Back to the LBK

This past weekend was the first time that I have been back to Texas Tech since I graduated. I went back for the annual beat down of Daryl's Texas A&M Aggies. I will get to the game and all of the festivities later, but first Lubbock.


Things have changed!! Across the street from the university used to be old and run down. It didn't really look great and most of the buildings were vacant. But now, the buildings are new, the businesses will actually make it, and the architecture of the buildings matches that of the university. It's really amazing how much nicer and friendlier it makes the area look. That's not the only new things going on in Lubbock. The city is adding a new highway in and around town, so far there is just construction, but you can see the plans starting to take shape.


As for the university, they are planning on adding onto the football stadium, and they are currently working on a water park that will be near the rec center that includes a lazy river around the intramural fields. That will be really cool.


There are lots of projects going on and the area around the university finally looks nice.


Now for the game. We arrived at the tail-gate around 11 a.m. We were greeted with jalapeno poppers, hot dogs, brats, burgers, and of course the official beverage of Texas Tech, cold beer. The tailgate was great, hundreds of trucks, RVs and grills. Tents were set up with couches and TVs playing various football games going on across the country and dozens of Texas flags, Tech flags and pirate flags. A great atmosphere. People everywhere. One thing I noticed, the student body seems to stay the same age even as I grow older, I may appreciate that more as I get older.

Earlier in the week a frat guy came up with the idea for a t-shirt just for the game against the Aggies. The shirt said Vick'em of the front and had a football player wearing the number 7 hanging Reveille, the Aggies dog mascot. The shirt was discontinued and Tech officials apologized to the A&M officials for the shirt. I was upset about the shirt and thought it was a bad idea at first, but after seeing them, I thought there were hilarious. I only saw a few, and they weren't nearly as bad as the shirt I saw that said "OJ'em" on the front, and had a picture of OJ stabbing the Aggie dog mascot. For the most part the fans were great and the rivalry was great.

I had forgotten how electric the atmosphere is for a Red Raider home game. I guess it was one of the things that I took for granted while I was there. Once I was in the stadium I was taken back to the first time I entered the stadium and how it made me feel. I was in awe. I remembered all the great games, catches, and hits I had seen there. It was great.

We found our seats which were in the shade. There was about a 20 mph wind blowing through the stadium, typical Lubbock. We got the ball to start the game, and we went three and out. Then the Aggies got the ball. They rumbled down the field and scored easily, it looked like it was going to be a long day for us, and it also looked like the Aggie running back who guaranteed a victory for them was going to make good on his promise. However, it was not to be for the Aggies. That was the only time they would score. We dominated the rest of the game. We scored 21 points in the second quarter to go up 21-7 at the half. The Aggies did not even get to our half of the field in the third quarter. They did not even score in the 4th when we had our mop-up defense on the field. We took it to 'em for the final three quarters and left no doubt who was the better team. Not a bad first game back for me to go to at all. The final score was 35-7. After the game we headed back to the tailgate spot for Victory Beers. It was a great win, and a great day. And it will be a great year as I have locked up bragging rights over Daryl...again.