TEXAS 21, OU 28

Before my last season at UT and after three long years toiling on the bench as a walk-on, I decided I’d had enough and with all the self-righteous indignation I could muster, I walked into my D-Line coach’s office and said, “what’s it all for?” I wanted to know why I should keep playing when there was seemingly nothing left to play for. His response: “why do you spend so much time concentrating on what you don’t have when you should be thinking about what you do have?”

Normally, I think people who answer questions with questions are full of shit. But this particular response made a lot of sense to me. So much so that I simply replied, “you’re right,” got up, and went back to practice even though the chances of me ever receiving significant playing time were just as remote as they had been before I made my indignant decree in his office. And while I never did become a huge contributor on the field, I did get some playing time my senior year and I wouldn’t trade those moments for anything. The obvious point being, nothing good ever came from quitting.

And that brings me to our latest heartbreaking loss to the hated Oklahoma Sooners. At 4-2 with two conference losses, UT’s goals of winning conference and national titles are seemingly out of reach and I'm sure most Texas fans are wondering, "what's it all for?" Six games remain on the schedule, but none of them are against ranked opponents and therefore, victories over any and all of them offer no real satisfaction in the eyes of Longhorns fans who’ve grown accustomed to playing for all the marbles.

Regardless, I would still argue that there’s a lot left worth playing for and I challenge all Longhorns fans to spend the rest of the season not concentrating on what we don’t have to play for, but what we do. To help with your attitudinal adjustment, I give you the...

TOP 10 THINGS TEXAS FANS SHOULD BE THANKFUL FOR

10) Unlike some other Big XII coaches’ web sites, MackBrown-TexasFootball.com is still free of charge.

9) One more fumble and Jamaal Charles will be able to devote all of his time to running track.

8) Don’t look now, but the Longhorns have managed to stay off of the police blotter for three whole weeks.

7) Technically, Vince Young still has one more year of eligibility.

6) If Kirk Bohls writes one more sarcastic comment about UT’s play calling, Greg Davis has been given the green light to go Gundy on him.

5) We've already bested TCU and Rice. If we beat A&M, Tech, and Baylor, we’ll be Southwest Conference Champions.

4) Fiesta Bowl representatives will no longer be attending Texas games and taking precious seats away from deserving Longhorn fans.

3) Colt McCoy no longer forgets his name and pees in his pants when he walks past a microwave.

2) There are still ten holiday shopping weeks left to get the Texas linebackers some balls.

And the #1 thing Texas fans should be thankful for...

1) There’s always the...

NEXT GAME
If you follow the progression, Texas seems to be playing poorly on odd weeks (ASU, UCF, K-State) and well on even weeks (TCU, Rice, OU) this season. One of the classic signs of a woefully inconsistent team in dire need of some on-the-field leadership. Unfortunately for us, we’ve come to Game 7 on the season and while I’m not foreseeing a Longhorn loss to the Cyclones, I don’t see it being the walk in the park most pundits are predicting.

No doubt Gene Chizik will have a few tricks waiting for his former team when they visit Ames this Saturday. After all, it was his Longhorn defense that got burned by so many trick plays last year. Anyway, I have no doubt his players will play hard for him knowing he’s up against his former team. Plus, we’re still Texas, and everybody gets up to play Texas. On to the...

UNPREDICTABLE PREDICTION
Texas - 22
Insane Cy-Clown Posse - 20

TAILGATE UPDATE
For those loyal Longhorns fans (Bevocrats) who are headed up to Iowa this weekend (Vios Corn Dios Mi Amigos) to see if Coach Brown can right a sinking Texas ship (Get Mack on track) against Coach Chizik’s Iowa State team (The Gene Machine), here are a few Gameday suggestions from a buddy of mine and Cyclone insider (The answer my friend is blowing in the wind):

The TIP TOP bar on Duff and Lincoln Way (Right next to the Ship Shape bar) is probably the best pre-game watering hole (I Ames to go there). For after the game, Campustown (Come on down) off Lincoln Way has quite a few bars as well (Jefe, do you know what a plethora is?). A good restaurant for dinner (Supper Duper) would be Aunt Maude’s on Main Street (When you’re there, you’re family).

ISU folks are usually pretty friendly (This red and yellow won’t kill a fellow) but if a few of them get uppity with you (Stater haters), you can always say, “hey, your wife rides like a John Deere” (Farmer smack).


QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Unfortunately, I think most Longhorns fans have now written this season off. It sucks when there’s nothing left to play for but pride.”

Hook'em,
54b

PS. My apologies for the tardiness and lackluster commentary this week. I’ve been traveling on business all week.