Alamo Bowl

Our fourteen day trip to the states for Christmas break was chock-a-block full of commitments like doctor's appointments and dental cleanings, but some of it was fun.  On Saturday, December 29, we attended the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.  It pitted the University of Texas (#23) against Oregon State University (#13).  I had kinda assumed UT would get their asses handed to them by OSU merely by glancing at the poll results and season records, but I was pleasantly surprised the game kept us hanging on until the bitter end for a home state win.

The husband is a Longhorn alum and my brother-in-law and nephew are big fans.  Plus the bro-in-law's dad is a dyed in the wool supporter. He was a member of the 1963 UT football team that won the first national championship, led by famed coach Darrell Royal, and has the ring to prove it. My husband was able to wrangle a few extra tickets for these die hard Longhorns and they were thrilled to join us for the big game.

The pic below was taken from our seats with no zooming in - that's how close we were to the field.

We had some fabulous seats on about the 50 yard line, row 10 behind the Longhorn's bench.  By halftime, UT had fallen behind, but they rallied in the final quarter for a last minute win.  Hook 'em Horns!

I included a few pics (above) and a couple videos (below) that I took on my less than fabulous camera phone because I was too lazy to take the Canon.  It was easy to tell who the different players were on the field, but it was more difficult in the stands because fans from both sides were wearing some shade of orange.  

Since I no longer resemble a college co-ed, but rather have one at home or will this fall, I opted for a solid turtleneck and UT scarf with dangling silver Longhorn pendant I ordered from the Co-Op in Austin. Gotta represent, right?  Plus it was easy to remove and put in my purse in case the team didn't pull out a win. Or stuff in the mouth of an overly zealous OSU fan who might feel compelled to heckle the losing team after one too many cups of beer in the third quarter. But "we" won, so it was all good.  

The above video is dedicated to the memory of my high school English and journalism teacher, Betty Jo Tucker.  She was a proud UT alum that wore her burnt orange Longhorn puffy vest to school every fall on casual Fridays in support of her alma mater.  She passed away a little over a year ago, but every time I hear "The Eyes of Texas", I think of her.