The "Little Brother Flop"

One's instance was just embarrassing, while the other was just an embarrassment--and that last one involved my alma mater--and that's where I'll start.

Yes, my beloved Oklahoma State Cowboys stunk it up BIGTIME versus the Longhorns last night--and did it in prime time. Zac Robinson picked the wrong time--and the wrong game--to toss four interceptions, with two of them returned for touchdowns. All in all, 28 of the Longhorns' 41-points came off of OSU turnovers. And, barring a victory in the "Bedlam Battle" versus OU on Thanksgiving weekend, this will go down as another season that the Cowboys couldn't score a signature victory over an elite program. And, in my opinion, galvanizes the image of being Oklahoma's major college "little brother". And, it hurts me to say that.

But an even bigger embarrassment came at Baylor, where it looked as much like a Cornhusker "sea of red"--courtesy of visiting Nebraska--than a gold rush of home-team Baylor fans. It confirmed that BU fans pretty much checked out on a season--again. Look I understand that nobody wants to follow a perennially losing program. But even Iowa State fans rolled out to Jack Trice Stadium in Ames during some very lean years to support their Cyclones. But even in the good years in Waco, about the only time Floyd Casey Stadium would sell out would be when UT or A&M would pay a visit--and a good 25-30% of those fans were cheering for the visitors. And I know--I know--I can hear the most common Waco rhetoric right now, "That's they way it's always been, and that's the way it's always going to be.". And, that's the rhetoric of a stagnant fan base. I think the Waco Tribune-Herald columnist Brice Cherry hit the nail on the head in the next to last paragraph of his Sunday, November 1st column on page 6C:

"But it comes down to this: if you so-called Baylor fans want to start beating Nebraska and Texas and Texas A&M, perhaps you should become Nebraska and Texas and Texas A&M. That is, model yourself after their fans. Do what they do."
(WACO TRIBUNE-HERALD, Nov. 1, 2009)

And, what do they do? They follow their team.

Now, to be fair, BU would do well to put a better product on the field on a consistent basis. But Waco in general needs an enema when it comes to this entrenched attitude of "That's the way it's always been, and that's the way it's always going to be.". And, until that enema happens, Central Texas, that kind of limited thinking will continue to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.