FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Wow, so, uh, people seem to enjoy football down in Texas, who knew? This was the second straight week of Oklahoma fans and the first time in two years that I've talked to Texas fans. Outside of a somewhat shady neighborhood around the Texas State Fairgrounds (which is where the Cotton Bowl is located), completely insane and unpredicatble weather, and the constant smell of heartily battered food, I had a good time at the Red River Shootout.

If you've seen the episode already, you can probably tell that people don't really tailgate at the game, they just pay their $14 to get into the fair, hang out for a couple of hours and have contests to see who can eat the most ridiculous fried item. Actually, I guess it would just be the most ridiculous item, as using the term "fried" is sort of redundant. Anyway, I had a good time with both groups of fans, at least the ones that didn't walk in front of my camera. Giddyup:

Here's a quick fun fact - these two people on either side of me don't know each other. The Texas guy liked my shirt and seemed to enjoy the look of the OU girl and wanted a picture. I was neutral on Saturday, although I was rooting for this to be the wettest I would get that day. For those keeping score, it wasn't. 

This is Big Tex. I think I recognized him from TV or something and was excited to see him in person. I was less excited when I realized that Big Tex was merely a gigantic speaker with a booming Texas voice that constantly talked about sponsor tents. Not gonna lie, Big Tex's street cred took a hit with me. 

I liked this group of OU fans. I left unscathed despite asking a question that concerned nibbling Barry Switzer's ear.

A closer shot of me making this **** face. I stayed on this guy's good side, because if there was anyone there that I met that I felt could've replicated that bar incident, it was this guy. The man intimidated the focus out of camera. 

I decided against a face-painting, mostly because it's pretty hard to convince people I was producing a segment for SI sporting full Spiderman makeup.

I have no idea what Indiago is, but if I had to guess, somebody at somepoint somewhere has gotten whiplash on Indiago.

Catfish Floyd's. I couldn't bring myself to chance it with the catfish midway through shooting. My stomach's been through a lot since the beginning of September, and for whatever reason, I just saw myself saying, "It all went downhill for me after Catfish Floyd's."

The stadium. Even if we did have time to cruise up in one of these and check out the fair from above, I probably would've passed. It's just hard to get excited for the chance to see mostly-eaten corny dogs and carnies from above.

I'll admit that I regret not introducing myself to Dickel. You've gotta assume once you meet Dickel, you'll probably have a good Dickel story. Oh well.

The game. Even though the stadium is clearly old and sort of unattractive, it's still a great place to see a game like this. The crowd was split at the 50, which really added to the game, considering the back and forth of the play itself.

If I were to be someone that complained about the weather constantly, I'd say that after the pouring rain, we were treated with a burning sun in air still thick with humidity. Fortunately for you, I don't complain about the weather.

Or gross torso sweat. 

We got tickets from a scalper in the Texas section, which turned out to be a good thing because UT clearly had the superior cheers, claps, and hand formations, which is pretty crucial.

Also, UT had Bevo, and with apologies to Oklahoma, a giant bull is way cooler than a covered wagon. Just is.

Seen at the game: guy who worked for the deep fried latte company, "Deep Fried Latte." I asked what the hell a deep fried latte was, and after getting an explanation twice, I still have no idea. I'm not making this up, the DFL slogan is "10,000 Calories Can't be Wrong." Fantastic. 

The split of the crowd. The game was fairly exciting to the end, the crowd stayed in it, and cannons were going off pretty constantly, as both schools are tremendously cannon-happy. This is fine when you expect it and constantly terrifying when you're not.

Hard to believe that there's a Museum of Nature and Science hundreds of yards away from Catfish Floyd's, but as John Madden would say, BOOM, there it was.

Quickly, here's my plate from Mia's, which I'm assuming is among the best Tex-Mex that Dallas has to offer. Great postgame dinner.

I liked Dallas - good food, good fans, and a fairly easy freeway system. I must say, however, that I took this picture while driving and almost crashed into some cones soon after taking it. I'm not so good with the whole "basic human coordination while driving" thing. Someday, I'm sure this will catch up to me. Until then, I'll see you next week.

Email:

CFTourGuy@gmail.com 

Links:

The College Football Tour Guide (last season's episodes)

SI Video on YouTube (the last two episodes up, more to follow this week) 

Windows Media Player 9 (for Mac)

Flip4Mac (for Mac)