Scattershooting the RRS, tweaking the SEC schedule, and tailgating in 1998

Scattershooting while wondering whatever happened to Aaron Lockett...

- Oh hell yes we’re going back to 1998. Back when 23 year old me would roll into Kyle Field in a pair of jorts and a white t-shirt with Old Sarge on the front. We yelled our asses off on defense because the Wrecking Crew was still alive and well, and led by one of the all time greats for Texas A&M, #9 Dat Nguyen. There wasn’t much of a tailgating scene back then, so everyone would just hang out and drink as much beer as possible before heading up to the stadium. The Zone was under construction, but the rest of Kyle Field was craggly, old, dank and smelled funny because of the piss troughs and bat shit. But she was loud. And teams knew they’d be in a fight there. It’s time. It’s time for this shiny new stadium to take down a Top 15 team. It’s time for Jimbo’s team to take the next step. Moral victories won’t change the way teams feel about playing at Kyle Field. Get the win. And I know the students and 12th Man can get The Hate Barn fucking rocking on Saturday night!

- If you haven’t had a chance already, take the time to read this amazing story about Mike Leach at the Red River Shootout in 1999. I’ll be the first to admit when Leach was kicking our asses in Lubbock, I didn’t have a whole lot of love for the guy. But since he moved on from Tech, my appreciation for him has grown exponentially. His interviews, pressers, and quotes are gold every week. And that whole story from when he was the offensive coordinator at OU is a great reminder of how fun and silly this sport can be. Keep swinging your sword Coach Leach.

- Genetics can be so damn unfair with two brothers. I feel your pain Mark.

- I’ll be at the Cotton Bowl Saturday morning to take in this year’s RRS. I’ve attended a few times before, and while being surrounded by OU and Texas fans in general sounds horrible, it’s pretty enjoyable to walk out of that game and see 50,000 dejected fans no matter who wins. And if you’re a CFB fan, I honestly encourage you to attend at least one RRS. The atmosphere at the State Fair is pretty unique. There are only three neutral site games worth keeping. The Red River Shootout. The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Army-Navy. Do away with all the rest. My breakfast of champions on Saturday morning will be a couple of freshly dipped Fletcher’s corn dogs and a Budweiser draft in a wax cup.

- Maybe it’s just me but this Kentucky game feels nothing like a conference game. We are in year 7 of the SEC and this is the first time we’ve seen these guys on the football field. I’m excited and I think we’re in for a great matchup on Saturday night. But it just feels like a surprisingly good non-conference game. I don’t have many complaints with the SEC since we moved, but the schedule really needs to be tweaked. Either go to the 9 conference game schedule (no, I’m not worried about 9 games in the SEC), or get rid of the permanent rivalry game each team has. At this point, I don’t expect Tennessee fans to put up a huge fight about losing their annual game with Alabama. It just feels really disjointed with the 14 team league, when you rarely see teams from the other division. Makes it impossible to develop any sense of familiarity with those teams and fan bases.

Rivalry Game of the Week

We had a few options this weekend, but I decided to go with Florida State and Miami. There’s no historic trophy with this one, but these two historic programs have met 62 times, with Miami holding a slight two game edge in the matchup. This game started getting good in the 80’s when both of these programs were still independents, but was monumental in the early 90’s. This rivalry not only has it’s own Wikipedia page, but some of the games have their own pages. Wide Right and Wide Right II are a couple of famous games that helped decide who would play for National championships in 1991 and 1992. I love that so many of these games have their own nicknames. There’s Wide Left, Wide Right IV, The Block at the Rock, the Rally in Tally, and The Miami Muff. I think I may have rented The Miami Muff on VHS back when I was in college. Wait...no...what? While this year’s edition may not be much of a matchup, there will be no shortage of good old fashioned hate between these two programs. And that’s what college football rivalries need the most...hate.

Food Fight

We are doing things 1998 style this week, so I’m going to share with you a 100% true recipe from one of my “tailgates” from that season. As I mentioned previously, tailgating at Kyle Field was pretty sparse and disorganized. It has come a looooong way to where it is now. I can remember literally dropping the tailgate on a truck, opening up a box of fried chicken, and sitting there with a cooler of beer. We didn’t have a tent, a table, or even chairs. Just rolled down the truck windows and listened to the radio. So to honor our 1998 season, get your favorite fried chicken in College Station and pair it up with your favorite Kentucky bourbon. Grab a can of bean dip and a bag of Fritos. Polish off a bottle of Boone’s Farm and chase it with some Jim Beam and water. Spend the rest of your tailgating hours getting your piss hot and Beat The Hell Outta kentucky!!

Share any good tailgating stories in the comments, before it became such a “scene”.