The Porch, y'all. pull up a seat and kick back.

[BrownCounty]

I'm surprised youngsters (<50) know what mothballs smell like.  Or even that they exist.

[CousinFreddie]

Go East Texas State.

It’s a solid little univ with small classes (at least in the sciences) and good profs, which meant I ended up working very closely with several, kind of like you expect out of a high end liberal arts college, except that I only had to pay $200/semester tuition.  It was an outrageously good deal.  I’ll always be grateful to ET.
Go Lions!

[longhorn320]

It’s a solid little univ with small classes (at least in the sciences) and good profs, which meant I ended up working very closely with several, kind of like you expect out of a high end liberal arts college, except that I only had to pay $200/semester tuition.  It was an outrageously good deal.  I’ll always be grateful to ET.
Go Lions!

ET?  I thought he went home

[BrownCounty]

It’s a solid little univ with small classes (at least in the sciences) and good profs, which meant I ended up working very closely with several, kind of like you expect out of a high end liberal arts college, except that I only had to pay $200/semester tuition.

Wait, so you mean you're not really even a Sooner?

[CousinFreddie]

I’ve always been an OU fan.  Cheered for them my whole childhood, and my paternal grandfather went there in the 1910s/1920s, then my dad went to OU med school, and all my uncles attended there.  I didn’t go to college there - got out of the military and my parents had defected to Texas so I joined them and went to the univ closest to their place.  Four years in the usmc makes you appreciate home cooking.

Regardless I always cheered for OU.  For example later was in grad school at UVA and they played in some bowl - Citrus, Gator, whatever - and I wore an OU sweatshirt to work on the Charlottesville campus off and on during the weeks leading up to the game.

[BrownCounty]

my parents had defected to Texas so I joined them

I guess it's nostalgia or something.  People flee from one place to a better place, yet they still fly and salute the banner of the place they got the heck out of.
If some place is good enough for me to leave Texas, then I'll change my allegiance.  But of course that can't happen.

[CousinFreddie]

It matters where you grew up.  I spent 16 of my first 18 years in Oklahoma, and all my grandparents and parents were from there, so when I think back it's all just a bunch of fond memories as a kid with all these wonderful people who took such good care of me and whom I dearly loved and who are now sadly all gone.  The fact OU football, Cardinal baseball, etc were happening then too just kind of weaves it all together into a big warm and fuzzy package of long lost childhood.

[CousinFreddie]

ET?  I thought he went home

ET is Lion to ya then.
For those of us attended before they joined the A&M system, it will always just be ET.
And Commerce will always be known as "Cowmess"

[BrownCounty]

The fact OU football, Cardinal baseball, etc were happening then too just kind of weaves it all together into a big warm and fuzzy package of long lost childhood.

Ok I get it.  I do understand warm and fuzzy memories.  But Cardinal baseball?  As in St. Louis Cardinals?  I figured most Okies were KC Royals fans.

[CousinFreddie]

Ok I get it.  I do understand warm and fuzzy memories.  But Cardinal baseball?  As in St. Louis Cardinals?  I figured most Okies were KC Royals fans.

Tulsa had the Oilers, which was the Cards AAA team, and so we had KMOX St Louis (Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, and even Harry Caray back before my time, before he got on the wrong side of the Busch family) repeated on an am station in Tulsa (KVOO, I think it was) every night on the radio.  The Royals only started in 1969; we did have one neighbor who adopted them, but most of our family and friends were Cards fans (except for my maternal grandmother who was a Yankees fan because Mickey was from Spavinaw only a few miles up the road).  And, I even had a great uncle who played in the Cardinals farm system; he pitched in the minors, but never made it to the Big Show.  

[BrownCounty]

Just to fully disclose my Okie connections, I am from a town in NE Texas called New Boston, and I have family in Idabel, Broken Bow, etc.

My cousins from SE Oklahoma were a rough bunch, and although as children they were great ball players and tough as nails, their grown-up lives didn't turn out too well, some marred by drug addiction, etc.

If you've ever seen the movie Leaves Of Grass, that's what I come from.

[longhorn320]

ET is Lion to ya then.
For those of us attended before they joined the A&M system, it will always just be ET.
And Commerce will always be known as "Cowmess"

I thought this might clear this up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xZif3WmG7I

[FearlessF]

Wait, so you mean you're not really even a Sooner?

y'all understand that the majority of college football fans didn't attend any university, let alone the university they root for?
Heck, what about NFL fans?  What high school do you need to attend to be worthy of rooting for an NFL team?  One in the inner city?
the inner city of New England or Green Bay?

[BrownCounty]

Wow, talk about missing the whole point.

That’s kinda what the NFL is for, ya know.  For fans of football, no affiliations necessary. In the old days, you support the franchise closest to where you live.  That’s about it.

States like Alabama and Oklahoma have always had college fans for lack of a pro team.  So there is somewhat a precedent in some areas.

But then ESPN came along and created a monster where coaches are paid $6-7MM per year, players are dumber than rocks and have no business at a university, and the stands filled up with plumbers and mechanics who think calculus is found in the fresh produce section.