One of the linesmen came up to him, gave him a tender hug while talking in his ear. Then he kissed the quarterback's temple. I was then entranced by the exchange, especially since said linesman was still hugging the QB. He continued to talked, gave him one more little peck, and walked off. I thought, wow -- there is so much tenderness on this team. I mentioned it to my sister later, and her response was "yeah, it's hard to get a boyfriend here because the guys are all gay." Touching, isn't it?