A Different Kind of Thanksgiving

When TCU joined the Big XII, there were a bunch of benefits.  Having teams like Texas Tech and Oklahoma forced to come play us at home.  Never having to hear the "who have you played?" argument.  Actually being on (real) TV.

And then there was playing Texas.  In Austin.  On Thanksgiving Night.

That's a tough task to ask for a lot of people.  Thanksgiving is about family for many.  Getting together and eating ridiculous amounts of poultry.  But family has never been that big for me.  Not unimportant.  Just not big.  We don't have much extended family that we deal with, and my sister just started her own family.  Thanksgiving night would mean going with my mother to a family friend's house.  Which is nice.  But give me TCU.

I do like some of the pomp and circumstance (read: FOOD!) surrounding Thanksgiving so I jumped at the chance when I saw that TCU's alumni association was throwing a fancy (expensive) lunch.  But it would have turkey and dressing and all the deserts....so it would feel like Thanksgiving before the big game.

Joining me on this voyage was Ashley, along with our friends Ryan and Carrie.  We traveled separately but spent the rest of the time together.  Ash and I decided to travel down Thursday morning and spend the night, coming back Friday.  I drove.  Now, I hate driving, but Ashley's truck has been in the shop for about a year and a half now.  So it was on me - and it meant that I got control of the satellite radio the whole time....so that's not too bad.  And we actually made really good time - no traffic at all.

Breakfast was a different matter.  Going up to Oklahoma State, our little group had breakfast at the crack of dawn at Cindi's, and I thought that would be a good plan this time.  And it was our plan all the way up until Thanksgiving morning.  As we were walking over there, I had a thought that hadn't occurred to any of us.

What if Cindi's, for some crazy reason, decided not to be open on Thanksgiving.  And, of course, they weren't.  So our epic Thanksgiving began with a simple breakfast at Starbuck's.

We get to Austin, get back with our friends, and head to the fancy lunch.  We parked in downtown Austin, and we found a lot right next to the hotel.  Great.  It's $10, and we're in spot 9.  $10.  Spot 9.  But all the talk of $10 parking made Ryan a bit confused, and he prompted to put his 10 dollars in the slot of Spot 10.  I was the only one that noticed, but it was too late.  So the parking guys get free money, and we paid $20.  Oops.

The lunch was really nice.  Really good food, and it was pretty nice to hang out with fellow TCU people.  A family was sitting next to us, and they were pretty nice.  After that, we headed to a beer garden to watch some of the Lions/Texans game.  There was a lot of burnt orange, but there was also a surprising bit of purple in the sea.  And despite being draped in purple, I didn't hear much from anyone.

Being an away fan at a game is always weird.  When I'm at a home game for any of my teams, I always look at the visiting fans with a bit of curiosity.  As a kid, I always wondered what kind of person would grow up cheering for the Royals or the Cardinals, not quite being able to connect in my head that sports is usually 99% about geography and not choice.

College is a bit different because there's more choice involved.  But I still look at it the same way.  My team is the correct choice, and the other people are the oddity.  There's just a lot more of them this time.  But even at the game, it's very strange to have something bad happen for my team....and everyone cheers.  Even the PA announcer seems excited.  Very odd to me, even though it should be something simple.

After a while, we headed to the official Austin TCU Alumni tailgate.  They had free food and drinks, and it was right next to the stadium.  I was hoping to be able to watch some of the Cowboy game, and they did have a TV set up.  It was actually set up in a Texas tailgate right next door, but they didn't seem to mind.,  Most of the others in our group went and hung out to the side, but I decided to torture myself and watch the Cowboys.

The Cowboys are a blog to their own, even in these times when I'm blogging once a month.  I even started one that I might finish sometime.  But the short story is that I have to watch the Cowboys.  Whether I believe they'll win or whether I think they're good.  Even if I believe they're trying or not (usually, if I don't think the team cares, I don't care).

Luckily, the game was interrupted with an unexpected visit from the TCU band, cheerleaders, showgirls, and SuperFrog.  A couple of the baton twirlers even showed up (side story - one of the baton twirlers was way too skinny.  And if you know me, that means a lot).  That was pretty cool, and I thought it was nice of the nearby Texas fans to let us have our fun.  They simply put their horns up and let us do our thing.  It was a nice little moment for us.

So I watched as much of the Cowboy game as I could, either because they were awful to watch or because I was watching a relatively tiny TV from a safe-enough distance.  But as the game hit halftime, the sun began to go down, and the excitement began to build, I started focusing a bit more on the Frogs.  Plus, the Cowboys were down 28-3.

We got inside the stadium, and thankfully, we were in the visitor's section.  It's always pretty fun to be in the visitor's section as you try and be the David to the rest of the stadium's Goliath.  I know how much it sucks to have the visitors' cheers drown out the home cheers, and this is our chance to get payback.  It always seems like we're really loud, but I always make sure to check with the TV broadcast for verification.

TCU started the game off pretty well with an interception and a nice little drive down the field.  Our side chanted "T-C-U!" after every first down, and I started wondering if the Texas fans thought we were insane.  You don't typically hear chants that often or that early, but then I remembered that these are the fans that have to deal with Oklahoma constantly playing Boomer Sooner after every two yard draw to the left.

TCU took the lead, and every time Texas looked in position to score, David Ash would make a mistake.  There was a kid (who could've been anywhere from 15 to 21...everyone looks young to me now) in front of us who was cheering for Texas, and he got really excited whenever anything would happen.  Every time a Texas player got into the open field, it was a definite touchdown, and he jumped up when anything happened.  He chanted and cheered and held his horns up.  I was thinking it was going to be annoying in our little purple haven, but it didn't really bother me as much as I though it would.  I understood.

And TCU ended up holding on and winning.  The game got interesting down the stretch, as we felt that the refs tried to keep Texas in the game with some favorable calls for the Longhorns.  But Case McCoy made a terrible decision, and the Frogs came out on top.

The following day, I talked to Tucker about the game.  Tucker's a big UT guy, and this is the one game every year where we're each going to be biased about our teams.

And there's something about football, particularly with two people that are really excited about their teams, that is really interesting to me.  They say that there's holding on every play in football, and that the officials need to be smart about when to call it.  So it's no surprise that both sides of fans always complain about holding.  I mentioned three (to us) obvious holding penalties on Texas' TD-scoring drive that went uncalled, followed by a holding call against TCU on their next offensive drive.  It seemed like the refs were letting Texas hold, while making a call on TCU (on a play that might have put the game away without giving Texas one more shot to tie) to extend the game.

Tucker, then, mentioned that he (and several UT fans) thought that the refs had been in TCU's corner all night.  That there were some blatant holding calls against TCU that went uncalled.

And I think it's funny because of the way most people watch football.  I think most people watch the quarterback and skill positions while their team is on offense, and they watch the lines while their team is on defense.  It makes sense to watch the ball when your team can score and to watch the pass rushers when the other team can.  Because you're looking for points on one end and sacks on the other (until the ball goes in the air, then you're worried about interceptions).

So, yeah, you're going to notice a lot of holding on one end.  And almost none on the other.  So I think it's not as much homerism as it is perspective.  But I'm sure homerism has a lot to do with it.

And looking at UT fans, the Austin newspaper, and even talking to Tucker....I got the idea that Longhorn fans thought they lost more than TCU won.  That their gameplan was sloppy or that the players didn't execute in the way they wanted.

And I think this is something else that's natural about watching football.  I think we always think that the other team played the only way they could.  Whenever we talk about "monday morning quarterback" stuff, we always change our team's variables.  "If we only ran the ball more" or "If our defense would've done this" or stuff like that.  We always keep the other team's variables the same.  If Texas ran the ball more, TCU wouldn't have adjusted and Texas would've won.

I do it too.  When my team loses, I think of the handful of plays that would've made the difference and change it up.  I never give the opposing team credit for beating us - it's always something that we did wrong. Because, even when my team is terrible, my team should always win.

No matter what, TCU got the win.  And it was cool to go into that stadium (which is great, by the way - maybe the best football stadium I've been to - especially at night with the Austin skyline in the background) and get a win.  Especially in our first Big 12 try on national television.

And I'm really proud of my boys this year.  Despite losing their starting QB, their top two running backs, and playing 17 true freshman, the team is 4-4 in conference and 7-4 overall.  They're actually winless at home in conference, meaning they went 4-1 on the road in their first year in the Big 12.  With a freshman at quarterback.

And, ironically, the team reminds me a lot of Texas last year.  A strong but really young defense.  Freshman quarterback with a  lot of weapons that can grow together.  Fighting hard and winning games they shouldn't.

A lot of fans told me before the season that Texas would win 10 this year and then be the favorites for the national championship next year.  But they regressed this year, especially on defense.  They've been forced to rely on Johnathan Gray a lot more, making their three-headed running game a bit more one-dimensional.  Ash hasn't looked great in a lot of games.

So while the future looks bright for TCU, we have to be careful.  Our kids need to keep growing and learning.  No sophomore slumps.  And our veterans need to step up.

We ended the night going out in Austin, which was cool.  Austin can be a really fun place, and I'm glad we got to spend some time experiencing the local nightlife.  I even had a locally brewed beer that was pretty solid.

All in all, it was an awesome trip.  It's been a strange season for TCU, but that one night definitely makes it a memorable one.