Southwest Conference Football

Where's the Damn Bucket?

2011-10-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-10-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-03T21:59:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-09-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

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.

Earl Campbell Carries Rice Player into Endzone Revisited

2009-11-05T13:36:00.000-08:00

Doing a completely unrelated search today, I found this neat article on ESPN's Page 2 about the 1977 video of Earl Campbell carrying Rice's Strong Safety Michael Downs into the Endzone. I was amused that the author located the involved players to discuss their thoughts on the memorable play.

To the right of the article was a little sidebar about how hard it was to figure out who was in the video. I was thinking, oh shoot - my dad would have known instantly! Wait..... this is sounding a little familiar. Then I see MY NAME as a critical resource and remember we had this discussion on Uni Watch quite some time ago. How cool is that?

Turns out the author asked for Uni Watch's assistance and (with the help of dad) we concluded who got the free ride! Although we had concluded it was Michael Downs by the end of the thread, the author had to give some credit to the UT historian that confirmed it! ;)

Check out "The Story Behind the Story" on the right side of the article!

The research started by dad's "all knowing of all things SWC", lots of legwork by me, and finished by dad and his SWC Record Books... which are now mine! Check out comments 101, 155, 186, 193, 195, 197, 212, 216, 226, 238, 242, 243, 245, 247, 248 at Uni Watch for the full process!

Classic SWC Matchup Today

2009-09-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

I can only imagine the cartoon DIrk West would have come up with for today's game regarding last year's upset.

Love all the replays on College Game Day of last year's upset! No surprise with Corso's donning of the Bevo Mascot head. Actually I prefer, as a Red Raider, to be the underdog. Bad things happen when we are favored! Thought the signs were rather weak though... even the best one about not freestyling Texas Fight failed by omitting "big boy." Weeeeeeak...

We don't freestyle Texas Fight, big boy!

More Cartoons from Dirk West - each one with a very cool set up for the week. The LAJ has moved them to the Lubbock Centennial page - which is a very cool page, by the way.

The Power and The GloryHarold V. Ratliff

2009-09-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

What is it with this book that it is so expensive? Published in 1957 by the Texas Tech Press, Harold Ratliff was a veteran Texas sports writer. But, I have never seen a copy with its dust jacket for less than $100. A signed copy I saw once at the Half Price Books in Dallas was either $150 or $300 - I was so stunned, I just purged it from mind. The next time I went, it was gone!

And how in the world can this book be so wonderful when my dad did not have it...? He had every book written about the SWC! Guess it might have been a tad early for him - even though he did travel to his first UT game by train from Houston alone with his best friend at the age of eight (1949).

Reported to have one at the Houston Public Library, I may go try to find it before I put down half a Franklin for a non-dust jacketed copy. Published in 1957 I need to make sure I want it. My interest of the SWC is more 60s and 70s.

Oregon of the Big 12

2009-09-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

Baylor's unis WERE perfect...

Old school - up the middle, up the middle to the left, up the middle to the right... Okay, so their offense style has changed a bit - but it's not like Tech who have an entirely modern game and completely fill those Under Armour shoes. While those "Old Baylor Line" stripes are gone from the pants, at least Nike did not remove them from the helmet. Not to be outdone though - in the wake of those awful green helmets in 2005-2007 which were actually called "Oregon Green" we now have white helmets... Wait, what???

Let's be clear... Baylor wears gold in case you didn't know! They even f*cked up the mascot... :/ Thank you Nike, you suck!

Thanksgiving Throwbacks

2009-07-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

Texas announced they will be wearing 60's era throwbacks for this year's annual Thanksgiving match-up. Now my giddiness withstanding and complete appreciation with this move in the wake of my dad's passing (how fitting for the first A&M-Texas game without him), there are still a couple of problems.

First and foremost... A&M has yet to make a similar announcement completing this beauty of a Thanksgiving Day.

Secondly, with no specific year represented by the unis, they are a mismatch of old school and Nike Nausea. They will have the numbers above the Longhorn on the helmets (although, those hideous new helmets) as they wore from 1963-1966. As for the rest of the uni... not so vintage. The TEXAS wordmark is way too small for that time period (although I believe the wordmark was only on practice jerseys). And there is all kinds of jikky Nike crap going on with the We Are Texas collar trim, apex shield, and DKR Texas patch on the pants.

A similar homage was done in 2005 for the home opener in 2005 was executed much better with the 1963 unis.

Examples of the real deal below.
1962 Cotton Bowl Uni
1963 Cotton Bowl Uni

1964 Cotton Bowl Uni

1965 Orange Bowl Uni 1969 Cotton Bowl Uni