One of the things that I love as much as Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream is football. Whether it's high school, college or pro I don't care.
I once wrote that loving football is part of a Texan's DNA and I'm not kidding about that. When August rolls around on the calendar and I start seeing the preview magazines on the bookstore racks like Dave Campbell's Texas Football, I get happy knowing that two-a-days and the games aren't too far behind.
One of the things that I miss about Houston is the smorgasbord of high quality high school football games that are available on Thursday, Friday or Saturday nights.
When some of the players that I got to see were future NFL stars or Hall of Famers such as Darrell Green (Jones), Mike Singletary (Worthing), Dexter Manley (Yates), Santana Dotson (Yates) Thurman Thomas (Willowridge) and Rodney Hampton (Kashmere) you get spoiled. I saw Vince Young play for Madison High before moving on to UT and the Tennessee Traitors.
Then I get to shift my attention to the two Division I colleges in the city limits, Rice University and the University of Houston. The Texas Southern University Tigers are our Division I-AA program and proud SWAC member. Several family members are alumni of that school and I got to see Ken Burrough, Doug Williams, Sam Adams and the late Walter Payton play for and against the Tigers. I can't forget the other HBCU in the area, Prairie View A&M.
Much of the fun of attending TSU games is watching halftime and the 'Ocean of Soul' battling the other SWAC bands. If I felt like it driving within a two hour drive was Texas A&M, Texas, Sam Houston State and Baylor
I would be remiss as a proud Cougar fan and alum if I didn't mention our 31-30 victory over the Rice Owls Saturday night. Eat 'em up Coogs!
Then there's Sunday. Until they moved and became the Tennessee Traitors (oops, Titans) I was a die hard, Luv Ya Blue Oilers fans. Now my loyalties have shifted to the Texans. I still hate the Irving Cowchips with a passion (that's Dallas Cowboys to the rest of y'all).
The NFL season kicks off this Thursday, and I'm anxious to see how the Texans are going to fare this season. We have Houston homeboy and Aggie Gary Kubiak coming back from Denver to coach. I'm old enough (darn it) to remember when Gary was the quarterback at St. Pius High School. I'm also proud that we have a African-American GM running thangs now in Rick Smith. I know these guys play in a tough division in the AFC South so my expectations on how well they do are tempered by that. I'll consider it a good year if they make a serious run at a playoff spot and sweep the Traitors.
Hmm, by the time the Texans play them Vince Young may be starting at QB. Damn, they're making it hard for me to hate 'em. Nahh, not as long as Kenneth Stanley 'Bud' Adams owns them.
Oh well, let me check out the Courier and see who U of L is playing this week.
