By Todd
Heustess
Special to Outsports.com
When you're watching Longhorns football games in Austin
on TV, you don’t realize that Darrell K Royal – Texas
Memorial Stadium is right by Interstate 35 and in
fact much of the stadium is at the level of the
freeway or below it.
It sits at the eastern edge of the huge University
of Texas campus adjacent to the I-35. Sitting in the
upper deck of the stadium this past Saturday
watching Texas dismantle Colorado, 42-17, was a bit
disorientating because I was nearly at eye level of
the freeway and whenever I stood up it felt like I
was going to fall 10,000 feet straight down because
the west upper deck is so steep. Still, to look out
to the south and west of the stadium and see
downtown Austin, the capital, and the sprawling UT
campus on a glorious near-fall afternoon of high
clouds, sunshine and 80° weather was a special
college football experience.
The game itself was not that exciting as Texas took
control early and completely overwhelmed the Buffs.
Vince Young was sensational, completing 25 of 29
passes (to seven different receivers) for 366 yards,
while running for another 58. He scored five
touchdowns, three rushing, two passing. Why isn’t he
getting more Heisman consideration? In my opinion
Texas looked better than all the other unbeatens.
We’ll see what happens.
While the game lacked for excitement, the tailgating
scene in Austin before and after the game did not.
My friend, Mauricio Freitas, a soccer player from
Brazil visiting me for the week, was treated to his
first ever American football game. Prior to the game
we had been in contact with a number of Outsports
readers who were all gay Texas Exes.
The gay Texas Exes set up a tailgate just southwest
of the stadium at 18th and Brazos. They
told me to look for the RV with an orange tent and a
rainbow Bevo flag. (Bevo is the name of the Texas
mascot, a real Texas longhorn steer).
We arrived shortly before Noon (game time was 2:30)
and tailgating at the gay Texas Exes party was in
full swing and throughout the rest of campus. The
rainbow Bevo flag was flying proudly at the gay
Texas Exes spot when Mauricio and I met up with
Michael O’Dwyer, a Longhorn fan from Dallas who was
originally from Ireland.
Michael left Ireland in 1990 to work for American
Airlines in Dallas and went to his first college
football game in 1992 when he saw Texas play
Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl and from then on, he was
hooked. Many of his friends were UT grads and he
became an UT all-sports fan over time, though his
special passion is football. He loves the
camaraderie and fun that the group has at the six to
seven home games in Austin each year.
Most of the guys we met in the group were Texas
alums, Outsports readers and avid football fans.
What struck me was that their group of 40-plus guys
was tailgating out and proud in the middle of campus
and no one cared or made an issue of it. They were
one of thousands such groups of friends and
colleagues gathered around the UT campus. Most of
the friends and family who wandered over were
straight, and they blended right in to the party.
Just a couple of tents down, was Kurt Zeitler,
another Outsports reader and UT alum from the ‘70s.
Kurt grew up in Houston, played high school football
on a couple of state championship teams, and now
resides just outside of Austin. Kurt loves all
sports and even tailgates for UT baseball games. At
Kurt’s tent the crowd was mixed and just as
welcoming.
Mauricio was fascinated and enthralled by the
American tradition of tailgating before the games.
He said, “In Brazil we are crazy during the game
(soccer) and sometimes after the game but never
before the game.”
As we walked between the “gay” tailgates and around
the campus, Mauricio was amazed that everyone
arrives so early, that there was so much food, and
that everyone was so comfortable offering complete
strangers food. He said that for him the tailgating
was the best part, that all the drinking,
socializing, eating and partying before the game
created much excitement and expectations, so much so
that the game itself was a little bit of a letdown.
He said all the pre-game energy that was created
before the game was lost because there was no drama
during the game. Luckily, the tailgate scene
continued long after the game was over. Everyone
seemed to want to make a whole day and night of it
and from there many left to go to the downtown
Austin bars. It was strictly an alums day for me as
we didn’t stumble upon any hot frat boys. I guess
that I’ll need to go back to check out that scene,
but in the meantime, Austin is definitely a tailgate
favorite.
Rest of the Tour (other dates might be added):
Nov. 5: Washington vs. Oregon State in Seattle.
Nov. 12: Southern California at Cal
Todd Heustess is a
writer based in Miami.
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20, 2005 |
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