Texas

Last week we went to Dallas/Fort Worth to see the Cougars play against the number 3 in the nation-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the inaugural game in the $1.3 Billion
new Cowboys stadium. (Yes that's a B!)
We went a few days early to play some of the famous Texas golf courses with some other couples- the Thomas's, Overtons and Zumbrennens.
Our first game was at the Cowboys Golf Club. What a marvelous experience. The course, as you can see, was very fun and spectacular.


Their "southern hospitality" was amazing. When they found out we were there to support the Cougars in trying to beat Oklahoma they gave us a reduced green fee rate plus a lone star button which was a food pass. We could eat all we wanted all day, and the food was fantastic!

After the dinner I was admiring the trophy case in the lobby with several super bowl cups and the manager came by. I complimented him on the course and the food and the hospitality so he asked if we would like to go to the Texas Rangers baseball game that night, and gave us his personal 4 tickets on the first base line. What a thrill!

Even the insects were friendly!

At the ball game, to honor us I guess, they brought in the Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays to play the Rangers. We loved it.

Here we are at the Colonial Country Club which we had been invited to play because Gifford Nielson had recommended it to me and our club pro, Robert had written a letter to get us on.

It is a very old, traditional course, and hosts a PGA tournament every year.

It was the home course of Ben Hogan and they have a display room with all of his memorabilia- clubs, trophys, photos etc.

This is the Tour 18 course, which is a course patterned after 18 of the best and most challenging holes on the PGA tour. This house behind Sharlene is one of the dozens of beautiful mansions at the course. We all agreed that we had never seen more spectacular homes.

Here are Glen Overton and Glee Zumbrennen Teeing off at the course at the Marriott hotel where we stayed. Golf was part of the package there.

On game day Heather and Mark drove up from San Antonio to go with us.

There were 75,000 fans in the stadium, making it the largest crowd that any of us had ever been in. Oklahoma fans outnumbered BYU by about 5 to 1 because it is close for them and they had the number three ranked team and their quarterback was last year's Heisman trophy winner.

I was really pleased with how gracious and friendly the Oklahoma fans were. They really seemed pleased to have us there.

This is the 50 yard long TV screen that hangs over the field. (yes, that's yards!)
Incidentally this particular passing play went for 45 yards to the Oklahoma 5 yard line; then on the next play the Cougar running back fumbled the ball into the end zone. What a bummer!
BYU was such an underdog (the odds makers had them projected to lose by 21 points), that we had come just hoping to not be embarrassed.

We were behind only 3 points at half time in spite of 3 turn-overs, so we were feeling better than we had expected.

We were still trailing in the 4th quarter when the Cougars defense held a goal line stand against one of the best ranked offenses in the country, for 6 plays inside the 5 yard line. This allowed the Sooners only a field goal making the score 13 to 7. Then the Cougars made a fabulous drive down the field with some big passing plays and scored again, much to everyone's surprise, to win the game 14 to 13!

After the game there was celebration for about half an hour. Our local press called this the biggest Cougar victory in at least 16 years.


For us this was definitely not just another weekend!