CLAY HENRY: Hold your enemies closer

It hit me about midway through Shannon Byrd’s message that I am a sinner. I have too much hate in my heart.

Primarily it’s hate for anything related to the Texas Longhorns. I am not much better where it comes to Ole Miss football.

“Love thy neighbor,” Pastor Byrd preached Sunday morning at Arkana Baptist Church in Norfork.

I have no love for the Longhorns. The Rebels are a close second in my lack of love. I’m convicted.

I do keep track of Texas football. I know when they lose and I celebrate. I cherish those days. Maybe it’s like that old adage, hold your friends close, your enemies closer. The Longhorns are the enemy.

The meaning of all of that is simple. Your friends look out for your best interests. The enemy doesn’t. Keep a close eye out because they are waiting to hurt you to protect their own best interests. If that is not the University of Texas, then you don’t know the Longhorns.

There are a multitude of other reasons, but more than anything else I was just born with that lack of love for all things University of Texas. I’m 70 and it dates back to the Southwest Conference days, probably when I was in elementary school. It’s when I first learned there was a Longhorn. It’s not a secret. Everyone knows my thinking now on the Longhorns.

It came up in a conversation with the late Dean Weber, the trainer at Arkansas for most of my lifetime. Two springs ago, we were standing in the hallway behind the press box at Baum Walker Stadium. He confronted me after hearing me talk about Texas on a radio show earlier in the day. I had professed my hatred for the Longhorns.

That was after I trotted out my famous line about my happiest days: when Texas football, Texas basketball and Texas baseball all suck. I said it does my heart good.

I didn’t say I hated Texas, but Weber did the translation and said, “You hate Texas. We don’t hate Texas. You are fueling a fire that we should let go.”

There was a heated conversation. People passed by us and were concerned. Here were two close friends locked in a loud, serious debate. Neither of us were ready to back down.

Dean’s thoughts were clear that there was no reason to hate good people. He loved his opposite number at Texas for decades. He said the Longhorns always had good trainers who would come to the side of a fallen Razorback before he could sprint all the way across a football field. He’d do the same for a Texas player hurt near the Arkansas sideline.

The UT players, he said, competed fairly. There were never any cheap shots. They were coached to respect their opponent. He mentioned several UT coaches, noting Darrell Royal vacationed with Frank Broyles. He also said both Fred Akers and Mack Brown were good souls. Of course, Akers was a UA grad.

I couldn’t argue against any of that, but I said the clear difference between Razorback Nation and the Orange Evil Empire was the fans. Arrogance dominated the way Longhorn fans carried themselves. They look down on everyone else. They treat Razorback fans like step children with taunts and jeers.

“You don’t see it on the playing field,” I told Weber. “You aren’t in the stands or at tailgates. You don’t interact with them at restaurants or airports when you travel to games. You are insulated from their arrogance.”

There was a pause. He admitted that was true.

I asked if he ever had this conversation with our good friend Wilson Matthews. There was a long pause before the rare soft side of Weber emerged.

“Yes,” he said. “He did hate the Longhorns. We talked about that. He said it goes back to the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s. So you and Wilson are cut from the same cloth where Texas is concerned.”

That’s my point. It’s not about recent history. It’s the all-time nature of the series. Texas wouldn’t come to Arkansas for any kind of games for a long period. They refused to play baseball games in Fayetteville. They cited travel issues. Well, either you are in the league or you are not.

I explained the Broyles argument against Texas based on the long-time SWC policy against allowing any Arkansas natives to officiate football games in the SWC. That policy was eventually rescinded allowing Arkies to call games not involving Arkansas. Broyles contended it wasn’t fair for Arkansas to face an officiating crew of all Texans every week.

No, a UA grad shouldn’t call an Arkansas game, but there are lots of officials available to the SWC who are from Arkansas but have no affiliation to the Razorbacks.

Weber and I did come to some middle ground or maybe we just agreed to disagree and move on. We agreed that Texas football players do play clean and that the interaction between team administrators was civil.

You can’t say that about Tennessee after last week’s game when Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green was knocked out of the game on a low blow.

The sack below the knees is one of the dirtiest plays in football. It almost always results in an injury. There is no protection for a quarterback planted and throwing forward when he’s submarined below the knees.

A personal foul was called. But the damage was done. Green could not finish the game. In a sad display of poor sportsmanship, the UT defensive lineman celebrated on the sideline.

There was a conversation at church last week concerning that play. Had I ever seen a dirtier play on that field?

Yes, in 1987 when Tulsa sent in a walk-on offensive guard for one play. He engaged in a chop block against UA star defensive tackle Wayne Martin. A teammate held Martin high and the guard chopped on his knee. It resulted in an ACL injury and knocked Martin out for the season.

The Tulsa player got high fives on the sideline. It was a disgusting scene as trainers tended to Martin on the field.

I can’t recall if there was a penalty called on that play, but it was the subject of an interview the next week for my Tulsa World feature on Oklahoma defensive end Kevin Murphy, an All Big 8 star. He said he did not look forward to playing Tulsa that week because of that sort of play. He detailed what he saw in tape study. He felt like his knees were in danger.

It prompted my call to Tulsa coach George Hinshaw. He admitted it was dirty. He revealed his player was required to write a letter of apology to Martin. It was sent to Arkansas coach Ken Hatfield. Whether or not TU coaches ordered the hit was never clear.

The good news is that Martin’s injury did not alter his career. He finished the UA as the all-time sack leader with 25.5. He went on to a sterling career with the New Orleans Saints. He missed only one game in an 11-year NFL career.

There is no word on whether anyone from Tennessee apologized for the hit against Green. It’s the sort of play that creates bad blood in a rivalry. There has not been that sort of problem with the Vols, perhaps because they just don’t play the Hogs much anymore.

The only controversy along those lines came in Danny Ford’s first year as Arkansas coach. UT quarterback Heath Shuler was tackled near the UA sideline in the final seconds of a 28-14 victory over the Hogs. Ford, with a Jefferson-Pilot sideline mic close by, was heard to tell Shuler that if he valued his health, he shouldn’t be running the ball, or something like that.

It wasn’t a good look, but seemed to fade as UT won nine of the next 10 games in the series.

The hit against Green is the sort of thing that could produce hatred among players, unlike what does not exist with Texas. It does make the relationship with a rival deteriorate among fans.

I have to admit that I pull for anyone playing Texas, even Oklahoma. I was hoping for an OU victory last week as I watched a series of attractive games Saturday.

I enjoyed my Saturday despite the Texas victory. I was most pleased because my brisket – cooked in true Texas style heavy on the black pepper rub – turned out well on my new Rectec 1100 smoker.

I pretended that that huge piece of meat came from Bevo, the Texas mascot. Hopefully, that wasn’t a sin. If so, I ask for forgiveness. I also give this promise, it won’t be the last time for that kind of sin.

Sorry Pastor Byrd. Sorry Dean Weber. I am a sinner.

Bevo sure tasted good.