I’ve got a lot of wacky ideas that will never see the light of day. One of those ideas is that football is in the wrong damn season.
The summer/fall? I dunno, man. Football is supposed to be a cold weather game. The elements. The mercury. The Ice Bowl on the frozen tundra of Lambeau field. Sadly, most games in Green Bay in September are downright pleasant. I still plan to see a Packers game one of these days, but I guarantee you I ain’t going around Labor Day.
Sure, by the end of the season the weather goes south. But by then the December matchups are few and far between, with much of the campaign already decided. And even then, the NFL will take the most important game and move it to a sunny place like Tampa. The Bucs and Kansas City kick off the Super Bowl on Sunday February 7th. Hey, football in February. Sort of.
If Marc were your king, the football season would start during the month of February in the dead of winter. Ahh, February football. Now I like the sound of that. The cream would begin to separate itself from the crop in March, with rivalry games played over spring break. The playoff picture would come into focus in April, with those teams emerging from the harsh winter rewarded with a good weather championship run in early May. You know, a gift like a Super Bowl down south in February.
While there is a professional game in February every year, Texas college football in the month of February has taken place too!
On Thanksgiving Day in 1893, college football in Texas was played for the first time. Two teams took the field that day. The Longhorns of the University of Texas defeated a Dallas working class team at Fair Park, and the Kangaroos of Austin College defeated a different Dallas working class team at Batsell’s Park in Sherman. Both the Horns and Roos won, and Texas college football was here to stay. Which game kicked off first that Thanksgiving Day and gave birth to the collegiate game in the Lone Star state? That’s a topic in the story “The Birthplace of Texas College Football” found in my book Roo Tales: The Stories of Austin College Athletics.
The Thanksgiving Day game with the Dallas team in November was such a hit that the Longhorns scheduled a rematch in the month of February. On February 22, 1894, the Longhorns won again by a score of 16-0. Texas college football in February! Now that makes Marc so happy. You know what makes Marc sad? There has not been a single college football game in the state of Texas in February since that first year of 1893-94, when UT & AC (and ONLY UT & AC) suited up.
Until now.
The Austin College Kangaroos travel to San Antonio to take on rival Trinity on Saturday, February 6th. Kick off at noon. Football is back in February! Marc is happy again after a very long 127 years.
February Roo football is probably not gonna last. We’re all slowly getting our shots this winter & spring, so I’m hopeful that I’ll see y’all in the Outback in 2021 for yet another fall football game. AC has been playing in the fall for 127 years and there’s something to be said for tradition. And I can surely sacrifice my love of winter football to see everybody happy, healthy, and eating some Billy Core BBQ once again this fall.
What will we talk about when I see you this fall? Well, I plan to have my SECOND Austin College book (a collection of stories about Austin College history) published by then. So, there’s one topic. My first draft title? “Roo Tales: Stories of History from the Oldest Small College in Texas.” That may need some work.
For understandable global pandemic reasons, no fans will be allowed to watch in the stands this Saturday. That’s ok. I believe the game will be streamed, and I plan on watching online after I romp and stomp on the tennis court this Saturday. If it weren’t for the tennis though, I might just sneak onto the field disguised as a tree and get arrested like that fella in Maine did a few years back. Now why might I do something silly that? Like Andy Dufresne in Shawshank, mainly “to feel normal again, if only for a short while.”
So enjoy some well-deserved normalcy this Saturday, if only for a short while. It’s Football! It’s February! It’s Trinity! Nothing. Makes. Sense! What. Year. Is. It? I. Don’t. Know! But Go Roos.
P.S. still haven’t 100% ruled out my tree disguise plan Kirk Hughes & David Norman.
