Red River Revelry And Rivalry!

It always happens on the second Saturday in October. Since the millennium it has also been a huge determiner of a possible future champion when January rolled around. 

From 1900 to 2005 it was referred to as 'The Red River Rivalry' due to the location of each states boundaries.

Since 1929 every meeting has happened under the eye of the ole Cotton Bowl arena with the Texas State Fair in full swing.

Add to that dynamic an intense hatred for one another that in true Hatfield and McCoy fashion even the stadium seating is also equally divided with half the seats in Crimson and Cream while the other half is in burnt Orange.

This guy has been privy to the spectacle and the game since 2001. My very first year featured one of the more defensive battles this rivalry has seen, highlighted by a Chris Simms pass deflection and a Roy Williams run back of a touchdown in a 14-3 game.

In what will be the 109th meeting between both teams since 1900 Texas leads the overall series 60-43-5. Since 2000 however under Bob Stoops it has for the most part been Oklahoma having their way with the team handled by Mack Brown. Brown also a part of the OU squad as a coordinator back in 1984.

Twice from 1940-1947 and 1958-1965 has Texas reeled off eight wins in a row over the Sooners.

Texas won last years meeting 36-20. Of recent note many people feel that Texas got cheated out of a national title back in 2008 when pinning a 35-25 defeat on Oklahoma. The same year Texas got burned in Lubbock on a late touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree but that's another topic for another time.

In 14 years of dealing with all of the revelry there are a couple of constants in this series. 

Friday night people travel from Austin and Norman to Dallas, fill up the hotels, bars, and restaurants with time, money, pride, and smack talk. That will also carry over into downtown into the West End where you'll see pep rallies and representatives of both teams (cheerleaders, Bevo, players, coaches) al get together and get into the fun of baiting one another.

Each year you'll hear most people talk about how October in Dallas is a special place to be for a weekend of the Fair, the food, the sights, the sounds, the people watching and the contrasts of colors as the leaves begin to change in color and foliage.

There will be a winner and a loser. When the Sooners win the fans stick around until Sunday and spend some serious skrilla. When Longhorns fans win same story. The year that they meet and the Cowboys have a home game the next day, even better!

Seeing most of this action from a restaurateurs point of view I can tell you firsthand that the Texas-OU weekend is one where you can pay alot of bills if you work all the way through.

Ah yes. Those smacktalk sayings.

Boomer! Sooner!

Hook Em!

OU Sucks!

Burnt Orange makes me puke.

Since 1999 Oklahoma has won 11 of 17 meetings and oddly enough one of teams also happens to be nationally ranked that second week in October. 2008 both teams were ranked at 5-0. 2003 there was the 65-13 Texas blowout. 2012 and 2013 back to back beatdowns by the Sooners 55-17 and 63-21.

Adrian Peterson in 2002 and 2003 was just dominant!

The winner of this game gets the Golden Hat. A ten gallon hat made of bronze that each university keeps until the following year.

With the advent of the Memes some of the jokes that you'll hear and see are pretty funny too.

One heck of a tradition and rivalry. A rare one this year in that each team is coming off a loss the previous week. Very rare!

Enjoy!

Over and out in Big D.

Mr Will