I Hate Texas

I can't stand Texas. I've been there many times, to awful places like Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. My hatred of Texas might stem from an early encounter. The first time I entered Texas was to transfer buses at the Dallas Greyhound station. It was after an awful trip to Arizona, and Therese and I had to spend about 8 hours in this hell. This bus station was full of men wearing boots, giant cowboy hats, belts with giant buckles with snake rattles, and tight boot-cut jeans with chewing tobacco circles marking the back pockets. I don't remember seeing any women. Later in life I've spent many hours at the Houston and Dallas airports, and it's the same story. A few suits, but still the tobacco tins. Everyone in Texas owns a truck with a gun rack. They live in dry counties within driving distance to a neighboring "sinful" county full of liquor stores and strip clubs selling pornography. Then there is the whole Alamo myth, about the freedom fighters/tea baggers Davy Crockett and Sam Houston. I wish I could go back in time and fight with Santa Anna.

But perhaps the main reason I hate Texas stems from recent football events. Sure, there were jerky Cowboy fans last year at the Dome when the Saints had their first loss. But hey, Saints won the Superbowl, so I'm over that. But I grew up with Nebraska being dominant in Big 8 football. Nebraska was part of the Big 8 for 100 years. Then in 1996 the Big 8 bailed out the SW conference and formed the Big 12. This conference has greatly benefited Oklahoma and Texas, but has not been very good to Nebraska. In fact, the Huskers have lost 8 games and won only 1 since the formation of the Big 12, and many of the games have been very close. A few times it has been Texas who in the Big 12 championship game knocked Nebraska off so we couldn't play for the National Championship. Last year's Big 12 Championship, in which Nebraska stopped the Texas offense only to have the officials put one second on the clock enabling them to kick a field goal, well, that symbolized the whole Big 12 series. The Big 12, great for Texas, awful for Nebraska. According to the scoreboard, Nebraska has been owned by Texas. But the reality is much more complicated, as Nebraska has dominated most of the games statistically. At last, Nebraska plays Texas tomorrow. In Memorial Stadium.

Thankfully and sadly, this is Nebraska's last year in the Big 12. How great would it be to hand Texas their third loss in a row, and then play Nebraska's biggest rival, Oklahoma, in the Big 8 I mean 12 Championship game. Go Big Red!