This Saturday at exactly 7:30 PM I was confronted with a moral dilemma as the University of Georgia Bulldawgs lined up to play the University of Texas Longhorns in Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas in their first confrontation in the Southeast Conference.
I was skewered on the horns of a dilemma.
I lived in Austin By God Texas for more than four decades during which I became an avid Longhorn fan — voluntarily and with great fervor. I knew many former Longhorn luminaries and saw them on a daily basis. I was in the belly of the beast and I liked it. Hook ’em!
I had season tickets — four seats on the fifty yard line five rows up, six seats on the thirty — and regularly attended the games though my children often commandeered the tickets. [Little brats think everyone has seats on the fifty. Ungrateful, they were.]
I attended approximately two and a half dozen Texas v Oklahoma Red River Shootouts with a great pal. That’s a lot of games and we had great seats. My kids used the tickets also. Fabulous road trip.
There is nothing else in college football like UT v OU. There is no better feeling than that three hour trip from the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park, Dallas down Interstate 35 to Austin with a win in your belly along with a turkey leg and a Fletcher’s corn dog with lemonade.
I was an ardent fan though I did not go to the University of Texas except for auditing some law classes.
My children both went to the University of Georgia. Nobody can actually figure this out as we had no ties to the University of Georgia, but they did.
During that stint, I had a passing interest in Georgia football and attended a Georgia v Louisiana State University football game when they were both ranked. It was quite a spectacle.
That was a decade and a half ago. Go Dawgs!
I moved to Savannah, Georgia. [My daughter lived there with three daughters and familial gravity took over. My granddaughters – 6, 4, 2 — are precious and they will all grow up to be POTUS.]
Actually, my wife told me we were moving to Savannah and sold our house in Austin. That’s how things happen IRL. Do not fight it.
That was two years ago.
Since then, I openly rooted for Georgia — I don’t know any of the songs, but I did root for them. Not hard to do as they are a great team, Kirby Smart is a charismatic and interesting coach (Nickie Satan protege), and everybody loves to hate Nickie Satan and Alabama, right? Roll Tide.
I still rooted for Texas though I did not attend the games obviously. Hook ‘Em Horns!
I lived in a state of innocent bi-fandom, not trans-fandom. I was not conflicted. I rooted for both.
The Longhorns decided to join the Southeast Conference as it is the best football conference in the United States. They, Texas, made that decision. I did not. I rationalize that Texas did not care about the impact on me.
So, Texas and Georgia were to meet for the first time as rivals in the Southeast Conference with the first game to be in Austin. Texas was ranked #1 in the country and Georgia was #5. In any such circumstance, it would have been a great game, but it became so much more.
This was the Texas baptism of fire into the SEC. It was a big deal. I had to choose a side because bi-fandom was now dead. It was either the Horns or the Dawgs under the lights in Austin.
I rooted for Georgia. I rooted for Georgia and talked shit about the Longhorns.
I watched the game and felt a thrill up my leg when Georgia went into halftime with a 23-0 lead over the Horns (favored to win by 5 points by the oddsmakers). I felt it.
Georgia won the game and then the trash talk really started. I threw the Longhorns over and lobbied for the Dawgs. I did.
I am now a Dawg fan. Sic ’em has replaced Hook ’em. UGA has overtaken Bevo. [It is hard to not like Bevo, great mascot. UGA doesn’t like the heat.]
My granddaughters all have Georgia cheerleader outfits and love to say, “Go Dawgs!”
So, there it is. Am I ashamed of my treason?
No. Sic ’em! Go Dawgs! Texas will lose three more games versus SEC opponents. Welcome to the SEC, Longhorns.
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.
