Section B·Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, March 8, 1999
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Commentary
Longhorn tradition exemplifies loyalty dedication to team
If you're looking for someone to blab about the NCAA tournament brackets, you'll have to keep looking.
Because even with the two-television living room and posterboard sized bracket all set up in my apartment, something caught my attention more than the selection show yesterday.
After Texas completed a three-game sweep of our baseball team
in 30-something degree weather yesterday in Lawrence, the Longhorn players showed the 50 or so bundled-up fans who stayed until the end what school pride and sports should be all about.
Sam Mellinger sports@kansan.com
the team stood along the third-base line, each player pointing his right arm to the sky with the index and pinky fingers extended, forming at least a slight semblance of a Longhorn.
The Eyes of Texas was played while the players stood.
I don't know how many of you knew this already — I sure didn't — but apparently this ritual goes on before and after every University of Texas sporting event. Win or lose, they do this.
A few years ago, when Texas upset Nebraska in the Big 12 football championship game, the team celebrated with their flesh-formed Longhorns held high.
A few months ago, when Kansas State beat Texas about as thoroughly as a football team can be beaten, the team walked over to where the school's band was seated, held their Longhorns high and sung along.
I thought a lot about what that meant. And the baseball team wasn't doing it by themselves.
Amazingly, 20 or so of the fans in attendance were decked out in Texas orange. Keep in mind, a trip from Austin to Lawrence is not exactly a short drive.
The Texas sports information contact at the game told me that at least that many show up for almost every road game. At home, it's more than 4,000. Keep in mind, this is for baseball. College baseball.
Sure, Texas is ranked 10th this season, but the team's support has been constant through some bad times. The Longhorns were 23-32-1 last season but the fans were still there.
With today's here-today-gone after-a-loss sports fan, it's really refreshing to see a tradition like this.
This is not a call for more obsessive fans looking to claim an identity through a sports team. The last thing this country needs is more people like "The Rick" from those ESPN commercials.
But what the sporting world could use is a few more loyal fans. A few more people willing to support a team even if they don't have Michael Jordan or Ken Griffey Jr. or Emmitt Smith. We could use a few more people to cheer for a team that's not a title contender. Or — no subtlety intended — a few more people to support a usually-dominant-and-now-merely-good college basketball team through a few blown leads and home losses.
Again, nobody wants obsession, just loyalty.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not and never have been a Texas fan of any kind. Not Texas, not A&M, not Tech, not Baylor, not the Mavericks, not the Spurs and definitely not the Cowboys.
But I do like to see true sports fans, and yesterday I saw about 20.
Mellinger is a Lawrence junior in journalism.
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