I must explain my comment "Mack had me at hello". Well, he did.
My zeal for Longhorn football was 10 times in those days what it is today. I was rabid. I would eat, sleep, and sheet the Horns. I was proud of myself for attending UT. It was a great time of accomplishment and fulfillment in my life.
Except for John Mackovic. He never felt right. Once it became evident that David Mc's shock the nation tour was a fluke - I was heartbroken. I knew we had to make a change, but the change (Mackovic) just never felt right.
So we had some ups and downs with Mackovic, and because we are Texas, the downs outweighed the ups. It became apparent that he too would not be our long-term savior. So here we go again.
I had my eye on the man at North Carolina. He was a charmer, he was southern, and he built a winner at a basketball school. And then AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! EFFING DeLoss takes a shine to Gary Freaking Barnett. Now by this time, I had come to realize that DeLoss is wrong just about every time he has a thought, it's just that he looks confident when he has one. And his quips seem to make him look smart. But I knew he was dead ass wrong about Barnett.
To me, Barnett was Mackovic Part II, and DeLoss was really pissing the sheet out of me for wanting this guy. Well it turns out some big money Horns felt the same way I did. Dodds was flat ass overridden, and DKR, Jamail, and Hicks went to fetch Mack Brown.
I cried. I literally cried like a damn baby. This is why I say Mack had me at hello.
Yep. A little pony munching on a kettle of skittles beneath a rainbow. Kinda makes the underroos fit a bit snugger. Don't it?
My father and grandfather both worked on campus in menial positions when I was a youngster and brother was a gung-ho Eagle-scout to be who ushered every game so along with Captain Kangaroo, the Uncle Jay Show and my ABCs I was indoctrinated to Texas football.
As I may've said once or twice before, the first 10 years of my life the Horns won 7 SWC championships and 3 MNCs and never lost a game by more than 8 or 0 points.
I just assumed that's the way it would always be.
I remember throwing up at the 1976 Houston game when the Coogs ended the Horns' 42 game home winning streak by destroying Texas 30-0. To my sheltered 14 year old mind it was like Pearl Harbor. I couldn't imagine anything worse.
But somehow the more Texas spent the next 41 years clawing to make things right again, the steeper they'd slide. VY's 2005 season was like a break in the battle was his part in the wretched life of a lonely heart.
But for me, my paradigm shift came on January 2, 1984. Craig Curry muffed a punt and 11-0 Texas lost to Georgia.
It was the Horns closest brush with greatness in 14 years and I couldn't even feel the disappointment because - in real life - my wife had walked out on me about a week before.
Up until that time I had been an avid, rabid fan - living and dying by the Horns - emotionally bought into every high and low.
On that cold winter's day my mind was filled with fury but my heart just didn't give a crap. Not that day. Not anymore.
I'm not sure if I grew up or lost my innocence or lost my hope or lost my faith or lost my religion. Horns have never really been my heart since then. Just an amusing intellectual interest. Like sudoku might be for some.
I never felt any passion for or against any subsequent coach. Sometimes they would inspire. Sometimes they would infuriate. Mostly they annoy.
