I've been living in Texas now for almost an entire month and I've noticed a few fundamental differences between here and Minnesota. Of course there is the geographical differences which lead to a different climate, but I'm going to talk more about the people.
First, people in Austin can not fathom that there are people who are not Longhorns fans. Last weekend I went tailgating at football game and I was pretty amazed. When I was invited to go tailgating I pictured me sitting in one of those cloth back chairs that starts to fold together when you sit in it. I'd be in a semicircle with the rest of the people, I'd have a root beer in my built in cup holder and we'd all be waiting for the little black charcoal grill to warm up so we could cook hot dogs. I new Longhorn football is big so I figured there would be a ton of people in the parking lot with us...I was wrong on all accounts. Tailgating is apparently a misnomer. We had to park about 3 miles from the Stadium, but that didn't matter because tailgating in Austin is basically the size of the Minnesota State Fair. I can't think of a word to describe how big it is...big. There are people everywhere...Every open space, every parking lot, every lawn on the entire UT campus is filled with people. There are tents and trailers everywhere. There are flat screens with satellite hookups, and most importantly...food. There is free BBQ EVERYWHERE! Not just cheep BBQ. There are no Oscar Meyer hot dogs...I ate about 10 lbs of ribs. For free. I had about 5 lbs of meatballs, and 6 lbs of chicken tacos. There was dessert, vegetables, sandwiches, and drinks...all free. Sure they asked for donations...but I didn't give any...that means it was free! I have no idea who won the game. I have no idea who they played...We left like a half an hour before it started...which was good....Because with all the food came a lot of drunks....a lot. You can't drink at the stadium so everyone gets wasted before hand. When we got there at noon there were a handful of drunk idiots...by 6 there were a handful of not drunk idiots. Also there were a lot of dudes...which wasn't so awesome. But back to my point. The people there couldn't understand why I wasn't a UT Longhorns fan. I lived in Austin...I should be a Longhorns fan. I explained to them that I just moved from Minnesota, and they looked at me as if to say, "So you're here now though right?" It is impossible for the Texas brain to fathom that anyone cheers for a team other than UT...Especially if they live in Texas. To them football is UT football...they seem to picture heaven as a giant stadium in the sky where the UT offense plays a game against the UT defense for eternity.
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2 comments:
hook 'em horns
Well I hope you learned your lesson and are rooting for Texas as they play Texas Tech tonight. BIG game. I'm thinking that means extra good free BBQ and a few more cans of root beer. I'll watch the game to see who wins while you watch the grills to see which one you should put your suped-up lawn chair next to.
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