Double-T Nation News:
I'm going to go a little off-topic today, but I think it still pertains to Texas Tech, or at least it pertains to me as it relates to Texas Tech.
I don't want to get into a political discussion about whether or not there is a recession, but has the current state of the economy affected your ability to root for your Red Raiders?
For example, I've decided to sell my truck, not because I can't afford the monthly payment, but rather because I can't afford to drive to Lubbock from the DFW area 6 or 7 times a year. My truck affects my ability to drive out to Lubbock. Of course, my other option is to fly to Lubbock, but I've always preferred the drive and right now the current cost to fly to Lubbock is anywhere between $69.00 and $122.00 (this doesn't include the costs for a cab). If I drive and average 18 miles a gallon, it costs me about $168.00 to drive to Lubbock in my truck.
Because of the rising gas prices, I'm probably going to purchase, if I can even sell my truck, a nice economical car, something that gets 25 or 28 miles a gallon. If I were to average 26 miles a gallon, that's about $116.00 to drive to Lubbock, which nets about $52.00 a trip (which is about the cost of a really cheap motel).
Now imagine me having this conversation with my wife, who could care less what type of car I drive, as I inform her that I want to sell my truck so that it makes more sense to drive to Lubbock to support my team. She said she was fine with it, but one year ago, the cost to drive to Lubbock was the last thing from my mind. In fact, until I sell my truck, I've put any trips to Lubbock on hold.
So this is how the economy has affected me, but has it affected you? Do the rising prices of, well, everything, affect your ability to purchase game tickets or am I absolutely insane in my desire to save money? My round-trip to and from work from my home is 3 miles, so it's not as if I'm looking at purchasing a more economical car because of my daily commute, this is purely related to the economic feasibility to see my team.
Texas Football:
We have two pretty interesting scheduling notes this morning,the first from SI.com's Stewart Mandell, where he ranks the Ten Season-Defining Games in 2008, and your Red Raiders check in against the Longhorns at #7:
7. Texas at Texas Tech, Nov. 1. The schedule sets up favorably for the Red Raiders -- who return QB Graham Harrell, WR Michael Crabtree and eight other starters on offense -- to make a run at their first Big 12 South title, but to do so they'll almost certainly have to snap their five-game losing streak to the Longhorns. The ever-outspoken Mike Leach claims poor officiating contributed to the past two defeats.
The fact that Texas Tech is even on this list is somewhat of a moral victory for me. Being part of the conversation means that Texas Tech is becoming more and more relevant from a national perspective and this is a good thing.
The other bit of news is from Da Wiz, along with The National Championship Issue, as they, "measure how difficult a non-conf schedule a team tried to arrange" (click here for the actual study and here for Texas Tech's data). Texas Tech makes a couple of appearances (sooo ashamed), but I think the overall theme to take away from this is that every team schedules easy opponents or refuses to travel during the non-conference portion of the season. No conference is immune from scheduling cupcakes.
Fox34 takes a look back at the Iowa State game.
How about this gem, this is the first touchdown in the Mike Leach era, which should have been against New Mexico (Texas Tech won, 24-3).
First TD in Mike Leach era at Texas Tech (via VirtuaCory)