September 5th starts my favorite time of the year! Texas Longhorn Football! To understand what football means to a Texan you first have to understand a Texan, to do that you have to be a Texan. There is no adequate way I can put into words the competitive spirit that drives us, and there is no way to describe the ferocity in which we attack things. We may not always win a fight but you will know damn well we were there!

Football starts early here, from the age of six when you first start Pop Warner football until the day you graduate high school you live, eat, sleep, breathe football. Of course not all play the sport but you certainly are involved in some shape or form in it. Football is life here, they make movies about it,TV shows, it is what binds all Texans together.

You pick your teams early also, some are Horns,Aggies,Horned toads,Bears,Cougars, any number of College teams. But for the NFL you can only be a Cowboy or Texan. I personally gave up on the Dallas Cowboys and thus the NFL in 1989, that's when Tom Landry was fired from the Dallas Cowboys while he was playing golf, WHILE HE WAS PLAYING GOLF!WTF?

I have already said who my college team is, my beloved Texas Longhorns, my earliest memories are of being in Texas Memorial Stadium watching Roosevelt Leaks slam through a defensive line, Earl Campbell crushing linebackers and safeties who were foolish enough to get in his way! Ahhhhh, the good ol days. Those guys played a different type of football than what is being played today, not that todays players are bad, just different.

The Texas Longhorns coach throughout my early years was Darrel Royal an alum of our most hated rival the Oklahoma Sooners, He has since become the most loved football coach in Longhorn history. He coached for 20 years at UT won 3 National Championships and retired after the 1976 season, and is the namesake of the UT Stadium Darrel K Royal Texas memorial Stadium. In the 1970 Cotton Bowl Texas came into the game ranked #1 and beat Notre Dame to win the National Championship, the last time we would see one for 35 years.

The next year Texas again entered the Cotton Bowl game ranked #1 and once more faced Notre Dame, this time however Texas lost, No National title.

In 1978 Texas played in the Cotton Bowl as the #1 Team in the Country. They met Notre Dame that cold, cold day, I was there 13 years old and ready to see my first National Championship game. Six turnovers later Joe Montana and the Fighting Irish emerged from that game victorious and deservedly so (God I hate those guys) and Earl Campbell left for a short but productive pro career.

Texas would have the chance a couple times in the 80's but would come up short, I don't like talking about the 80's and some of the 90's, it hurts just too damn much!

The end of the Southwest Conference came and Texas won the last Conference Championship, the beginning of the Big 12 was upon us and we all felt sorrow but we were hopeful! That first season in the newly established Big 12 was a bit of a disappointment but Texas finished 8 and 5 and would play Nebraska 11 and 2 for the Conference Championship. Texas was not given much of a chance against Nebraska. One radio call in show was asking a day before the game for predictions of how bad Nebraska would beat Texas, I called that show and told them "it didn't matter if Nebraska scored a 100 points, Texas would score 110!"

Funny thing about that game, Nebraska didn't show up, Texas led most of the game but Nebraska hung in. finally On fourth-and-inches from their own 28-yard line, the Longhorns elect to go for it with a slim 30-27 lead and 2:40 remaining against third-ranked Nebraska. That was when I saw the most amazing play I have ever seen, James Brown the Texas quarterback by all appearances was going to carry the ball the two inches needed to extend the game for them and give them time to run out the clock, that ain't what happened!

James Brown (the hardest working man in college football) faked a hand off to Priest Holmes and rolled to his left where he lobbed the ball to Derek Lewis the tight end who was wide open, lewis turned that play into a 61 yard gain and set up Priest Holmes for a 3 yard touch down run making the score 37 to 27, thats how it ended a 10 point victory! Where have I heard that before?

Texas had won the first Big 12 Conference title, the next year they went 4 and 7 they fired head coach and 1 year genius John Mackovic, he drew up the infamous Roll Left play! A nation wide search was conducted and Mack Brown was hired. Since that time Texas has won at least 9 games a season and 1 National Championship! And what a game that was!

January, 4, 2006, Rose Bowl, The granddaddy of them all! Texas is meeting USC on their turf to play for a National Championship. Both teams are undefeated and both teams are GOOOOOOOOD! Texas was the reigning Rose Bowl Champion having beat Michigan the year before in a nail biter! But these two teams are something special, the starting Quarterback and starting running back for USC had met Texas starting Quarterback Vince Young in New York the month before to see who would win the Heisman Trophy. USC Running back Reggie Bush took the trophy home that night, but in hind site I wonder if he wish he hadn't.

The game started out promising for Texas they held USC to 3 and out, but Texas fumbled the ensuing punt and USC recovered the ball and went on to score. I could go play for play but if you saw the game you know it went back and forth. With 19 seconds remaining in the game on 4th down Vince Young wanted to throw the ball but couldn't he finally just ran to his right and into the end zone, the two point conversion was good and effectively ended the game. I waited 35 years for that game and I finally got it. That play goes down as #5 on the all time plays, and this game is probably the greatest college football game ever played!

We have come close to playing in another National Championship game since, last year it came down to a really bad rule and Oklahoma a team that we had beaten in their only regular season loss was chosen. The Heisman was given to their Quarterback Sam Bradford instead of our quarterback Colt McCoy, Oklahoma went on to lose yet another National title and Texas beat Ohio State in another nail biter!

That's my team, The Texas Longhorns, in a few weeks I will be standing with my right arm extended in the universally recognized Longhorn salute! There is nothing like being in that stadium with 100,000 screaming longhorn fans when the band breaks into the eyes of Texas! We are number two on the all time wins list just a few games behind Michigan. Hook em horns!

Be sure and scroll down to see the infamous Roll left and a tribute video someone made for the horns about the 2006 Rosebowl game pretty cool!