About SPELL TEXAS

How do we spell Texas? Let us count the ways!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In the afterglow of the Longhorns’ 2005 national championship, a group of us Section 1 fans started tailgating together. In 2007, our second season of pregame parties, we were grilling hot dogs when inspiration struck.

I’m still not sure if the first “T” was formed on purpose or accidentally, but once those franks were in that shape, the first photo was taken. Thus began a tradition of spelling TEXAS at our tailgate, our own little pregame good-luck ritual.

At first we stuck to our tailgate’s menu, usually themed for our opponent. We used frog legs for TCU, corncobs for Nebraska, buffalo burgers for Colorado. Some spellings have been repeated; you’ll notice a recurrence of Rice Krispie Treats for Rice and Teddy Grahams for Baylor, for example. Then there were the great food puns: steaks, a.k.a. “Sir Loin,” for the Central Florida Golden Knights, and “rib-I’s” for Iowa State!

As the years have passed, we’ve tried to vary our media, throwing in toilet paper (for “Roll the Tide”), sidewalk chalk (for “Sidewalk Chalk Jayhawk”), even a Reveille-arama for the aggies. This spelling obsession has extended beyond the tailgate, and we’ve spelled TEXAS for away and bowl games, too. After the disastrous 2010 season, we threw in a new challenge to shake things up: creating the shape of Texas, free-handing the state’s outline.

My hope is to use this site as our own archive, a place to record not just my spelling obsession but our tailgating, too. I’ll be updating this with current games, and if the stars align, I hope to add past seasons’ spellings, too.

So here’s to our beloved three T’s: tailgating, traditions and TEXAS!

One Response to “About SPELL TEXAS”

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. The tradition continues… « How We Spell… - September 3, 2012

    […] menu Skip to content About SpellTexas How We […]

Leave a comment