PARTY CRASHING
How many months has it been? How many nights have gone by without the smell of sausage and brisket on the grill and the sounds of proud UTSA fans talking up their school? How long has it been since we have spent time with our UTSA brethren? Joined together in spirit and conversation about our team? About these special 18 players that have given all they have for UTSA football? About these few that have sacrificed, suffered and endured the Texas heat while being told they were not good enough to play with the big teams? About these boys, now men, that have lived under the shadow of UT and A&M while not having the opportunity to show what they can do?
Well, now it is their time. Now is the time for these 18 to shine. For these proud and few 18 to show their belief and trust in each other. To don their new white uniforms and take the field for one last season. A season of hope. A season of high expectations. An opportunity; their first opportunity, to complete the Cinderella story of a start-up football team that grew from a dream to a bowl game in just four years! So on this opening night of their fourth season, these 18 players stand at the exit of the tunnel looking upon the field that is Houston’s new home. ~35,000 fans on their feet cheering for the Cougars who had just entered the field. Red. White. And orange? Yes, for these 18 do not have to do it alone. Estimates very, but anywhere from four to six thousand UTSA fans have made the trek to Houston for opening night of the 2014 season! With these fans yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs the ‘Runners come through the tunnel and onto the field. Jumping and screaming. Helmets raised in the air. Pumped up and ready to play.
The game itself was a complete surprise to even the most homer of UTSA fans. Nobody expected such a total beat-down on Houston. We held them to -26 yards rushing. True, a lot of that was the fumble from the snap through the punters hands. But that still means that they basically had zero net yards running the ball. The final score of 27-7 does not tell the real story. Our offensive play calling was very conservative and we went into more of a power run game for most of the second half. The score could have been much worse. And their lone score was in the last minute of the game against mostly freshman defensive players.
This is probably about as deep as I will get into the X’s and O’s of the games. I am by no means an expert and there are plenty of better sources should you want to know more about who did what, for what, etc…
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But before the players came onto the field. Before any of the fans drove to Houston. Something special was happening at home and on the Internet. A few of the serious UTSA fanatics started talking. Mostly spearheaded by Anthony, though there were other conspirators, a vision of starting the 2014 season with a huge bang was festering. On RowdyTalk, the tailgating crews were trying to figure out how and where to setup around the Houston campus. Nobody liked the lots they had designated for the visiting team; all the way on the other side of the campus. Out of sight. Out-of-mind. And just not going to happen.
Anthony used his brother, friends and other contacts in the Houston area to scout out sites for alternative tailgating options. After an initial hiccup, what he found was perfect. A small parking lot located directly across and 1/2 block down from the stadium. Located directly across from the primary trailer/mobile home tailgating lot for the Houston fans. On the primary drag for that area. This lot was sandwiched between a small apartment building and a private residence that was not occupied at the time. Anthony contacted a few of the tailgate crews in San Antonio; with Linda and I being one of these lucky few. He discussed his find and offered to secure the lot, noise permits, port-o-lets and security (this is not a good part of Houston and the game would not end until midnight).
So, with Anthony’s leadership, we published the find on RowdyTalk (RT) and began planning of who was going to bring what. Tents. Tables. Chairs. Kegs of Beer. Drinks. Food. Decor. Sound System. Banners. Flags. You name it with tailgating and we probably had it there. After a few morning showers slowed down the setup, we managed to get it all going come noon and started to relax. (Note: We started setup before 9am with the game starting at 8pm. You do the math, but that’s a long tailgate time). The afternoon was full of the usual tailgating experiences, albeit more condensed, with about 150-200 people eating, drinking, dancing and just having fun a couple hours before the game. We had a few special guests drop in: Nate Leonard’s father and grand father dropped by. Athletic Director Lynn Hickey came over and said a few words. The look on her face said it all: “Y’all are All-In this year! Thanks for the support of our boys!”
Probably the coolest time though was when we were relaxing with everything setup and less than half of the expected crowd, a few white buses were driving by and then stopped in the middle of the road. These were the player buses and, although I could not see very much from my vantage point, I was told that they were thrilled and excited to see [with all of the Houston red in the area] the UTSA banners and flags flying high and proud. The fans giving the #BirdsUp while yelling the U…T……..S….A chant! You could feel the excitement in the air….
Classes have started. Fall is fast approaching. It’s GameTime!
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