Runnin' with the Big Dogs: The True, Unvarnished Story of the Texas-Oklahoma Football Wars
Publishing and Printing: Runnin' with the Big Dogs: The True, Unvarnished Story of the Texas-Oklahoma Football Wars
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List Price: $24.95 Price: $0.98 ASIN: 0060852771 Number of Pages: 224 Publication Date: 2006-09-01 Publisher: William Morrow Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 (4 reviews) |
Runnin' with the Big Dogs: The True, Unvarnished Story of the Texas-Oklahoma Football Wars
Runnin’ with the Big Dogs: The True, Unvarnished Story of the ...
Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Raucous, raw, and reliably remarkable, the century-old football rivalry between the state universities of Texas and Oklahoma stands as testament that hate-based relationships are the most enduring
Each year in October the fans of both schools—the crimson-clad huns from OU and the burnt orange barbarians from UT—invade Dallas for a weekend of high-octane hell-raising and reveling in an athletic contest proving that elephants, tigers, and acrobats are not necessary to stage the greatest show on earth. And the football's not bad, either.
Runnin' with the Big Dogs details the outlandish and colorful saga of this ferociously entertaining football confrontation. This is the story of pride, heroics, hopes, dreams, and prodigious four-day hangovers. As acclaimed author Mike Shropshire makes clear, the Longhorns-Sooners confrontation is rougher than playing Russian roulette with a shotgun.
Built on the passionate fury of their fans (in this case fully earning the term's origin—"fanatics"), the Texas-Oklahoma spectacle is a production line for national champions, Heisman Trophy winners, NFL All-Pros, and some of the most storied coaches in the history of the sport, from Bud Wilkinson and Darrell Royal to Mack Brown and Bob Stoops. The rivalry has produced some of the most memorable football contests ever, though it matters not whether the teams are ranked—every year is a battle royal. As for the people who come to witness the event, Dallas County's top law enforcement official said, "You watch those lunatics and wonder what drives a person to carry on like a crazy destructive madman." That's why Shropshire is convinced that Texas-OU football fans are the best in the country, and the players and coaches are driven to manic extremes to give them performances to remember.
The great players, the great games, and the great stories of the wildest weekends in sports—Runnin' with the Big Dogs captures it all.
Customer Reviews
History of Longhorn vrs OU
Wonderful read, got for a gift and he has loved reading all about the history, says it is very neat to learn where it all began!
An Okie Perspective on the Red River Shootouts...The Truth is Still Out There
As an OU Alumni, who "was there" at more Sooner Red River victories in the "Switzer and Stoops Eras" than covered in the book, my recommendation is that "Runnin with the Big Dogs" should be renamed "Fightin with the Gladiators"! Shropshire numerous attempts at home spun humor often fall incomplete(not up to par with Dan Rather and certainly not Will Rogers). The book has the same familar style of Texan "truthiness" to it that we're use to hearing from another Longhorn Fan who lives in the White House. The author is clearly biased toward the Longhorn side of the barbed wire fence (otherwise he would have mentioned Oklahoma's victory in a real "Red River War" in a long standing border dispute between Oklahoma and Texas in 1931 with Oklahoma National Guardsmen standing down the Texas Rangers). The one subject covered extensively that I enjoyed was on former OU Player Joe Don Looney. It brought back memories attending football games with my Dad in the early 60s when Looney was star halfback at the UCLA of the Southwest (University of Cameron Lawton Area). 
Been There, Done That, Gotta Lotta T-shirts
Dallas, TEXAS, denizen Mike Shropshire, former drinkin' buddy of Joe Don Looney, claims to have written a balanced look at "the True, Unvarnished story of the Texas-Oklahoma Football wars." Bevo poop! Although the cover resembles a myopic blimpbasket view of the Cotton Bowl 50 yard line on gameday (1/2 crimson, ½ burnt orange,) the book starts with a long, lugubrious re-celebration of the 2005 Longhorn National Championship in Pasedena. Their first in 35 years. [Hoopla. Hoopla. yawn. yawn.] Shropshire forgets to mention that during this long Longhorn dry spell, the Sooners cruised the Sooner schooner to 4 more (1974, 1975, 1985, 2000.)
At times wallowing in egregious generalizations - like the hallucination that all Sooners were cheering FOR the Longhorns in the Rose Bowl (Dude! My favorite football teams are the Sooners, Da Bears, whoever is playing UT at the time and whoever is playing Oregon (Duckin' corrupt cheatin' - karma gotta get `em!) once the book settles into its purpose, it does live up to its titular hype. Shropshire's premise, supported with aplomb and humour, is that both program's goal is to beat the other in the annual contest - that they frequently happen to have to amass enough talent to beat everybody else in the country in the process is just gravy on the grits.
There are some photos in the middle - more would be better, and color (to see the beautiful crimson and cream) would be best. And it has an index - how else to locate the shy, quiet, blushing Boz?
/TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer, former annual Adolphus resident, Commerce & Cotton Bowl Survivor, urging everyone to watch TV's bright "Friday Night Lights" before the dullards at NBC prematurely end its season.
