During high school, I watched a LOT of football games. Not because I was suddenly living in Texas and people are crazy about Texas high school football, but because I marched in the band. For four years, I went to every football game. And it was mostly fun, in part because the Galveston Ball Tornadoes were generally one of the best teams in the district and they won a lot. One year, I learned that big stadia like The Astrodome have miserable acoustics and that marching on Astroturf is harder than you would expect, because the football team went to state.
By the time I got to Rice in 1989, I was done with band and sick of going to football games. In fact, I didn’t manage to attend a single Rice game while I was there. While I missed out on seeing classic MOB (marching owl band) half-time performances, I didn’t miss much else, because the brainy Rice Owls were NOT one of the strongest teams in the Southwest Conference.
As recently as 2005, the Owls won just one of ten games. They don’t win whole seasons, they play in very few bowl games, and you won’t see them on national television. Rice is a “smart” school, not a “sports” school, and I’m okay with that.
In that historical context, the Rice Owls 2008 season has seemed pretty surreal. They apparently won 8 of the first 11 games. (I say “apparently” because we weren’t following the team closely. Why would we?) The last game of the regular season — the “Bayou Bucket” against intown rival University of Houston — got picked up by CBS to air nationally on College Sports TV. Watching the Owls play on TV — and win — was novel and fun!
The Bucket victory got Rice into the Texas Bowl, which aired nationally last night on NFL Network. (I know, it’s cable, but it’s still national!) Our friends Rob, Mike & Susan, their kids, and my cousin Sharon all came over to watch the game over hot pizza from Star and cold beer.
Tibbs and the men folk watched the game…
… while Elizabeth, Robert, and John read, battled light sabers…
… and talked with a “Dora” show
Even Ben & Rebecca got in from San Antonio before the game ended. We had a good time, and Rice beat Western Michigan 38 to 14, winning their first bowl game since the 1954 Cotton Bowl. HOOT!