Texas Football or Austin City Limits?

Joe Work
Beta Upsilon Chi

The Big XII broke thousands of Longhorn, hipster hearts when it announced that everyone's favorite football weekend would coincide with one of Austin's largest music festivals. Petitions were started by UT students to have the date of the game changed. Social media was ablaze with comments ranging from petty disagreement to all out threats for taking away sorority girls' only chance to dress Indie.

Contrary to popular belief, UT's athletic department was not attempting to keep thousands of students from seeing Radiohead or The Rolling Stones, and the game was scheduled to prevent having a home game on the same weekend as the music festival that often attracts more than 70,000 fans. Austin hotel prices would have skyrocketed with football and music fans all converging on the same weekend. A contract between the Cotton Bowl and the two schools requires the rivalry be played within the first two weekends in the month of October, and the first weekend, Oct. 6, was already booked for the promising thriller between Grambling State and Prairie View A&M (sarcasm intended).

There are very few life events that could rip me away from seeing a Texas football game that is within reasonable driving distance from Austin. Other than a funeral for a family member or the birth of my own children, I’ll stand behind our Horns from Eyes to Eyes.

For all of you who may be having trouble deciding between TX/OU and ACL, I would like to offer you a little assistance.

I don't want to take anything away from such a great music festival which has seen the likes of Kanye West, Coldplay and the Eagles in recent years, but ACL will be back in 2013 and every year for the foreseeable future and, judging by the recent conference shake ups, TX/OU might not be around for much longer.

The Red River Rivalry has a rich history of matching up two of the nation's powerhouses, and the 2012 game should be nothing short of a spectacular show between the unproven, young Longhorns and the veteran Sooners. However, no one can be sure if we will see a Colt-McCoy-era nail biter or a 2000-esque blowout.

Fair-weather fans could be scared away by the prospect of having a similar game to the 2011 season, but we don't go just to see a football game.

It’s not all about the trophy at the end of the game or the headlines in the morning newspaper. It’s not about racking up another ‘W’ in the win column. It’s about navigating the Dallas mass transit with thousands of belligerent fans that still haven’t recovered from West U the night before. It’s about walking through the fair and winning the ridiculously large stuffed animals. It’s about eating fried foods that get more and more strange every year. It's about tailgating with your favorite people and savoring everything that college is about. It's about defending your state just as our beloved brethren did at the Alamo so many years ago. It’s about proving the fact that OU sucks and yelling it at the top of your lungs with 50,000 of your closest friends. It’s about putting your Horns up and showing the world what they’re missing.

The choice may not be as simple for you, but as for me, I know exactly where I will be on Oct. 17. Texas forever.

Joe is a sophomore studying English. You may contact him at joework@utexas.edu.