Baylor Unafraid to Show True Selves
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by user ASwaff
I know this article is coming in very late, but this is something I had to get off my chest. In the football game last Saturday between Baylor University and the University of Texas, the Baylor Bears scored a touchdown on their first offensive play of the game. It was a play-action fake that the Texas secondary bit hard on that led to a 67-yard TD pass by quarterback Shawn Bell. To celebrate, the quarterback of the school that brought you cat-skinning as recreation ran down the field flashing the upside down horns sign (recognizable to anyone that has ever played UT in anything).
It was the first time we saw the upside down horns in the game, but it wasn't the last. A handful of times during the first quarter (when Baylor jumped out to a 10-0 lead), Baylor players celebrated big plays or routine tackles with the upside down horns. Normally, that kind of behavior, which for some reason never got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for taunting, would anger me. But, this time it just made me laugh.
You see, in the previous four meetings, UT had defeated Baylor by an average score of about 51-4 (cumulative score was 203-14). But that's not why the celebration was stupid. In three of the last four meetings, UT had shut out Baylor. But that's not why the celebration was stupid. The Baylor players were showing up UT in its own stadium. But that isn't even why the celebration was stupid.
The celebration was stupid because it showed a complete lack of class to a school that has done nothing but show respect for its rivals this season. After the game against Ohio State University, I remarked at how surprised I was that there were no brawls before, during or after the game. Believe me - I was there, and the atmosphere was ripe for a brawl. In fact, in a very rare move, UT invited the OSU marching band to perform the script Ohio as part of the halftime show.
That is the kind of class UT has gone out of its way to try and show its opponents this season. And these Baylor players had the nerve to go into the Longhorns' home and show them up like that in the first few minutes of the game. I was surprised at that show of poor sportsmanship, and can only say that it's a good thing they did it to UT. If they'd done it to the University of Miami, the response to the blatant taunting might not have been handled so well.
But, like I said, I wasn't even angry about it. I just laughed. Like you said - how dumb to you have to be to do something that will only make your opponent (who has owned you since the beginning of time) want to hit you harder?