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Texas OU set for 11am

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Randolph Duke

Randolph Duke 4034

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For some context on the UT/OU rivalry, here is the beginning of a piece I started working on about he game, but never finished. OU Sux.

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In recent months, a certain portion of the college football fanbase in the state of Texas has bewailing that the loss of UT’s traditional opponent for its annual Thanksgiving Day game has deprived Texas of the opportunity to play its true rival.  Longhorn fans laugh at this as they know their true rivalry game occurs early in October in Dallas against a truly despicable group of ne’er-do-wells from the north side of the Red River. A true college football rivalry has to include national championship considerations. It must include two equal rivals each fighting for supremacy. It must include more than victory or defeat. In must include all the elements that entail the maelstrom that occurs when Texas and Oklahoma meet each year for the Red Rival Rivalry. In short, it must be war.

The Texas/OU rivalry began in 1900, a time before Oklahoma was a state. From the inception of the UT/OU rivalry until the end of World War II, Oklahoma had managed just 11 victories in 42 tries. It wasn’t a rivalry. rather, it was an annual a$$ whipping.

The depression and the dust bowl of the 1930s had hit Oklahoma especially hard. Times were hard in Texas, too, but Texas had a more diversified economy and didn’t fare nearly as bad as Oklahoma. The epithet of “Okie” had hit hard to those forced to leave the state of Oklahoma to find economic opportunity. By the end of WWII, as better times had come to the Sooner state, the people living north of the Red River had had enough. Things in the sporting world were about to change.

The clash between Texas and Oklahoma is a clash of cultures, of attitudes, of hubris and at times of excess. In postwar Oklahoma, the epithet of being called an “Okie” had grown old. The economy was beginning to recover, their oil industry was on the upswing and soon the only thing in Oklahoma flowing faster than oil was money. Good times were back and in Oklahoma, good times could only be better times if it meant settling the score with their “friends” from Texas. Alums from both OU and UT ran into each other regularly, particularly in the oil business. Enormous egos, fueled with oil money were about to clash.

In the fall of 1946 at OU and UT (their respective states’ premier universities) were flooded with potential football stars returning from the war. The OU regents decided it was time to make a statement. They hired “Big Jim” Tatum as their new coach, gave him essentially an unlimited budget and told him his one and only mission was to beat Texas. Big, fat, arrogant Texas. Tatum, along with his assistant and war time buddy Bud Wilkinson, exhausted the athletic department’s surplus of $125,000 (an astronomical sum at the time) holding tryouts for over 600 men, just to build a team of 60 players.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to followers of the rivalry that to find the best players, Oklahoma recruited mainly from Texas. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows much about college football that to get the best players they could find, Oklahoma paid cold, hard cash. This was a time before the NCAA had instituted its “Sanity Code” or before NCAA rules against paying athletes to play for a given school had any teeth. In fact, the NCAA didn’t start handing out punishment for football violations until 1953. It was only later that OU’s scheme came to light and their program would experience NCAA probation.

In 1946, all that mattered to the OU regents was winning and winning meant beating Texas. Their investment soon began paying dividends. By 1948 the Sooner began a streak of winning 9 of the next 10 meetings between the teams. With success on the field, came greater and greater hubris  from the Sooner faithful and a greater and r=greater resentment on the part of the Longhorns.

Alumni from both schools had money in their pockets and they came to Dallas seeking to out spend, out drink and out yell the fans from the other school. The Friday night party before the big game soon became as epic and hard fought as the game itself. It soon became referred to as “Sodom and Gomorrah but with a lot more beer.” That is an underestimate, to put it mildly.

The initial meeting between the schools, in 1900, had the Sooners taking a 17 hour train trip, involving 18 stops from Norman, OK to Austin, TX, only to be whipped by the Longhorns 28-2. The Sooners’ reward was another 17 hour train trip back north. That got old very quickly. In the days before the interstate highway system, travelling from one school to the other was onerous, to say the least, Dallas became the site of the annual game, mostly because it was centrally located between the two universities. Commerce Street in downtown Dallas became the focus of pre-game hysteria mainly because it was where the biggest hotels were in Dallas.

In the 1950s, before cars or roads well dependable, fans travelled to Dallas largely via train. Once they reached Dallas and disembarked at venerable Union Station, OU fans made their headquarters the Adolphus Hotel at the corner of Commerce and Akard, a short 7 blocks away. UT fans camped 70 feet directly across Commerce Street at the Baker Hotel. The Adolphus was financed by Adolphus Bush and was owned by his heirs until 1949. Having a hotel built by a beer magnate as a centerpiece to this story is comical justice.

The Adolphus was opened in 1912 as a grand and stately hotel and by the early 1950s had expanded to almost 1,300 rooms. At that time it was the largest hotel in the country and the largest air conditioned hotel in the world. The Baker opened in 1925 and counted 1,100 rooms. It too was a grand structure and offered some of the best accommodations money could buy. One weekend in early October each year the street between the hotels, home to Neiman-Marcus’ flagship store just a few blocks down and the headquarters of Magnolia Petroleum became ground zero in what can best described as a war between the states.

The OU victory in 1948 (20-14) was, to the UT faithful, an aberration. Their victory in 1949 (20-14) was an aggravation. Their victory in 1950 (14-13) was plain annoyance. What the UT faithful didn’t realize was that the tides had truly changed and that the UT/OU rivalry would never be the same. What the UT faithful also didn’t realize at the time was that starting with the 1948 win, OU was embarking on a run of winning 9 of the next 10 games. After that display of dominance by OU, the rivalry between the teams would never be the same. Neither would the rivalry between their fan bases.

The UT/OU weekend on Commerce Street in the post war era started as a friendly evening between opposing fan bases. Pep rallies and good times. By the early 1950s things began to get more animated. Imagine trying to sleep during the night before the big game when the pep rallies began at 11:00pm on Commerce Street outside the window of your hotel. By 11:00 the fans had all made it to town, checked into their hotels and checked out of their senses. As a Dallas police officer told a reporter at the time “Its like Sodom and Gomorrah, just with a lot more beer.”

 

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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24 minutes ago, Tired of Lurking said:

Still haven't decided if I am going to hang on to my ACL ticket. If I do, this is the perfect game time.

It does benefit those that have Saturday tickets (I do not), since you can still fit a huge chunk of the lineup in your schedule.  However, those staying up late with Sir McCartney on Friday night, is gonna make for a rough morning; I know I can't do it like that.  This surly site is getting too old for this shit.  Still what a cool 24 hours that would make-Paul McCartney and then beating OU and back in Austin by Saturday early evening.  

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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21469

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This game should be played at 2:30 every fucking year, tv networks be damned.  I would actually like to see that put in the next tv contract when we can hold the conference hostage with the threat of bolting for greener pastures.  The game is at 2:30, you fucknuts figure out what channel you would like to put it on. 

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Katfid54

Katfid54 8635

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1 minute ago, conVINCEd said:

This game should be played at 2:30 every fucking year, tv networks be damned.  I would actually like to see that put in the next tv contract when we can hold the conference hostage with the threat of bolting for greener pastures.  The game is at 2:30, you fucknuts figure out what channel you would like to put it on. 

Well, I'm conVINCEd.

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Tired of Lurking

Tired of Lurking 637

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Definitely not staying out downtown on Friday night. I am used to operating on 5 hours of sleep so as long as I make it home by midnight without being tooooo drunk, I should be fine for 11am kickoff at Hooters or something. You're right though, eight years ago, I was ready to go every morning. These days, my hangovers last till like 6pm the following day. I don't envision getting there till 4 or so on Sunday. I don't think I am hanging on to the ticket though, honestly. I am starting a new job at the end of the month and might not be able to ask for Friday off on my first week.

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Skipper

Skipper 6136

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I've never had much issues with Uber for 11AM games because the departure is so staggered.  Some people leave right after, some stay for an hour or 2, some stay for several hours.  Last year everyone that attended the game, plus plenty of others just at the fair, tried to leave in the 90 minutes after the game ended.   It was absurd.

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Randolph Duke

Randolph Duke 4034

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The UT/OU game was last played in Norman in 1922, and last in Austin in 1923. For the centennials of those two years, they need to move the game to the campuses, to resume in Dallas in 2024. The centennial of the game in the Cotton Bowl during the state fair is 2032. Make that a night game in Dallas.

UT/OU is the most intense rivalry in all of college sports. So much, that it has been bottled up with an 11am kickoff for decades. Teh early start was for security reasons which we can all understand.

2023 is going to be a huge year for college football and for UT. The GOR expires. The frenzy over realignment is going to be rampant. Showcase the two biggest players in the upcomeing realignment in a once-in-a-lifetime environment that even the grandkids of the current fans will never experience.

Take the cork out of the bottle and let UT/OU be showcased in three epic settings.

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HOOK'EMHOOAH

HOOK'EMHOOAH 1610

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1 minute ago, Jimbaround said:

Granted, we can fix this shit by winning more games and being a bigger network draw. I blame Herman [ducks].

You should blame Mack. I love Mack, but he fucked us by not retiring earlier. He just didn't have the drive he once had and the team is reaping the cost of that now. The answer isn't just winning games; it's getting the players to be pissed off every play and taking it out on the opponent so they don't want to go against Texas. We are starting to see some of that, but there are still some who aren't quite there yet.

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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21469

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7 minutes ago, SubliminalHorn said:

Not really. During the Mack years the game was regularly at 11 since that’s the national ABC broadcast. 

And a night game is a no-go for a variety of very logical reasons, but I would like to see it happen once for the sheer carnage.  It would be like The Purge.

Edited by conVINCEd
Grammar
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HOOK'EMHOOAH

HOOK'EMHOOAH 1610

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3 minutes ago, Randolph Duke said:

The UT/OU game was last played in Norman in 1922, and last in Austin in 1923. For the centennials of those two years, they need to move the game to the campuses, to resume in Dallas in 2024. The centennial of the game in the Cotton Bowl during the state fair is 2032. Make that a night game in Dallas.

UT/OU is the most intense rivalry in all of college sports. So much, that it has been bottled up with an 11am kickoff for decades. Teh early start was for security reasons which we can all understand.

2023 is going to be a huge year for college football and for UT. The GOR expires. The frenzy over realignment is going to be rampant. Showcase the two biggest players in the upcomeing realignment in a once-in-a-lifetime environment that even the grandkids of the current fans will never experience.

Take the cork out of the bottle and let UT/OU be showcased in three epic settings.

The schools have a contract to play at the current venue through 2025. So this wouldn't work.

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Randolph Duke

Randolph Duke 4034

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1 minute ago, conVINCEd said:

And a night game is a no-go for a variety of variety of very logical reasons, but I would like to see it happen once for the sheer carnage.  It would be like The Purge.

This. It would be the biggest game for any alum since the Rose Bowl. It would set the college football world spinning off its axis for the weekend.

And it would happen right in the middle of the realignment excitement, reminding everyone just how big both UT and OU are in the world of media rights.

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Skipper

Skipper 6136

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6 minutes ago, Randolph Duke said:

The UT/OU game was last played in Norman in 1922, and last in Austin in 1923. For the centennials of those two years, they need to move the game to the campuses, to resume in Dallas in 2024. The centennial of the game in the Cotton Bowl during the state fair is 2032. Make that a night game in Dallas.

UT/OU is the most intense rivalry in all of college sports. So much, that it has been bottled up with an 11am kickoff for decades. Teh early start was for security reasons which we can all understand.

2023 is going to be a huge year for college football and for UT. The GOR expires. The frenzy over realignment is going to be rampant. Showcase the two biggest players in the upcomeing realignment in a once-in-a-lifetime environment that even the grandkids of the current fans will never experience.

Take the cork out of the bottle and let UT/OU be showcased in three epic settings.

Cool symmetry and all but no thanks.   Not to mention contract with the Cotton Bowl signed through 2025

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HOOK'EMHOOAH

HOOK'EMHOOAH 1610

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1 minute ago, Randolph Duke said:

This. It would be the biggest game for any alum since the Rose Bowl. It would set the college football world spinning off its axis for the weekend.

And it would happen right in the middle of the realignment excitement, reminding everyone just how big both UT and OU are in the world of media rights.

Dallas PD would need a goddamn the national guard to deal with the level of drunken brawls that would come from this. It would epic.

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Hagbard Celine

Hagbard Celine 10875

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Fair Park is the only game between 2 helmet schools that kicks at 11am local.   Prior to '96 the game kicked at 200/230/300 every. single. year..   The Big12 is the issue.  We (us and thieves) need to get the City of Dallas to make the declaration for us.  The negative economic impact of an 11am kick needs to be documented (or fabricated, don't care) and rolled out as the reason by the CoD.  The Friday night take for a morning kick is (i would guess) 50% of what it is for an afternoon kick.   And with a morning kick, the losing side is going to leave instantly because they have a chance to get home before dark.  An afternoon kick keeps both sides in town Saturday night win or lose.

Of course, the biggest problem is the impact of a morning kick on one's ability to consume massive quantities of cider and tuaca at lee harvey's.

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TornACL

TornACL 7721

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9 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

Fair Park is the only game between 2 helmet schools that kicks at 11am local.   Prior to '96 the game kicked at 200/230/300 every. single. year..   The Big12 is the issue.  We (us and thieves) need to get the City of Dallas to make the declaration for us.  The negative economic impact of an 11am kick needs to be documented (or fabricated, don't care) and rolled out as the reason by the CoD.  The Friday night take for a morning kick is (i would guess) 50% of what it is for an afternoon kick.   And with a morning kick, the losing side is going to leave instantly because they have a chance to get home before dark.  An afternoon kick keeps both sides in town Saturday night win or lose.

Of course, the biggest problem is the impact of a morning kick on one's ability to consume massive quantities of cider and tuaca at lee harvey's.

This is such bullshit. Ohio State - Michigan almost always kicks at 11am.

Quit fucking whining. If you haven't gotten used to 11am or noon kickoffs by now, that's on you. I'll be up at 6am and I'll have a bloody mary in my hand before 7am. It's Texas/OU. They could play at 4am in a parking lot and I'd be ready.

Step your game up.

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Randolph Duke

Randolph Duke 4034

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32 minutes ago, HOOK'EMHOOAH said:

The schools have a contract to play at the current venue through 2025. So this wouldn't work.

Nothing says the contract can't be amended. I would think Jerry is going to throw money at the schools to replace the Cotton Bowl as the venue when the current contract expires. If I am entering into negotiations for a new contract, the last thing I would do is to piss off the other party right when negotiations are about to commence on a new contract.

If the Cotton Bowl people refuse to even discuss the idea of allowing a centennial home-and-home series in 2022 and 2023 (when UT and OU want to showcase their programs every way possible at the end of the GOR), I think that would be remembered in 2024, when the new contract is being discussed.

If Del Conte wants to do the home-and-home an dthe Cotton Bowl people refuse, that would pretty much assure the game moving to Jerryworld.

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TXSooner518

TXSooner518 2438

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26 minutes ago, TornACL said:

This is such bullshit. Ohio State - Michigan almost always kicks at 11am.

Quit fucking whining. If you haven't gotten used to 11am or noon kickoffs by now, that's on you. I'll be up at 6am and I'll have a bloody mary in my hand before 7am. It's Texas/OU. They could play at 4am in a parking lot and I'd be ready.

Step your game up.

This. I had been wishing for later kickoffs for a while, but really didn't enjoy the 230 kickoff last year as much as the 11am kicks.

I love that the fair opens early when the kick is 11am, and so you can get in and get stuff with no lines. Last year, the booths didn't open until 10am, and the fair was already crowded by then. Looking forward to resuming my ritual of vodka drinks in the parking lot at 7am, corny dog at 801, fried butter with cinnamon/honey around 825, then a cornucopia of assorted food items and beer until time to go into the stadium at 1030.

Postgame to the embarcadero for football watching, more food, and light dozing. Perfection.

I would love a night game, and I would love a kickoff around 1pm, with the fair still opening early. Neither of those will happen, so I guess I will just have to try to find a way to enjoy the best sports event of the year.

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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21469

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22 minutes ago, TornACL said:

This is such bullshit. Ohio State - Michigan almost always kicks at 11am.

Quit fucking whining. If you haven't gotten used to 11am or noon kickoffs by now, that's on you. I'll be up at 6am and I'll have a bloody mary in my hand before 7am. It's Texas/OU. They could play at 4am in a parking lot and I'd be ready.

Step your game up.

It’s not about stepping your game up.  I’m sure most do just that.  It’s about having 3.5 hours of glorious pregame activities stolen from us.  I will be at the fair at 8:00 a.m. doing the exact same thing you are doing.  I’d rather get there around 9:30 or 10:00 and take my time.  There is zero reason that the two schools, who are the sole reason this conference is still a viable entity,  cannot dictate what time this game is played.  And that time should be 2:30.

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oSuJeff97

oSuJeff97 3435

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6 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

It’s not about stepping your game up.  I’m sure most do just that.  It’s about having 3.5 hours of glorious pregame activities stolen from us.  I will be at the fair at 8:00 a.m. doing the exact same thing you are doing.  I’d rather get there around 9:30 or 10:00 and take my time.  There is zero reason that the two schools, who are the sole reason this conference is still a viable entity,  cannot dictate what time this game is played.  And that time should be 2:30.

 

Yeah the 11 a.m. kickoffs certainly do suck for tailgating, but the reality is that time has become one of the prime slots for college football because the big games at 11 CT/Noon ET pull big numbers.  That's why it's on regular FOX.  

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TankedBevo

TankedBevo 2483

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It's an ass beating to actually go to the game with an 11am kickoff but it's so fucking awesome if you're watching from home. Micheladas/Mimosas and breakfast tacos in the morning then pound beers right before the game. Watch all the other games in either the ecstasy of victory or agony of defeat, all while pounding more drinks and Grilling/BBQing. Good shit. 

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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21469

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1 minute ago, oSuJeff97 said:

 

 

Yeah the 11 a.m. kickoffs certainly do suck for tailgating, but the reality is that time has become one of the prime slots for college football because the big games at 11 CT/Noon ET pull big numbers.  That's why it's on regular FOX.  

I understand the reality of 11:00 kicks and have no problem with the fact that several of our games will be played in that time slot.  But not this game. There is not a gotdamn thing we can do about it until  the tv contract renews, but us and the thieves need whip our dicks out and make it a non-negotiable condition of the next contract, or we can find a new home that will accept these terms.

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HOOK'EMHOOAH

HOOK'EMHOOAH 1610

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31 minutes ago, Randolph Duke said:

Nothing says the contract can't be amended. I would think Jerry is going to throw money at the schools to replace the Cotton Bowl as the venue when the current contract expires. If I am entering into negotiations for a new contract, the last thing I would do is to piss off the other party right when negotiations are about to commence on a new contract.

If the Cotton Bowl people refuse to even discuss the idea of allowing a centennial home-and-home series in 2022 and 2023 (when UT and OU want to showcase their programs every way possible at the end of the GOR), I think that would be remembered in 2024, when the new contract is being discussed.

If Del Conte wants to do the home-and-home an dthe Cotton Bowl people refuse, that would pretty much assure the game moving to Jerryworld.

Yeah... no. Just no. The only thing that needs to ever visit norman is a fucking meteor. This entire enterprise of a home and home series is the worst idea in the history of the worst ideas.

Furthermore, jerry can fuck off a cliff and take his shitty team and money with him. He can leave Geoff Swaim and Connor Williams.

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Skipper

Skipper 6136

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Just now, HOOK'EMHOOAH said:

Yeah... no. Just no. The only thing that needs to ever visit norman is a fucking meteor. This entire enterprise of a home and home series is the worst idea in the history of the worst ideas.

Furthermore, jerry can fuck off a cliff and take his shitty team and money with him. He can leave Geoff Swaim and Connor Williams.

Everything this guy says.

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