There is nothing worth writing about between Dallas and Amarillo. In Amarillo, located in the Texas panhandle, lies the Big Texan Steak Ranch. The inside resembles a large saloon but ornamented elaborately with christmas lights, trophy deer racks, and cowboy paraphernalia. This north Texas disneyland is complete with souvenir shop, air-soft rifle range, and slotmachines. Even more, it is home to the free 72 ounce steak. The mammoth piece of meat only becomes gratis if the courageous consumer is able to down it in its entirety - within an hour. None of the crew was up to the task this early afternoon. Instead we settled for 12 ounce chicken fried steaks. A few Alabama and Oklahoma fans sat at the tables among us. I was hoping to start an old west war of words for dessert but refrained - for now.
This is a picture of an Alabama houndstooth hat wearing fan failing at the 72 ounce steak contest. I believe it will be indicative of his prospects to come.
Four years ago I flew to Los Angeles, with a stop over in Las Vegas, to watch the Texas Longhorns and Vince Young in the National Championship game at the Rose Bowl. I was 6 months shy of legal gambling age so I birdwatched the Vegas strip. On gameday, I had a $1000 to scalp a ticket and there were no tickets to be had. I watched the game from outside the stadium on a flat screen among similarly situated fans. Today I depart to complete my life. I will bet on black and I will watch my Horns from inside the stadium. In life, there are rarely opportunities for a do-over. This trip is my second chance. 
Why did the deer cross the highway? Because it was an Aggie. Comedic relief aside for a sentence, Brian and I are safe. We figured that driving home from the game during the late hours of the night would be the smart choice considering we needed to study for finals. I have since reconsidered the soundness of that decision. I have learned that no journey is complete until in bed at home. This is so because many times, the return is the hardest part. The details are ordinary: 70 mph (the speed limit), the lane closest to the shoulder, and within the Houston city limits. 
Then it hit. The damn deer must have just done its Christmas shopping because we were right in front of Katy Mills mall when it happened. I also know this because it was carrying presents in its attempt to get to the tree-filled area on the other side of the freeway. The Aggie deer hit us mid-air. It futilely jumped over the concrete wall dividing the feeder road from the Highway. This is the theory I have constructed based on the evidence we have. Neither of us saw Bambi prior to the deer slobber on the windshield. 
Lucky for us, because obviously we were brandishing the luck of the Irish at this point, there was a Denny's restaurant a couple concrete wall climbs away so we were able to enjoy a Grandslam Breakfast as we awaited the tow truck and cops. Eventually the Katy police came, took pictures, and performed their duties. The cop emailed me the pictures so thats why I have the official PETA gag gift postcard photos that are posted. They took one look at the car and asked me "how big was the thing???" The implication being that the deer had to be big for the damage caused. This was my first white-tail buck. Truthfully, I will never have any qualms with buck hunting in the winter. Lets just call it revenge. In sum, this was a freak occurrence. An omen in my opinion. Maybe a sign from the heavens or maybe from the opposite place. Regardless of what it means, I know what it was, an Aggie deer trying to take us out. And it almost did.
49-39 was the final score. The Texas Longhorns will play in Dallas on Saturday for the Big 12 Championship despite a valiant, yet unsuccessful effort. A friend of mine seems to think the Aggies were like the legendary 300 Spartan men that fought against the Persian empire. As if it was a stand against the bigger, stronger, faster, more well-equipped, and more powerful. That sounds about right. Except I would liken the UT football team to Rome at this point. We are on top, have been for a while, and even though Rome falls eventually I don't see us burning down anytime soon. A&M can have their Alamo victories. We will continue conquering foreigners. Michigan, USC, Ohio State have all been engulfed, Nebraska and hopefully Florida will be added to the map soon enough.
Longhorns fans, we need to get it together. Seriously. There is something at which A&M is absolutely, no doubt about it, embarrassingly better than us: CHEERING. I don't expect us to bend over and sway, nor do I want us to whoop!, nor should all of our traditional chants revolve around another school, but we have to effect a game the way that Aggie fans do. I could feel it. Way up in the elevation of section 532, in between nosebleeds and spells of oxygen sickness, I was overwhelmed by the noise. The Aggies call it the 12th Man. I call it the politically correct 12th Person. By any name, we need what they have, and that is a crowd that makes for an incredible college football atmosphere. Combined with the sea of purple-brown-maroon, the white towels waving, and the all-male cheerleading team it also makes for an intimidating if not chaotic one as well.
Texas A&M is a brother of the University of Texas at Austin. Actually, it is more like the second born, or middle child of the family that is Texas universities. The school's successes, engineering, service, agriculture, etc. are generally overlooked and overshadowed by the successes of the first born, burt orange wearing, talented older brother. In football, the younger brother constantly surprises by effort and heart. The oldest won't always win the impromptu wrestling matches and from time to time is overwhelmed by the unexpected. I use the analogy as it is rather apt to the relationship of school's as it plays out in Texas society and from a national perspective. Just as younger brothers, the people of Texas A&M were very hospitable. For such an intense rivalry we encountered little in the way of jeering or unfounded trash talk argument. There is no hate between family (unlike with the bad neighbor Oklahoma Sooners) but a mutual respect with the inevitable clash - as between brothers. This would only prove to be more true on the football field that night.
So the Aggies have this group called "The Corp." I am not exactly sure what it is all about. I do know a few things: Sophomores ornament themselves with the nametag "Pissheads," they kiss the closest girl in the vicinity (hopefully a girlfriend) after the Aggies luckily find the end zone, and they have been around for too long. I respect the undertaking of armed service more than any other occupation in the country. However, I am not sure that is what is going on here. I am not educated on the matter, but for all my years in Texas have never been convinced of their legitimacy as well. In fact, their existence, in context, eerily evokes images in my mind of a defeated regime of old. A&M is not Westpoint and College Station is not Annapolis. I applaud informed tradition but the image above is not an inviting one.
We depart for Houston and the Thanksgiving long weekend tomorrow. If I didn't get the blog tick and feel the burning desire for a quick break from the corporate duty of loyalty I probably would have left my ticket to the game at home. The all-powerful piece of perforated paper has been pinned to my corkboard collage for the last few weeks. That mud-colored purple football helmet has been interrupting the color scheme on my wall for a while now. It had been there for so long I likely would have overlooked it in my packing - but I didn't. College Station and the Lonestar Showdown is just two days away. With ticket-in-hat I will arrive in H-town.
The final score was 42-22 and not in our favor. The score, like all statistics in sports, doesn't convey the spirit of the game accurately. The score doesn't show the long sustained drives, the failed red zone series, the hits, the weather, the intensity, and most importantly the heart shown. Even so, a state championship continues to elude the Lutheran North Lions. With the final whistle I departed Temple and began the drive back to Austin, away from high school memories of the Lions and back to the memories in the making with the Longhorns.
The conditions for the game were not ideal. They were even less ideal for those of us traveling from afar. The rainy mist never dissipated, the temperature stayed consist at 54 degrees, and the wind only added insult to injury. A true fan endures the cold...but also blasts the heater in the car at half-time.
I would like to declare that I still have deep seeded love for my high school football team, in case it is not obvious. At one time I was the quarterback and now I am an alumni fan. Once this lawyer thing gets rolling I will be a booster and after that likely a coach. I don't love it because it was the best time of my life but because it helped create the times that I am having now. The sideline sweatshirts read "1 team, 1 heartbeat." Regardless of the time that has passed I still feel that I am part of that theme.
Also, if you win a state championship here your name is forever engraved on stone tablets 10 commandments style.
One of the best parts of high school football is traveling for away games. For the 2nd round of the playoffs my Lutheran North met Liberty Christian on a neutral field in Temple. A field in one of the grandest high school stadium's I have ever seen. I guess when you win 2 state championships you are allowed to invest in skyboxes and a replay screen.
I now enjoy eating. This might not be a breakthrough for some but it is for me. Ham sandwiches and cheetos have gotten me this far, but now I am back in Texas. Back in a place that makes a list of the top 50 BBQ joints in the state: Link. This state believe access to healthcare and cooking barbecue is a competition. I am still undecided on the former but the latter creates some tremendous results. Since I was driving to Temple anyway I figured I would knock out another BBQ joint off that list and Schoepf's restaurant was the target. It was worthy of a place on the top 50 because of the flavor filled venison sausage. $40 and 3lbs of food later I was filled and ready for the game.
Belmont, TX is located off I-35 North just outside of Temple, TX I am becoming more and more intrigued by the culture of the small Texas town. Having decided to spend my life in the organized chaos of the large city it is in these rural parts that I can find refuge. The unexpected is refreshing in these Meccas of consistency and conservatism. This piece of art caught my eye and captures the allure to which I refer. It involves American innovation, industrialism, muscle, and religion.
My Alma Mater Lutheran High North is in the 2nd round of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools 4A football playoffs. The game is Friday under the lights in Temple, TX. I will be there - donning my '03 district champs t-shirt that will likely fit me like an Affliction shirt.
Back here in Texas football is the object of our idolatry. My friend across the pond in London expressed the oddity in that devotion but I explained it in this way: Football is the event in the Fall by which life here revolves and persists. I relate it to alcohol, in the way that so many societies' social interactions here and abroad uses drink as the pole to dance around. Football games allow us to make preparations, to pregame party, to tailgate, to watch, to go out after and celebrate, and/or to go out after and drown our sorrows. We go to work or school for 4 days and then indulge ourselves in High School Friday nights, college football Saturdays, and NFL Sundays - and then we do it all over again. Many novels have been written on all that is great about the game and its place here in Texas, so I will refrain from authoring another here. But there is another important effect of the game and that is that it gives us a reason to travel. Away games are half of the season and almost without our conscious recognition give us the much needed escape from that which is comfortable and constant. Over the next two weeks I will be traveling to Temple, TX and College Station, TX for games. Football gives me a reason to travel.
I'm glad I waited to post about my Ft. Worth trip because since the TCU game San Diego State has proceeded to win the Mountain West Conference Championship. The team will be playing the NCAA tournament. Yeah, that's my cousin in the bottom right corner wearing her champions hat.
My plan was to make a full weekend trip out of the 3 hour drive to Ft. Worth from Austin but ultimately it was just one night. But it was a beautiful one. My cousin's squad destroyed TCU 4-1 in front of a crowd of alumni in town for homecoming weekend. Afterwards we joined the team for an authentic Texas barbecue meal complete with styrofoam cups and deer trophies hanging on the wall. The best trips don't have to be 45 day backpacking excursions in which health and life are put at risk. It can be as simple as one night in a different place with a satisfying event. The night and the victory were certainly satisfying.
