Waco / Baylor

[Blackshirt]

Article Published: Monday, November 24, 2003

big 12 fan tour

The silence of the fans

 

Baylor not much to cheer about

 

By Bill Briggs

Denver Post Sports Writer

 

WACO, Texas - Dear Mom and Dad,

 

Howdy from Baylor University. Yes, my professors are still asking whether I got dropped on my head as a baby. Also, last Tuesday, my roommate accidentally torched the dorm in a Ramen Noodle hotplate tragedy.

 

But I have a bigger problem: Our football team is driving me to drink. Which might get me kicked out of this Baptist college, because alcohol is kind of against the rules here. So is "the failure to cover the trunk adequately" with a shirt - which really takes the fun out of wearing body paint. (At least they lifted the ban on campus dancing, frowned on since 1845 because of its "associations.")

 

Anyway, back to our God-awful team. The Bears. 1-7, 1-7, 0-8, 0-8 and 0-8. Those are our five most recent Big 12 records after our loss Saturday. Five years, two league wins. Some people talk about booting us out of the conference. They say we're only in the Big 12 because former Texas governor Ann Richards (a Baylor grad) bought us a place at the table. Maybe so, but doesn't every league need a Vanderbilt or a Northwestern to let the big boys fatten their BCS résumés? Well, most of the big boys, anyway - sorry about beating you, Colorado. WE'RE not even sure how that one happened.

 

So here at a school that espouses Christian values, we have one basketball player dead, shot by a teammate. We've also heard that some Baylor hoopsters were smoking dope. (I'm pretty sure that is a campus no-no along with beer). Oh, and there's evidence the basketball players were getting paid under the table. Still, it's the football team that's the conference joke from Lubbock to Lincoln. I guess Saturday's clash with Oklahoma State was all anyone needed to see.

 

This was the last game of the season, the farewell appearance for a crop of dazed-looking seniors who later would stare blankly into TV cameras and admit their four years had not turned out quite the way they had expected. The pre-kickoff scene outside Floyd Casey Stadium had all the energy of a sleepy, 10-and-under soccer game at the neighborhood greenbelt. Scores of empty parking spots. And just a few tiny tailgating clumps where people spoke in the hushed tones of a wake. On a flatbed trailer, a man with a microphone introduced a team of area high school cheerleaders who strutted to a Britney Spears song along with a small pack of grade-school girls in matching skirts and pompoms. The emcee thanked the "ladies and gentlemen" for watching. The "ladies and gentlemen" numbered seven.

 

Inside Floyd Casey, it was so quiet you felt like you should turn off your cellphone so as not to bother anyone. After its pregame stretch, the Baylor squad ran off the field and into the tunnel above which 11 people cheered. They couldn't even muster a 12th man.

 

"It's a little sad," agreed Brian Levings, a 27-year-old Oklahoma State fan and orthopedic surgeon.

 

"It doesn't seem like a Big 12 school at all," said his buddy, 27-year-old Zach Weigel, who works in the computer field.

 

About that time, the Baylor band marched in from the north end zone. A few people turned their heads to watch. No one stood. Baylor's mascot also pranced around - an inflatable bear named Judge. They used to bring a real black bear to these games but that changed after an animal rights group out of Chicago complained that excessive crowd noise might agitate the bear. Excessive crowd noise? Are you kidding? That just proves one thing: Animal rights activists don't know their football.

 

The final seconds before a football game at every other Big 12 school are a crescendo of emotion, a spectacle of tradition. A buffalo or horse or steer may sneer or snort. Cannons may thunder. Rifles may roar. Fireworks may explode. At Baylor, the kickoff just kind of happens. I looked under my seat to grab my Dr Pepper and, next thing I knew, the home team already had gone three and out. Huge, gaping tracts of bleachers sat empty. In the east grandstands, a throng of orange-draped Cowboys fans equaled the number of Baylor backers in gold. No one seemed to think that was odd.

 

The paid attendance in the 50,000-seat stadium: 23,763. But as Waco Tribune-Herald sports editor Kim Gorum joked, "We figure (that) included about 8,000 who spent the whole game in the rest- rooms."

 

On the field, the Bears played with grit and heart while the Cowboys played like their alarm clocks were set for halftime. Which, in the end, just meant Oklahoma State won the game 38-21. Considering we had lost some games this season 73-10, 56-0 and 62-14, most Bears fans left with a smile. When the Baylor team trotted into the tunnel after it was over, this time 15 people stood by and clapped.

 

Anyway, Mom and Dad, all this is just a long-winded way of asking one question: Can you send some money?

 

Baylor report card

TAILGATING: F ... Jim Wright, a 1987 Baylor alum, spooned up some jambalaya with half a dozen buddies in a stadium parking lot, but they were a rare sight Saturday. A grassy flat that normally is filled with tailgaters contained just two small tents. Some blamed the turnout on the fact that the game was televised. No beer is allowed at the pregame parties, but some fans sneak sips of brew in unmarked cups. (0.0 points out of 4.0 possible)

 

STUDENT SUPPORT: C ... They were small in number but spunky in nature. A crew of Baylor kids in gold stood the entire game - the only ones in the crowd who did so. They gleefully performed their "bear claw" up-and-down hand motions to the school song, and urged the Bears on to the bitter end. (2.5)

 

GAME-DAY ATMOSPHERE: D- ... A quiet, half-empty house is probably expected with a team that has lost so big and so often during the past decade. At least they were friendly. And hey, no traffic! (1.0)

 

TRASH TALKING: A ... This is a Baptist college. What would Jesus do? He wouldn't talk smack. When the Baylor fans yell at their players, they drop lines such as "Son of a monkey!" and "What are you thinking, you ding-dong?"(4.0)

 

FEAR FACTOR: A ... The lone tailgate party I found invited me to chow down with them. At the game, the guy sitting behind me just wanted to talk football and game strategy, despite my wearing the orange of Oklahoma State. What a concept. (4.0)

 

GOOD WINNERS/POOR LOSERS: A ... The most inspiring thing at Baylor is these fans still have hope. They seem to think the team is headed in the right direction and in two or three years might be competitive. That was the basic chatter after the game. (4.0)

 

GPA: 2.58

 

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