Where's the Damn Bucket?

No really, State Farm - where's the damn bucket? Yea, yea... it's at U of H. Houston won it back in alarming fashion (and a similar score to the last time they were ranked in 2009).

But what I have major beef with is the logo. I give you kudos for the "presented by" and not trying to rename the game the State Farm Bayou Bucket. And I love the color scheme... but WHERE'S THE BUCKET?

All you had to do was add a gray background bucket - I took the liberty to do it for you! If I had the State farm font, I would "gif" it too.

Anyone have a contact at State Farm I can call about fixing their logo?

Welcome back, Froggies!

Personally, I don't get it... if A&M thinks they are not respected enough, how in the world do they think they will get more attention in the SEC?  Newsflash - SEC is only using you to get Texas recruits...  So, the getting more respect theory is a load of crap.  It's all about the money and the really bad path A&M Athletic officials continue to lead the Aggies down.  First you build a monstrosity to block the view of our beloved Reveilles (and trust me, the freshman seating has a better view!).  Then you demolish every rivalry... even the one your fight song is written about.  Will Bill Byrne rewrite the fight song too?  Where are the old school Ags - how is this being allowed to happen? 

TCU has been in a weak conference and played hardly anybody (but has wins against notable teams)... and they are ranked in the top ten at the end of each season.  A&M is still on one year, off the next... poor Aggies. Clearly, the Big XII got the better deal!  Just compare their post-SWC Bowl Game records and final rankings!

Since the end of the SWC, the Aggies have posted four top 25 final rankings.  TCU has posted eight - four of which are top 10 final rankings!  Bowl game wins also shine on TCU - Aggies are 1-9 since the SWC disbanded and  TCU is 8-4 (and two of those were BCS Bowls)!  Last year TCU went undefeated!  Since 2005, TCU has the best record of all FBS teams in Texas.

Now let's look at all-time win percentages against the SEC and their new conferences:

A&M against SEC        TCU against Big XII
58-79-6 (31%)             157-223-24 (39%)

                                     TCU against SEC
                                     33-64-4 (33%)

So, cry baby Aggies - or I want a National Championship TCU?

Conference Family Portraits

I wrote the feature story over on Uni Watch today.  Back in January I had scanned in all the Conference Family Portraits for the same website - a favorite of mine - focuses on the aesthetics of athletic unis and the minutia associated with the obsession.

Dad had purchased these postcards in 1969 and I had grown up with them - staring at them for hours.  Over the years I have found the playing cards too (they have the SWC family portrait and Up for Grabs on the two decks).  After chatting with Phil at Uni Watch I realized the originals were paintings signed by Don Collins.  I decided to see if I could find anything about the artist.  I found a bunch of neat info on him which lead to this story.

Well now that I knew where he was, I wanted more!  I put in a call to him on a Friday and he called me back Monday once he got back to his studio.  We had a fantastic conversation on the phone, me asking tons of questions about how and why the posters were made - all the while wishing I could call Dad and tell him the history.

No, it didn't take me ten months to write the story, just ten months to sit down to write it.  Enjoy the history of these little gems of days gone by!

Battle for the Iron Skillet

To avoid mutilation of school property, the SMU student Council proposed a trophy along the lines of the Little Brown Jug. That was October of 1946. After about seven weeks, an aluminum skillet (seems an iron one would have been way easier to find) was purchased. As reported in the Nov 30th Dallas Morning News, the Battle for the Iron Skillet was born.

The inscription on that skillet read “Presented in token of southwestern friendship to the winner of annual TCU-SMU football game. Student tradition sponsored jointly by student governments of the universities.” Decades went by and interest in the skillet began to wane until it just went missing.

A new Lodge cast iron skillet was purchased in 1993. The new inscription reads:

“The Battle for the Iron Skillet
SMU vs. TCU
A Tradition since 1915” 1915?

Not the skillet, but the rivalry! And if you look at this photo, it clearly now says "THE SKILLET". So maybe a third skillet (or at least new plaque). Looks like I need to go dig through some yearbooks...

But why a skillet? No one knows for sure. It is rumored in the 50s some SMU students were cooking frog legs before a game and a TCU student took offense and suggested whoever wins gets the skillet. Seems a little weak to me... plus the timeline doesn't fit.

Source Articles:
TCU Magazine
SMU News Archives

An older photo in this Skiff article

Helmet Bevo turns 50!

Fifty years ago this week, Darrell Royal put the infamous Longhorn silhouette logo on the football helmets! He asked a local sporting goods merchant to draw something up. Upon Rooster's reveal of his design (rendered in crayon), Darrell put it on the helmet for the Cal game. That was September 23, 1961! The article tracks the earliest emergence of the longhorn around the university - main contributor being booster H.J Lutcher Stark who first added a steer to sideline player blankets (and a host of other influences detailed in the story).

They got one thing wrong, though. First appearance of those little iconic cartoon Bevos I can attribute to 1956 - which is earlier than the 1960 media guide sporting the familiar pair of characters.  I have them in a 1956 Texas football program (and not in 1955 programs). Would love to know who drew him up!  Note that this pair from the 50s is very similar to the one above in my blog banner from the 70s.  The super angry one in the right of my blog banner adorns a SWC/National Champions windbreaker I have from 1969. Just to give you a dating of the different versions... which were all used at various times throughout those decades (and certainly on cool throwback SWC tees).

Also love how Royal did not want to "candy up" the unis by adding stripes.  The ONLY uni to this day I accept emphatically WITHOUT striped pants (because, as I have stated time and time again - football pants need stripes)!

Full article can be found here - and the link has also been added to my SWC football site the left column under traditions.