The Sweet Rewards of Loyalty
January 05, 2006

It was around 12:15AM last night that I realized that the impossible had happened. Vince Young, on 4th and 5 with under 20 seconds remaining, ran it in. It was a game-winning touchdown in the conventional sense, but we all know it was anything but such. In short, the grandest and most beautiful payoff of all: One for loyalty, for standing by your team through the thick, the thin and even Oklahoma. We had done it, yes we had.

ESPN's Pat Forde has said it the best:

"Do you believe the Texas Longhorns, those can't-win-the-big-one kids, won the big one? Do you believe the Longhorns won their first national title in 35 years against a bulletproof team that, until Wednesday night, couldn't lose the big one? Do you believe they did it when all hope appeared lost, trailing by 12 points with six minutes to play? Do you believe they scored 15 points in less than four minutes? With the quarterback once panned for his throwing motion completing nine pressurized passes in the final two drives—then finally sealing the deal with the most incredible legs since Marilyn Monroe's? Do you believe their routed defense rose up and stopped the unstoppable USC offense when it absolutely, positively had to? Do you believe Mack Friggin' Brown, once the scourge of Texas fans for his team's pratfall performances in games like this, outflanked coaching golden boy Pete Carroll?

Believe it. Believe it all. Believe Texas 41, USC 38. And believe that this stunning reversal of form and fortune happened because of the gutsiest and most glorious six minutes in the gilded history of Texas football."

And there is something to be said for believing. To some people, being a die-hard sports fan is a futile exercise is inaction. You can't change the outcome! That's true, but there is an intangible thrill in cheering for something/someone you cannot control. And the satisfaction of victory after heartbreak and heartbreak again is worth all that suffering.

Congratulations to the 2005 NCAA Football National Champions: Vince Young and the University of Texas Longhorns. Hook 'em!

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