White Rob | Red State

I've been a little mum the past couple weeks because, honestly, there hasn't been a whole lot going on. It's been deathly slow around here. Occasionally, a tumbleweed rolls through.

Oh, I guess I should mention that Ryan from the old town dropped by for a visit a few weeks ago. We hung out for a weekend, ate and imbibed, watched a little NFL on opening weekend. Standard September fare. Wait. We did something else, though. What was it? Hmm... Oh, I remember.

We watched the local college football team take on some large out-of-state school’s football team. (American football, not “footie”.) You probably didn’t hear about it, but it was kind of a big deal down here. Your University of Texas Longhorns hosted the top-ranked and morally repugnant Ohio State Buckeye football team. It was the first meeting of the #1 and #2 college football teams during the regular season in 10 years. Many thought it was the biggest game ever played in Austin. And 30,000 buck-toothed-, err, Buckeye fans came to Austin from all over the country to support their team of future felons.

It’s weird, though. Thinking about the game now, it feels like it took place a really long time ago. Wait, what? It feels that way only because I slacked a few weeks before writing about it? Oh. That makes sense.

Crap. I took some pictures. Do you even care to see them? It's been awhile. You wanna? Yeah? Cool. Let your eyes eat it up...



A few of the 30,000 Ohio State fans preparing for the game at their weekend compound, Stubb's, a downtown BBQ joint that doubles as a music venue:

Ryan and Tania at the business school tailgate:


Damn, there are a lotta people here. 89,000+. How they all fit into a stadium that seats 85,000, I don't know.




Ohmigod, ohmigod, OHMIGOD!! Matthew McConaughey and Jake Gyllenhaal! Matthew McConnahey and Jake Gyllenhaul! Matthew McKonaughay and Jake Gillenhall! They're here! At the game!!

Wait... are they even friends? Who the hell are those people?


Oh yeah. That's totally them. This is now officially the dreamiest game in Austin's history.


Damn. My Hook 'em was cut off:


So, I sold my extra game ticket to this crazed Ohio State fan pictured here for a few bones before the game. She, uh... she was really into the game. I mean really into the game. I began to worry a little about her sanity as the game wore on, even suggesting that Tania not get so close to her for this pict-...

Holy shit. Rusti? Rusti, is that you? How the hell you been? Is Martin here with you? How's the casa in Alameda? I didn't recognize you when I sold you the ticket. Umm, one question. Why, uhh... why have you been making that face for the last two hours?


It's later in the game and the 'Horns are beginning to suck. Let's gaze at the landmark UT Tower.


The largest high-definition screen in the world. It was originally called Godzillatron. A splinter group has begun calling it Adzillatron. That might be more appropriate. FYI: a stadium somewhere in Asia will soon have an even larger hi-def screen, dropping UT's screen to 2nd largest in the world. Weak.


Ohio State 24, Texas 7. Why did you leave us, Vince? Why?


Ryan, Tania, and I headed downtown after the game for a beverage. We ended up at Speakeasy, which has a pretty tight roofdeck with cushy space for lounging.


Much to Tania's consternation, a good portion of Sunday morning and afternoon resembled this:


We finally left the house in the mid-afternoon to get Ryan some authentic Texas barbecue at County Line. The three of us ate at the original location which has a nice view of the severely overhyped Texas Hill Country. (Though, to be fair, I could not see the entire hill country from the restaurant.)



We consumed mass quantities of ribs, brisket, and sausage until we there was no room left in our tummies. Then they offered us some dessert. So we made some room. (I won't say how.)

Labels: bars, bbq, football, good locations from which to shoot a whole mess of people, pics, SF visitors

I’m just now coming out of the food coma induced by Friday night’s BBQ dinner at The Salt Lick. A socially go-getting classmate organized a party bus that transported us to and from The Salt Lick 45 minutes away from central Austin. Since the bus originated 10 blocks from my house and allowed us to consume beverages to and fro, Tania and I gladly signed up for $10 a piece. The BBQ was all you can eat and, of course, the school provided plenty of beer and wine. (I like these guys. They’re alright.) The BBQ sauce was amazing, inducing me to consume ribs, sausage, and brisket to the point of physical discomfort. (Oh, man. Eating to the point of discomfort. Does that ever take me back to childhood!) Anyway, I poo’d for two days.

But Rob, what’s up with the politically questionable title of this post? Do these Mexicans not have a home? (And, damn! Why so many?) Actually, their permanent residence is in Mexico. They come up to Austin each summer and spend their days sleeping under the Congress Avenue Bridge. They usually wake up a little before dusk and spend the night eating mosquitoes.

Oh, shit. Have I mentioned they’re bats? I should do that. Yeah, they’re Mexican Free-Tailed Bats. At 1.5 million strong, they form the largest urban bat population in North America. Because of their fondness for eating mosquitoes, Tania, a.k.a. “Mosquito Bait”, thinks they’re awesome. Even if they cause the bridge to smell like rat excrement.

Here are some pics of the bats flying from their bat cave, err... bridge, at dusk.

Labels: austin, bars, bbq, pics

Orientation week is about to wrap. I've got a little break here in the afternoon before the whole class heads to The Salt Lick, which is supposed to be the quintessential Austin BBQ joint. Whoa. I just checked out their website and learned that The Salt Lick is so named because "a Salt Lick is something where all the animals congregate. There is something good, something essential about it." Deep.

So, in addition to the drinking that took place all week, we also had a number of non-drinking events that kept us busy. Two of the more intellectually stimulating events were speeches and their follow-up Q&A's. The first speaker, Keith Ferrazzi, spoke to us on Wednesday. If you haven't heard of Keith (and I hadn't previously), he became Chief Marketing Officer and the youngest partner in the history of Deloitte & Touche at age 28, later wrote the New York Times best-seller Never Eat Alone, and is now considered at age 40 to be one of the most “connected” people in the world. His personal story and insights on relationship-building, expanding your network, and taking advantage of opportunity were fascinating. He also dropped his email address, so if you wanna get in touch with Hillary Clinton, Richard Branson, or Bill Gates, let me know and I’ll start greasing the wheels.

The other rather interesting speaker we heard this week was Red McCombs, the namesake of the McCombs School of Business. [Several years back, “Papa Red” (a name I coined today), gave the business school at the University of Texas $50 million with no strings attached. In appreciation, the regents voted to rename the b-school after him. Seems like the least they could do.] Red gave a rundown of his personal story, his longstanding affinity for UT, some anecdotes from his business experiences, and spoke of the importance of expecting to win, preparing to win, and then, finally, well... winning.

Papa Red has had a wide-ranging business career. Among other things, he:

• owned the Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs, and Minnesota Vikings at various times
• co-founded Clear Channel Communications
• created an auto dealership empire that once formed the 6th largest auto conglomerate in the U.S.
• was one of the very few people to successfully sell Edsels
• created companies in real estate development and the exploration of oil and gas
• did a number of other kick-ass things of which I have no knowledge

His Q&A was cut short, but I was able to learn a whole lot about why he traded away Randy Moss, so that was cool. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to ask about his thoughts on Al Davis or whether the sex boat scandal would have taken place under his watch. Next time.

Crap. I’m running low on time and I haven’t talked about bats at all, have I? Hmm... I better change the title of this post. Hold on.

Ah. That’s better. We’ll talk bats next time. Promise. Try not to soil yourself in anticipation.

Labels: bbq, sex boat scandals