Freedom!

After years of aligning myself with Arkansas football, I finally found freedom yesterday.

Like most of you, I have pictures of me from my childhood (60s) in Razorback uniforms. Going to a game was a huge event. My dad knew Frank Broyles, which gave me some “cred”.. simply put….I lived it and breathed it. It was easy until about 1985 or so…..you could count on Arkansas to play hard, compete well and be respected nationally. Saying you’re a razorback was a good thing. I was at a practice as a kid….like 4-5 years old….and Jon Brittenum accidentally stepped on my toe (yes you could stand on the field and watch then….I remember listening to Bill Montgomery, Mike Reppond, Joe Ferguson, Chuck Dicus….on the radio…diagramming the field position as Bud Campbell made the calls. It was like Christmas every year when the Texas game was in TV.

I hung in there through Ford, Crowe and Kines….thought HDN was the next coming of Frank….was willing to look past Petrino’s slimy behavior, was sure Bielema was a home run hire…heck I even tried to swallow the Chad Morris kool aid.

Genuinely like ole Sam. Real sorry for him that his retirement is probably soiled.

But….I actually turned the game off in the first quarter. I wanted to, I didn’t want to see the mockery anymore. The Razorback football program of my childhood and early adulthood is dead. So are my grandfathers that I love, respect and admire to this day.

I can love, respect and admire….even be grateful for what I had growing up as a hog fan in the glory years….but it’s gone and it ain’t coming back. I’m not planning on sitting by the graveside talking to the headstone any more.

P.S. I’m still gonna watch basketball and baseball. Football Saturdays? I dunno…probably not gonna attempt finding another team, but I’m free of hoping this corpse ever gets resurrected.

Edit…per my sig line…..I did, until they died.