Austin Burning

The Yard circled the September 25, 2010 date on the calendar when our beloved football Bruins would visit the University of Texas. The Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium was on our bucket list for college football stadiums and Austin rocks. An informal Yard poll confirmed that none of us would ever want to live in Texas but if we have to, Austin would be the place. Austin has great food with rock & roll emoting from its taverns on 6th street and a “keep it weird” attitude that is as cool as it is scary. Weird rednecks slurping Bud Tall Boys while pin balling down the sidewalk pulling a St. Bernard with long horn balloons attached to its dome is a photo op best taken from a distance.

The football game was a placeholder for the weekend. It was more about the good times than the gutting that the Bruins were expected to receive before, after and during the coin toss. The outcome had been forecasted and the only decisions were dinner reservations. Extensive preparation had been made at the Yard to insulate our fragile psyche from another 1-3 start of the football season. It sounded like a good idea to go to Kansas State and it was fun. We thought a win was possible but a loss was not a lost season. BCS Bowls games are not one of the annual football objectives in Westwood. The Stanford game was a miserable loss. The entire team, coaching staff, and fan base had a monumental meltdown that night in the 35-0 thrashing. The Houston win was a surprise actually any win is a surprise!
This past weekend, with the Eyes of Texas serenading the stadium, their beloved Longhorn steer Bevo in his corral, and the victory cannon ready to roar, the Longhorns welcomed the Bruins for their tune up game before the Red River Shootout with Oklahoma this weekend. Austin was a better draw for Bruin travel than Manhattan, KS even though the chance of a victory was higher in the Little Apple. The 91 degrees of wet Austin heat ensconced at 80% humidity was slow torture. The lack of stadium beer was inhuman under such conditions. The play on the field made the post-game California Pinot Noir all the sweeter.

The upset has been well heralded across the land and still is played on Sports Center nightly. The Yard received congratulatory calls from associates all week complimenting us on being in attendance. Not sure what our attendance had to do with the outcome but we were gracious and accepting. As the pundits at ESPN dissect the Oklahoma Texas game, the UCLA game is always the first thing mentioned. It has been a good week because the Bruins rarely are mentioned on ESPN and never in a positive light.

The Pac-10 is better this year, much better. UCLA had not been part of that discussion prior to 5:15 PM CST last Saturday. We are not sure they are now but we will take the upset. It was not just that Texas lost to a 15 point underdog from the West Coast. They lost to the team picked to and who may still finish 8th in the conference. They lost by 22 points at home with their only touchdown coming in the waning minutes of this lost Texan afternoon to said team. That was a Texan meltdown that took some of the sting out of our aforementioned Stanford experience.

Longhorn fan can take solace. UCLA might have exposed their weaknesses to the nation and Mack Brown is a good enough coach to learn from that. Longhorn fan should thank UCLA. The Bruins have been there for Texas for over thirteen years helping show Longhorn nation the way and the light. In 1997, while the Longhorn’s rich history was muddling through John Mackovic’s tenure as head coach, the golden era of UCLA intersected. Gunslinger Cade McNown was riding success he would never see again. The same could be said for UCLA head football coach Bob Toledo. UCLA was in the BCS mix before the BCS had fully evolved. Major Applewhite was the starting QB for Texas that day. McNown threw for five 1st half touchdowns on the way to a 66-3 UCLA victory. It was the last time UCLA played in Austin and still remains the worst home loss in UT history. The moral to the story is that loss led the way to Mackovic being fired and current Texas coaching legend Mack Brown being hired. Without UCLA’s bitch slapping that Saturday in 1997 Mack 1 might not have been sacked for Mack 2. Y’all are welcome.

UCLA’s upset victory has also helped compartmentalize the disaster at the Ravine. Baseball season was quietly boxed up and stuffed in the attic a few weeks back. The only thing left to discuss is Jamie and Frank’s trial and the need for another starting pitcher in 2011. Joe is gone and we withhold judgment on Don Mattingly until he loses his first game. Oh wait! He did that this year with that second trip to the mound against the hated ones. We will still withhold judgment on Donnie until then. We would suggest he lose the soul patch. We let Phil grow that little facial triangle under his lip for a few seasons but he was piling up championships. The Dodger manager has no such mulligan.

The Phillies are our new team. They look ready to return to their 3rd straight World Series and they have the pitching to beat down all comers. They should win their second title in three years in the coming weeks. The Cincinnati Reds are a great story and to clinch their post season berth with a walk off home run is great karma. They do not have the pitching to beat all comers and they are just happy to make the playoffs. It will be a short stay. Ditto Rangers.

We root for the Devil Rays to beat the Evil Empire in the Bronx. They might have the pitching but they do not have the support. The Devil Rays are in first place in arguably the best division in baseball. Monday night only 12,421 people in Tampa could find nothing better to do than go to their game against the Orioles. The Dodgers have been out of the pennant race since early August and still draw 35,000 per night. The Rays gave away 20,000 tickets for Tuesday night’s game so the cell phones would not echo through the stadium and disrupt play.

The Yankees are stumbling to the finish line and besides Sabathia and possibly Petite, they look beatable and the Rays have been beating them. Yard memory does not recall the Yankees winners of 25 titles breaking out the champagne for winning the wild card as they did Tuesday night in Toronto…bad karma.

Back Stretch: When Secretariat and Affirmed were retired to stud after their glory years at the track had ended, it was what champion stallions do. It was a great gig and they prospered in their procreation. This week it was announced that filly Rachael Alexandra would be retired to the spawning ranch. She was the 2009 Horse of the Year. Apparently, Curlin is going to come a calling to mate with her and produce a progeny to win the Triple Crown from the DNA of these two Preakness winners. We are not sure why but that sounded sort of creepy for Rache. What if she does not like Curlin, does she still have to put out? What if he is a player like Secretariat was and is working the rest of the stable while she is with child? What if she just wants a simple life in the burbs?