The helmet picture and some of the earlier posts on racism at the game brought back some memories and life learnings of that 1988 Rice vs. ULL (then SW LA) game where I was one of many who could not tackle Brian Mitchell that night (he played a number of years in NFL after ULL).

On the bus over, all the black players ducked in the bus as we went through Vidor, TX on I-10. At first the white players thought it was a joke but it was scary serious and I got an education on what happened in those parts being really naïve at the time.

Then in warm-ups, we heard more racial slurs from the Frat boys sitting right behind our bench and remember standing next to Donald Bowers as we were doing warm-up drills saying to him, ‘wow, those guys are really drunk. you can smell the booze’ and he said, ‘no that is on me, they just threw a bourbon on me’. And it went on throughout the game with Quentis Roper at QB getting getting the majority of the racial slurs. Needless to say, the Owls did not want to be there, played like they did not want to be there, and still remember Jerry Berndt masking his on-the-field embarrassment as anger screaming at the team as Rice became the first SWC/D-1 to not just travel but then lose in Lafayette.

But bigger picture, as I reflect back on the countless life experiences learned at Rice, that ULL trip opened-up my eyes and gave me an education and empathy that I wish so many others could see w/ our issues we are still dealing with almost 35-years later.

(09-23-2022 01:50 PM)owl40 Wrote:  The helmet picture and some of the earlier posts on racism at the game brought back some memories and life learnings of that 1988 Rice vs. ULL (then SW LA) game where I was one of many who could not tackle Brian Mitchell that night (he played a number of years in NFL after ULL).

On the bus over, all the black players ducked in the bus as we went through Vidor, TX on I-10. At first the white players thought it was a joke but it was scary serious and I got an education on what happened in those parts being really naïve at the time.

Then in warm-ups, we heard more racial slurs from the Frat boys sitting right behind our bench and remember standing next to Donald Bowers as we were doing warm-up drills saying to him, ‘wow, those guys are really drunk. you can smell the booze’ and he said, ‘no that is on me, they just threw a bourbon on me’. And it went on throughout the game with Quentis Roper at QB getting getting the majority of the racial slurs. Needless to say, the Owls did not want to be there, played like they did not want to be there, and still remember Jerry Berndt masking his on-the-field embarrassment as anger screaming at the team as Rice became the first SWC/D-1 to not just travel but then lose in Lafayette.

But bigger picture, as I reflect back on the countless life experiences learned at Rice, that ULL trip opened-up my eyes and gave me an education and empathy that I wish so many others could see w/ our issues we are still dealing with almost 35-years later.

Owl40 has written a number of posts over the years that I’ve really enjoyed. Mostly analyzing on field Owl performance.
This post was a bit different. And I think it’s his best.

(09-23-2022 02:14 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  

(09-23-2022 01:50 PM)owl40 Wrote:  The helmet picture and some of the earlier posts on racism at the game brought back some memories and life learnings of that 1988 Rice vs. ULL (then SW LA) game where I was one of many who could not tackle Brian Mitchell that night (he played a number of years in NFL after ULL).

On the bus over, all the black players ducked in the bus as we went through Vidor, TX on I-10. At first the white players thought it was a joke but it was scary serious and I got an education on what happened in those parts being really naïve at the time.

Then in warm-ups, we heard more racial slurs from the Frat boys sitting right behind our bench and remember standing next to Donald Bowers as we were doing warm-up drills saying to him, ‘wow, those guys are really drunk. you can smell the booze’ and he said, ‘no that is on me, they just threw a bourbon on me’. And it went on throughout the game with Quentis Roper at QB getting getting the majority of the racial slurs. Needless to say, the Owls did not want to be there, played like they did not want to be there, and still remember Jerry Berndt masking his on-the-field embarrassment as anger screaming at the team as Rice became the first SWC/D-1 to not just travel but then lose in Lafayette.

But bigger picture, as I reflect back on the countless life experiences learned at Rice, that ULL trip opened-up my eyes and gave me an education and empathy that I wish so many others could see w/ our issues we are still dealing with almost 35-years later.

Owl40 has written a number of posts over the years that I’ve really enjoyed. Mostly analyzing on field Owl performance.
This post was a bit different. And I think it’s his best.

+1

(09-21-2022 08:12 PM)mebehutchi Wrote:  

(09-21-2022 05:10 PM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(09-21-2022 04:40 PM)Brookes Owl Wrote:  

(09-21-2022 10:05 AM)DFW Owl Wrote:  

(09-21-2022 09:53 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  [quote='Intellectual_Brutality' pid='18460170' dateline='1663770922']
re: attendance problems in PAC 12
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/sport...t/2987113/

Enrollment 2018–19
31,636 undergraduate students

Stadium 25 to 30 miles from campus doesn't help with student attendance I'm sure.

This is not the problem. Traffic in LA has been terrible for decades but just 8 years ago UCLA averaged nearly 77K. Like a lot of other large schools with decent or better football histories, including USC, they rely on alums and locals to fill the stadium. Attendance is poor for lots of reasons but they're not a particularly good team and LA fans in general are front runners. Get some buzz around the team and the stadium will fill back up. Hell, USC got 60K to watch them play us, when temperatures were close to 100 degrees.

This is not THE problem but it is A problem. Agree that LA fans, like Houston, tend to be front-runners.

I have been to many a UCLA football game. When the Rose Bowl is crowded it is more filled with UCLA blue-bloods and Pasadena area familes (and away fans) than with rowdy, loud college students. When the front-runners don't show, there aren't enough students available to maintain a reasonable game-day environment.
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Also in SoCal the fandom is so averse to hot weather that people are borderline lawsuit minded over SDSU for the fact that the new stadium doesn't have shade that another mere $100 million would have provided. It's hard for us to fathom and I'm sure somebody living on the west coast will argue...but they CANNOT tolerate hot weather (defined by 85 or more) despite the fact that they live in a desert.

re frontrunners, you need to add "University of" in front of "Houston"....

Owl40 postings are the best. Miss his more frequent contribution.

One of my most vivid memories was a Rice basketball game at ULL...the racial slurs from the first row of the student section were immediate and very vocal. The next time down the Court, the referee (Mark W.) stopped the game and requested the security guards remove the culprits. When they (security) appeared to want to decline to act, he said "that's fine but if you don't remove them this will be the shortest game in NCAA history because we're not going to resume play with them in the arena".

Actually Mark was one of my assigned referees in a later final four in Houston. He was in the crew that had the second game at NRG on Saturday. I picked the crew up at the appointed time and three of the four were ready to go. Mark was in the next room and when I went to collect him to join us, he told me that it was his first Final Four and that he was calling a list of referees who had helped him in his career and that he wouldn't be where he is without them...we waited until he finished his calls..

I was on the sidelines for that game in Lafayette and in addition to the players mentioned by Owl40, Eric Henley wanted to go into the stands. His first game for Rice, recruited from Los Angeles, I’m sure at that point wondered why he came to Rice.

I was at that game, and I thought Brian Mitchell could have played for any team in the country.