Landon Addresses the UT ‘T-Shirt Fan’ Issue
Let me start by saying that I'm a Red Raider through and through. I was born and raised in Lubbock, went to Tech and never miss a home game at the Jones.
Let me also mention that the guy I sit with at every Tech game is a UT graduate and a DIE HARD Longhorn...so is his father-in-law...so is his wife...so are all of his friends that sit with us. They make jokes about our school, we make jokes about theirs...all in good fun.
The one thing that we can ALL agree on is our dislike of of so-called 't-shirt fans'. These are the people who have absolutely no association with UT, but are as die-hard and annoying as any Austin-ite or UT grad. And by 'no association', I mean no family members, no friends...nothing AT ALL in their life is personally connected to UT.
The Red Raiders mean so much to our community and for people who live here, work here and raise their families here to talk trash about Tech and support a team they have NO connection to is ridiculous. Even if you didn't go to Tech, have a family member go to Tech or know someone who went to Tech, as a Lubbockite, you have a DIRECT connection to the Red Raiders!
Ask any 't-shirt fan' and they'll gladly tell you why they just LOVE the 'horns! Why? Most common answer: '2005 National Champs!!!" DING! DING! DING!
The 'I Hate Longhorn T-Shirt Fans With a Passion!' Facebook page (yes, there really is one) said it this way:
It takes a lot more to be a part of school than knowing game scores and buying a $9.99 Longhorn t-shirt at Wal-Mart.
They go on to say:
There is no question every school has their own t-shirt fans. The point is that UT t-shirt fans are the worst and most annoying in thinking they are better than everybody. No matter where you go in the State of Texas, they are everywhere.
Anyway, here's one of the MANY, MANY emails I received after mentioning this on-air:
"I appreciate that you are in Lubbock with the Red Raiders but you sound ridiculous when you spew about other teams. I don’t think you are aware of how silly you sound when you talk about other teams. I am all for team spirit, but I was taught early on that bad sportsmanship was the sign of a poor team. If you have to insult the other team just to make your team sound better….you need to take a second look at your team. Maybe they should try standing out in the crowd by performance and not by bashing the competition."
Hey, I'm all about team spirit myself! Especially if you HAVE SOME AFFILIATION WITH THE FRIGGIN' SCHOOL YOU ARE SO PROUD OF!
Here's another one:
"Good morning I was sending this email in response to what you just said about the t shirt longhorn fans. Let me start by saying I'm not a fan of tech or texas. Am I wrong for that because I reside in Lubbock? I am a cowboys fan but am I also wrong for that because I live in Lubbock? I don't live in the dallas area so am I not allowed to support that team because then I'm a t shirt fan? Not one person from my family has played for dallas but I do have some family that lives in that area so am I allowed then? Tell you what I will continue to support which ever team I want because I am a fan and not a "tshirt" fan... And to all the people I know that support the longhorns or tech I'll be sure and let them know that you can only be a fan if you went to the school or live in that area because Landon king said so."
The short answer to this is that I'm not talking about NFL fans or, more specifically, Cowboys fans. That's a different discussion entirely. Very few people have any direct association with an NFL team. I could go on about how the players are paid, free-agency and so on, but it would really take away from the point of this article.
I WILL say that as far as the NFL goes, I'm a fan of whatever team my Fantasy player plays for in that particular game on that particular day. I stopped caring all that much about the Cowboys after the Landry era.
One last email before I go:
"Landin King needs to shut his loud mouth!!!! There are more of us in Lubbock than their are of yours (TECH WRECK!!) fans! Just because you have a microphone, doen't mean your right! HOOK 'EM HORNS!"
This person didn't pay attention in their English class. I'm sure they attended UT, right? Right?