The game that got me hooked on TCU football

[Waccy Frog]

Jim Wacker first hooked me on TCU football. The two games that standout most were both at Arkansas: the amazing second half comeback that saved the UNBELEEEEVABLE season of 1984; and the Leon Clay-led blowout of 1990, that gave us hope for a post-living-death-penalty resurgeance.

 

[FL_Frog]

I don't know diddly about TCU vs OK.
In fact, I didn't know anything about TCU outside of peripheral vision until 2009.
I am not a TCU alumnus. In fact, I've seen very little of Texas, period.

What I do know is TCU came all the way out to SC to play ball in 2009, and spread purple fever all over the southeast.
That 14-10 score against Clemson doesn't relay very well what really happened happened in that game.
CJ Spiller got contained. On his own grass.
No other team did that during his college career.
Gary Patterson is some kind of defense jedi, and made a fan out of many that day.

 

[snoop9606]

girlfriend at the time, now wife, just started attending tcu. first tcu game i ever attended was the northwestern game. have been hooked ever since.

 

[ftwfrog]

Oklahoma vs TCU, Home Opener in 1998.

I was a freshman at TCU and the Oklahoma Sooners came to town for the first home game of the year. The Frogs had defeated Iowa State on the road the previous week in the first game of the Dennis Franchione era. I was in the TCU band, and any apathy about TCU football was shaken loose by the sight and sound of 15,000 OU fans booing the band's rendition of "Texas, Our Texas" during the Pre-Game show.

That was my first ever frog game as well, as a freshman. The TCU blood was first boiled that day.

 

[Dutch]

Well, I meant this thread to be a conversation about the 1998 TCU-Oklahoma game specifically, but it has been cool to read everyone's "conversion" story.

The interception-fumble during OU's last drive was total heartbreak. From "game over, we win" to "oh crap, they are going to be able to kick a FG to win" in the span of 1 second. It took me a long time to get over that one.

Your TCU OU game reference was one of my most painful losses. We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory that day.

 

[froghair]

1964 Baylor game at AGCS. Had a friend who lived down the street on Stadium Drive and we walked into the game at halftime for free. I had no idea I was taking my first steps into a my life long passion. Frogs won that day but I don't remember the score.

 

[TCU2002]

Your TCU OU game reference was one of my most painful losses. We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory that day.

Agreed. It is interesting though, to finally see highlights of plays I still remember so vividly. Obviously now that we've won a Rose Bowl and went on to beat a much more highly regarded OU team on the road in 2005, looking back at that loss no longer stings quite as much.

 

[fanforlife]

Jim Wacker first hooked me on TCU football. The two games that standout most were both at Arkansas: the amazing second half comeback that saved the UNBELEEEEVABLE season of 1984; and the Leon Clay-led blowout of 1990, that gave us hope for a post-living-death-penalty resurgeance.

Agreed. In win column comparison, the Wacker years were nothing compared to today, but those were also exciting times.

I was at the 1990 game in Little Rock. TCU was the first SWC team to play Arkansas after it announced it would be leaving the league, and the Frogs made them pay. Leaving the stadium, I saw Wacker's wife Lil, who was sobbing with happiness. Will never forget that game

 

[TCUdirtbag]

I was hooked after the 2005 win over OU in Norman. That was my first game as a TCU student. I've been a TCU football addict ever since.

+1

 

[anom]

First game for me to get hooked (had been to quite a few before) was TCU v Boise St in the first meeting at the fort worth bowl. Game was one of the best college football games and boise won on a field goal. From that point i was pretty much the biggest TCU fan in crowley haha

 

[FrogAbroad]

1964 Baylor game at AGCS. Had a friend who lived down the street on Stadium Drive and we walked into the game at halftime for free. I had no idea I was taking my first steps into a my life long passion. Frogs won that day but I don't remember the score.

Our Horned Frogs followed up their victory over Clemson with a 17-14 defeat of the Baylor Bears.

 

[LeagueCityFrog]

1998 Sun Bowl. My sophomore year. It was over Christmas break. The Sun Bowl conveniently came on after The Price is Right on CBS and we killed USC. Just awesome. I think USC had negative 68 rushing yards in that game. They has All-American Chris Claborne at linebacker and Carson Palmer at quarterback. That was the day TCU football came out of hibernation.

 

[Houston Frog]

TCU v Louisville in 2003 was my defining moment... Must have been a weekday game because I was attending a sales meeting at the Swan and Dolphin out in Orlando. Was in the middle of my EMBA program at the time and was watching with some sales colleagues at the ESPN Zone on the boardwalk. They were doing live radio programming on-site and some broadcast hack started making fun of TCU on his roving mike just before kick-off: Typical stuff like Christians being fed to the lions, small time school with no following which had gotten lucky in landing Ladanian, overrated, etc.

Then he made a statement that may have cost him plenty that evening. He tried to poll the audience to see who would be cheering for Louisville and who would be for the Frogs. I was pretty alone in my support, and not really interested in what the guy had to say. That is until he announced free beer for everyone in the bar if there was anyone in the Zone that could prove that they attended TCU. An unfortunate miscalculation on his part.... For one of the only times in my life, I was the most popular guy in a bar...and it had to be when I was 35-years-old, 60 pounds overweight, gray haired, and married. Better late than never I guess. And...I don't even drink, but they graciously comped my Diet Cokes.

The whole place turned into Frog fans (at least for the night), and I acquired a nickname: "Old School". I think we may have given up something like 1,000 yards that evening, but when the field goal attempt clanked off the crossbar as time expired, I was hooked big time.

Pretty awesome story

The season I REALLY got into TCU football was my senior year, 2003. I was into it before that, but that's when I started letting it control how happy I was

 

[RufeBruton]

The first game was TCU v Purdue in '69......but my passion for TCU athletics began a few weeks before. I came to TCU from Missouri and was a part of TCU Swimming. I was assigned to the 3rd floor of Milton Daniel which was the jock dorm. From day one, I began to meet players from many sports. Didn't take long for me to feel like part of the group.....and watching the Frogs play Purdue in AGC made me realize that I wasn't in Missouri anymore.

 

[MidlandFrog]

1998 Sun Bowl. My sophomore year. It was over Christmas break. The Sun Bowl conveniently came on after The Price is Right on CBS and we killed USC. Just awesome. I think USC had negative 68 rushing yards in that game. They has All-American Chris Claborne at linebacker and Carson Palmer at quarterback. That was the day TCU football came out of hibernation.

+1

 

[Armadillo]

I was at TCU from 1990-1994 (BS, TCU, December 1994), but the game which really hooked me was the Sun Bowl victory over USC. I went to most of the games while I was at school, and went to the Independance Bowl in Shreveport (a rainy disappointment for sure), but there were very few games to truly "hook" you on football during the Sullivan years.

But 1998 was a tough year for me. I was diagnosed with cancer February of that year and had to undergo about 9 months of chemo. Had an unsympathetic boss who chewed my tail every day because "I was missing too much time being sick". My girlfriend at the time was PISSED because I wasn't ready to marry her since I had to focus on getting healthier....selfish wench (she was also a TCU alum, former homecoming queen who shall remain nameless). My new car was totalled in an accident which WAS NOT my fault, but thankfully no injuries.

I was having a bad year, and had zero expectations for football. But we had a decent year, and received that Sun Bowl invite. I had some buddies come over for the game, and that's the day I absolutely fell head over heals for TCU Football. I needed something good to happen in my life (sounds cheesy, but it's true). I needed something big in sports to rekindle my flame (was always a jock and athlete in HS and always loved sports). That was the kinda game you could hitch your wagon to. That was a great day for TCU, and for me.

And what is this? 13 years later? Never been more in love with TCU Football and never been more proud of my alma mater.

 

[toadallytexan]

Our Horned Frogs followed up their victory over Clemson with a 17-14 defeat of the Baylor Bears.

Actually, in the game following Clemson it was 39-14, and it was SMU...otherwise you nailed it!

 

[KingmanIII]

1998 Sun Bowl. My sophomore year. It was over Christmas break. The Sun Bowl conveniently came on after The Price is Right on CBS and we killed USC. Just awesome. I think USC had negative 68 rushing yards in that game. They has All-American Chris Claborne at linebacker and Carson Palmer at quarterback. That was the day TCU football came out of hibernation.

Same here. I was 13 back then and didn't know or care much about TCU; my family and I moved from Arlington to KC when I was 3 years old and the only recollection I ever had of Horned Frog football up until then was Dad telling me about how god-awful he had remembered them being ever since he was stationed there in the late '70s/early '80s (outside of the 1984 campaign). So, just browsing from channel to channel for bowl games on NYE that year I find on CBS, of all stations, TCU?!?! That TCU?!?! How the hell did they finish bowl-eligible?! And they're playing a USC team led by Carson Palmer?! Always being one to root for the underdog, that's where my love affair for the Frogs started...

 

[57Frog]

I've been a TCU fan since the early 60's but the SUN BOWL VS, USC was the most memorable in my TCU fandom history .

 

[jake102]

2008 when we played Stanford literally in a hurricane... awesome.

Or 2008 Utah... I realized that my life could be ruined by TCU football.