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Longhorn Holdouts at Third Base Sports Bar
She kept the faith until the last seconds. He professed skepticism, but erupted with joy whenever the game went the Longhorns’ way.
Neither Jessica Manning nor Aaron Herzog attended the University of Texas. She’s a student at Texas State University-San Marcos, he graduated from the same school.
Aaron Herzog and Jessica Manning
Yet they joined the throngs at Third Base Sports Bar on West Sixth Street, riding the emotional rollercoaster of the National Championship Game on Thursday.
Bar owner Brendan Puthoff estimated a total of more than 120 high-definition screens blazed at three Third Base locations, plus his Aces Lounge on East Sixth Street, which opened early for the roaming football herds. Fans filtered as early as 1 p.m. By 6:30 p.m., trays of margarita shots were departing for far reaches of Third Base more regularly than planes from Atlanta Hartsfield Airport.
Mark SoRelle and Paul Purcell
Outside, patrons shivered in a makeshift beer garden on the loading dock. Almost as soon as they arrived, they moved inside, or left altogether. After all, the wind chill spiralled down toward the single digits.
It stayed toasty warm inside. That didn’t stop a table of five from huddling under burnt orange Snuggies. These young women area didn’t cherish memories from the last Texas championship four years ago.
“We were in Houston!” the shout went out.
Paul Purcell remembered.
“Back then, nobody even thought we’d be there,” Purcell said before the game began in Pasadena, Calif. “Now, everybody worries we’re not going to win, but they won’t say that. Four years ago, it was magical. It will be again, if they pull it off.”
Geri Dixon and Ashley Dixon
And not all present were pigskin maniacs.
“We’re here because we won a free table,” said shy actor Tia C. “We texted a code to the bar in a contest and won.”
She and table-mates Mike Hinojosa and Dorothy Davis waggled their palms hesitantly when asked about their UT fervor. “We’re moderate fans,” Hinojosa said, deafened by the cheering around them when icons like Bevo and Vince Young crossed the screens.
The first social chill spread through the crowd when it was announced that Texas had never lost to Alabama. “Knock on wood,” Herzog said. The chill turned arctic when Colt McCoy was injured. Even six early UT points didn’t melt the anxiety. By the end of the first quarter, orange-swaddled faces were frozen in anguish. A trip outside revealed that the cold had driven almost all those of those fans away.
Mike Hernandez and Dorothy Davis
The half-time mood inside? Manning: “Disappointed but optimistic.” Herzog: “I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach.”
Nelly Byrne: “Frustrated but hopeful.” Marianne Scudder: “It’s time to move on.”
Sonia Merritt: “Still positive. Gotta be. No choice.” Brittany Fellwock: “If Colt McCoy comes back, he’ll turn it around.”
Sonia Merritt, Brittany Fellwock and Kelly Dixon
Davis: “I’m bored.” Tia C: “UT’s still ranked high academically.”
Mark SoRelle: “I feel sorry for (freshman back-up quarterback) Garrett Gilbert now.” Purcell: “I’m somber.”
During the ups and downs of the second half, Manning and Herzog’s mood matched that of the masses.
Nelly Byrne and Marianne Scudder
Then, late in the fourth quarter, as Alabama guaranteed its win, the bubble burst for good.
Herzog: “I feel so bad for Colt.”
Manning: “I’m proud. Very proud. With Colt, they would have dominated.”
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