Posted by Dr Fro 6:46 AM

Will the idiot on the goalpost please get down?

Trivia: I knew the idiot.

From the inception of the program through 1962, UT was very good. From 1963-1970, nobody was better. We won 3 national championships, 2 in convincing fashion. From 1970-1983 were good. Some ups and downs, but still good. On January 4, 1984, something terrible happened: a punt slipped through our hands along with a National Championship. That sent us in a tailspin. From 1984-1989, the Longhorns gave the impression that they would never be competitive again. We had 3 losing seasons, and it seemed like it was going to get worse. There were a lot of reasons why, but the fact that many of the teams we played every year were cheating certainly leveled (or tilted to their favor) the playing field.

On November 10, 1990, the undefeated, third-ranked UH Cougars came to town. For those of you too young to remember, UH was a big deal back then, primarily because Jack Pardee had invented the run-and-shoot offense. Andre Ware ran it so well that he won a Heisman. Pardee got a job with the Oilers. UT entered the game #5 and 9-1. They also had the best defense in the country.

I was a senior in high school. My parents were UH season ticket holders. I grew up going to UH games, but I had already signed my letter of intent to UT. (pause) Mr., Mrs. and Dr. Fro along with Shannon Young (whose lineage and letter of intent were similar to mine) drove to Austin for the game. It was a night game on national television at a place that had been on the fringe of the football universe for the past six years. It was intense.

Klinger got sacked right and left. Manny Hazard was marginalized, and we shut down Chuck Witherspoon (whose jersey read "C. Spoon", a play on words to suggest "see spoon run" and also a practical measure because his full name didn't fit. Hey, this is the school that put Hakeem Olajuwon's first name on his jersey and misspelled it.)

UT was led by a kid from my high school, Peter Gardere. He was the only guy to come out of Lee High School to make a name for himself in sports. He was my idol. He threw to the Cash twins (half of which would catch a pass from Joe Montana in 1992 to bump the Oilers from the playoffs) all season long. And then there was Butch Hadnot, who (though not as talented) had a style that reminded everyone of a kid out of Tyler that played for us in the 70's.

We won.

I also smoked a cigarette with Shannon and got into a bar on 6th street that night. I was looking forward to college.

So, here it is...whatever it takes:






This is the most interesting video. Storming the field and climbing goal posts is the great tradition of schools that suck ass at football. We Longhorns have seen it many times (a record number of times in 1997), however, we have seen it only once by our students. It happened that night in November. The TV announcer said we were better than that. I think he missed the point. We weren't better than that. We sucked ass for 6 years, and being a suckass program, it was only appropriate that we act like a suckass program.

Rumor has it that Mr. Gardere stood on a table at Wiley's that night and asked "Who wants to go home with the quarterback of the University of Texas Longhorns?" He got several takers.

2 Comment(s):

Posted by  Anonymous, at 1:33 PM, May 14, 2007  

Fro -

loved the highlights. I was also at that game and laughed uncontrollably when the announcer asked to get that idiot off the goal post. i'm pretty sure the reason i laughed so hard was the fact that the guys sitting next to us had brought in flasks and let us steal a few pours (i was only 15 at the time).

anyhow, i hadn't thought of that game and butch hadnot in a long time - good memories (more or less - i'm pretty sure i lost it in the parking garage after the game and had to throw out the "bad hot dog" theory behind my illness.

come down to houston and help us plan a tournament that morris and I have been discussing.

patrick

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Posted by  Anonymous, at 10:05 PM, May 14, 2007  

Patrick,

The only "bad hot dog" you ate that day was named Ricardo, and what you "lost" in the parking lot was your virginity.

-Junell

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