Well, it is October, and we all know what this means, Texas-Oklahoma weekend is upon us and my once peaceful and quiet household has now turned into chaos. For 51 for weeks during the year, my wife and I get along great, until the Sunday before Red River Rivalry week.


There are the usual childish insults thrown around between the two of us, but as each day ticks closer, the attacks get more personal. As we get closer to game day, few words are said between us except to belittle each others teams. She is hardcore Oklahoma, I am hardcore Texas, then there is our daughter and two dogs who will do what ever it takes to keep us both happy.
Each year we decide that we are going to alternate locations to watch the game, my family, her family, neutral site. Unless we can get tickets for one of the games. This year, we are going a neutral site. But it always starts out the same way, kickoff we are beside each other. But as the game wears on, we will separate, and by the end of the game we are on opposite ends of the room.

Last year, I had the joy of rubbing a Longhorn victory in her face and have been able to hold that over her head for a whole year. It also has helped that Oklahoma has lost 3 times since that game(Florida, BYU and Miami(FL). While Texas has lost only once in that year. But all that will go out the window on Saturday. The only win that will count for us is this one.

So the fight songs will be sung, the insults will be thrown, I will ultimately end up sleeping on the couch and take some insults too far. But much like a thunderstorm, this too will pass. There will be more football games after this one, and there will be more Red River Rivalry games after this one. But for 4 hours on Saturday, nothing else will matter but what happens on the field of the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Once the game is over, and the emotion has subsided, we will end up back in our normal routine, but there will be that unspoken word of ones victory between us. The only people who understand this are the people who also married someone who’s a fan of a rival school.