Daily Archive for October 14th, 2007

Texas Tech vs. Texas AM: Vick Um! and more

Roy
Pics from the trip are in the gallery. Gallery is right-chow

Ahhhh!!!!!
Well the trip that I look forward to all year, every year has come to an end for 2007. I think this is the 7th or 8th year that Rob and I have gone back to Lubbock for a big football game (AM or UT) with a number of our friends, including: Blake, John, Sean, Bobbie, Chad, Kendra and several others. This year it was Blake, Rob and I going back for my favorite Tech home game: Tech vs. the feared and menacing sister kissing Texas Aggies! More to come on that soon.
the goose

Zach and Tim

We headed out to Lubbock just after work, and made it to see Ellis just after 10pm for some of the best food around, and to present our offering of “the goose”. Tim met us up there and we hung out for most of the night in that area and had a good time. Rob and the goose became real good friends, and we met some nice people along the way. :) . In fact, the goose stayed with Rob for the next 24 hours or so. It was cool to see how many people were there now that they re-opened Klusoz, and open the back door from that bar into Ellis’s area. By the way, Klusoz seems to be even cool than it was when I was a student hanging out in there. Check it out if you get a chance.

Ellis!!!!
Ellis!

Most of the Saturday was in preparation for the game. We crashed at Tim’s place for the weekend and he was nice enough to start us off with a good breakfast to get us going. Thanks Tim!!! We headed to campus around noon or so, and ended up having to park wayyyy the funk out there! The cool thing about that was we got to see all of the tailgating that was going on. A few years ago the tailgate scene at Tech wasn’t very big, but in just the last two years it seems to have grown 10 fold. There were hundreds of campers, bbq’s, smokers and tail gating set ups of all types. We slowly made our way over to Jones Stadium and got to check out our season tickets (thanks john!). Our seats rock!!! 30 yard line, lower level, 8th row, and we had the end seats that were right next to the student section. Of course, everyone knows the student section is where all the fun is! I even got a few action shots of Gram Harrell passing to Michael Crabtree from our seats.

Gram Harrell passing to Michael Crabtree

We have a lot of history with the Aggies, and the Aggie game is always the one I look the most forward to. Nothing is more fun to me than to beat the sister kissing Aggies at Jones Stadium, and since they haven’t beaten us there since 1993 I have had many years to bask in the glory of a victory over the Aggies. The game itself was great. We beat them 35 to seven, put up over 400 yards passing and kept them from scoring after the first 5 mins or so in the first quarter.

Red Raider in Vick shirt with an Aggie

One of the funny things a bout this game was all of the hype over the Michael Vick shirts or the “Vick Um” shirts that have been in the news so much. First, to be clear:
I think the shirts are in bad taste.
I’m glad the University took the steps they took to stop the production of them, and to let the Aggies know that they didn’t approve of the shirts.
But what was funny to me was that if the national news hadn’t made such a big deal about the shirts, it never would have been a big deal! But since they did make a big deal out of it… you saw Vick references all over the place. People with Vic hats on, Vick body paint, Vick sighs etc. It was pretty funny.
more vick fun, notice the shoes

The most unusual, and oddly entertaining thing about this football game: The Aggies didn’t show up. They usually come in force taking up big sections of the stadium and doing their chants and yells loud enough for you to think you were in College Station. This year, I think the Aggie band had more people than the rest of the stadium cheering for AM. The Klan (yell) leaders did their little dances, and you couldn’t hear them at all. They did not have the impact as fans on the stadium that they usually have, and that is the first time I’ve seen that in the 10 years or so that I’ve been going to this game. Maybe they gave up since they haven’t won since 93 in Lubbock? Maybe we are too nasty for them…
Who knows, but this year they didn’t show up and they didn’t represent like they always do.


random pretty girl wanting to hang out with the studs… ok.. we are pretty sure someone bet her to come and ask to be in our pic…but she’s still cute and every blog post can use more cute girls.

What else? We did the anual Double T bench picture, and ate at Spanky’s. Spanky’s added downstairs outdoor coverd porch to eat in, and their cheese sticks are just as good as they always have been. What can I say!?!?! It was another great trip back to Lubbock, and I can’t wait to get back out there! I might have to head up to the OU game…. We’ll see.

Tim, Rob, Blake and Zach

our annual TT Bench pic

OU Texas and House Warming

Zach and Gram

The weekend before last was a very busy, but also fantastic weekend for me. Saturday I went with my sister and Grandmother to the OU vs Texas game at the State Fair of Texas. Sunday we followed that up with my housewarming party with friends and family.

Gram

This is my third year to go with my grandmother to the OU vs. Texas game, and I’m really enjoying the tradition even though I am neither a Sooner or a Longhorn. My grandmother is about to turn 80, and she is one of the few women her age who have college degrees. She is a Sooner to the core, and also a huge sports fan. In fact, her sports knowledge and her capacity to follow sports on a daily basis puts me and most of the other sports fans I know to shame. So this game is a big deal for her, and we always get great seats from her nephew (I think that makes him my 2nd cousin once removed…either way THANKS AUBREY!!!!) and we always have a great time going to the Fair and then to the game. We completed all of the necessary traditions like getting a Fletcher’s hotdog, checking out the car show before the game.

Zach and Robin
me and my sis

The game was a great football game! If you follow this blog you know I bleed Red and Black from Texas Tech, but I also love Big 12 and college football in general. I usually root for UT in this game just because of state loyalty, but this time around I was pulling for OU. The game was a game that you could enjoy even if you were not a fan of either team. It was a high scoring game, but also a very close game. The spread was never more than 7 points as you watched to of the biggest rivals in college football history battle it out in front of 80,000 fans in a traditional game that my Dad watched as a young boy. If you have never been to this game, it is an event in and of itself. The stadium is always packed, and it is split right down the 50 yard line: red on one side, and burnt orange on the other. The crowd is loud, rowdy and something that you have to experience fully appreciate.

OU vs Texas game

The next day it was time for the housewarming party! I spent most of the morning getting the house and yard ready for the first big party in the new casa. I got a ton of food and booze (including a self service bar) and had the smoker packed with things that make you smile. We had a pretty good turn out and I would consider the first party a big success. After all, you can’t really call a house a home until you have had all your peeps over for food and drink right?
yum
Zach