West Virginia is a bit personal

Here it is November 1st already and now things are getting interesting.  My Thursday Thoughts:

• Christmas is next month.
• Three weeks from today, you’ll be in Austin for what could be the most delicious morsel of the TCU football season – just watch.
• After next Tuesday, we don’t have to listen to the onslaught of political ads for a while. While I’m on that topic, pray for our country.
• The NBA season has started. Somebody wake me when the playoffs start.
• The World Series is over. If you blinked, you missed it.
• You can start to draw lines from the outcome of college football games to bowl bids and who gets to play for the National Championship. It’s a great month. And ponder this, Kansas State could come to Fort Worth next week as the No. 1 team in the nation.
• College basketball season starts next week. Now that interests me!
• Most underrated TCU team right now:  Women’s Soccer.  Beat No. 14 West Virginia last night in the Big 12 tournament. And they are a beat-up bunch. Maybe that’s a good omen for Saturday.
• Saturday is a bit personal for me because versus West Virginia in the 1984 Bluebonnet Bowl was the last game I played as a Horned Frog. It was also TCU’s first bowl in 19 years. Think about that. My how times have changed. The Mountaineers of 2012 aren’t much different from the 1984 version – fast receivers, huge O-Line and D-Line and the ability to score quickly. That Bluebonnet Bowl marked resurgence in the TCU program. A win Saturday in the hills of West Virginia would put a surge into TCU’s stretch drive in the inaugural Big 12 season. It would also make the Frogs bowl eligible for the eighth straight year. Weather forecast for Morgantown for Saturday is sunny and 50 degrees with light winds.

Finally, a word in memory of a TCU teammate, Billy Oliver. Billy passed away last week, way too young.   Many of you will remember the speedy defensive back from Sacramento, who wore No. 23 and was a shutdown corner on the Bluebonnet Bowl team. He was a pretty good singer, too, and filled the locker room with a great voice. God’s speed, Billy-O!

Kick ‘Em High!