KVC

Big 12 Showcase

University of Texas

Welcome to Austin and the Texas Longhorns! The University of Texas is located 1-2 miles from the Texas Capitol and the school is home to more than 50,000 students.

Austin is the best city in the state of Texas. I still lament over my move from Austin to Plano 14 years ago. Why did I ever leave?

Not only can you catch a glimpse of the beauty of the Texas Hill Country, but the UT Tower reigns as one of city's great landmarks. It is illuminated burnt orange for significant events.

In stark contrast to the conservative campus at Texas A&M, Austin is known for its flaming liberals and has much pride in the city's motto of "Keep Austin Weird".

I always enjoy taking a walk down "the drag" (a.k.a. Guadalupe Street) in the middle of the UT campus to see what's in style. When I lived in Austin, the hip style on the drag was spiked and mohawked hair (to the extreme - in fact, they used jello mix to keep it in place).

photo courtesy of Austin Style Watch

UT has many student organizations, three of which I want to highlight. Two are significant to our family because my cousin Sam & my brother Derek were members.

The Silver Spurs organization are the caretakers of the mascot Bevo. They are responsible for getting Bevo to athletic events and other special appearances. Bevo attended an inauguration party in Washington DC 4 years ago for George W. Bush.
The Texas Cowboys operate & fire Smokey the Cannon, and the Texas Wranglers are the support for Texas basketball.

My brother Derek who is a 1993 UT grad is the guest blogger. His passion in life is UT athletics and attending any & all of their sporting events. He writes about a typical UT football game experience. He & his college friends have been tailgating in the same spot since graduation.

"Here are a couple of traditions for our UT tailgates.

Especially before having kids, and maybe once a year now, Sheri and I will arrive two hours before kickoff at the North entrance to the stadium and welcome the Longhorn Team! They arrive via chartered bus and have police escorts. It's like meeting someone famous or being front row at your favorite rock concert. Nothing like getting all excited and jumping up and down screaming for 18-21 year olds. "I love you Sergio Kindle!!!!!". Stalker!

For big games/tailgates, we'll send out a current college student (squatter) three or four days in advance of the game to "hold our spot". We've got a great tailgate spot right by the stadium and sometimes people will try and snag it. We'll all get $$$ together and pay for all the pizza and beer the squatter can eat or drink. Usually this is one of our friends brothers that is still in college and they are happy to do it for cold beer and pizza.

For the tailgate itself, we'll usually grill hamburgers or other stuff and have 3 or 4 kegs. Believe it or not, all the kegs are ALWAYS floated after the game. During a game this year, a group (38 yr olds) even ended up doing keg stands in honor of the Longhorn victory. (We even had a wife do a keg stand-impressive!). note from KV: it was not Sheri

After the game, everybody meets right back at the tailgate spot and "breaks down" the game and relives our favorite plays.

The next morning, we always finish our Austin trip with a stop at Trudy's Tex Mex. I love reading about the game in the Austin American Statesman while eating Migas and Fajitas!"

Sheri, Hunter & Derek at a UT football game during the 2007 season

The 2005 National Championship was a big highlight for Derek & his tailgating friends. They all flew into Vegas and spent some time gambling before driving to Pasadena, CA for the Rose Bowl.

4th down at the Rose Bowl

One of the best pictures taken was that of Derek & all his buddies who attended the 2005 National Championship game with the final score of the game on the big scoreboard in the background. Too bad we couldn't get it scanned for this blog post. They were all ecstatic and in full burnt orange. (Ginny - you have the same picture of you & Fred. Send it my way & I'll post it.)