FAYETTEVILLE — They say two out of three ain’t bad, but Dave Van Horn knew it would have been bad if last week’s two out of three didn’t include Texas.
Playing in the Houston College Classic at the Houston Astros’ Minute Maid Park, Van Horn’s Arkansas Razorbacks faced the Texas Tech Red Raiders, the Houston Cougars and the Texas Longhorns.
They beat Texas Tech, 3-1, lost to Houston, 4-1, then played Texas on Sunday with Van Horn knowing he would face the usual monthly meeting of Arkansas baseball boosters Monday in Fayetteville.
Arkansas won, 7-3.
Van Horn greeted the Swatters Club by acknowledging that his team spared him from a swatting.
“I told the team after Sunday’s game, ‘Thank goodness we won today so I can go to Swatters Club tomorrow,’ ” Van Horn said. “Thank goodness we won or it would have been tough.”
The crowd laughed. Yet all knew the coach’s jest contained the truth.
In the 1980s Van Horn experienced the Arkansas-Texas rivalry as first the second baseman and then an assistant for Norm DeBriyn, his Hall of Fame Arkansas coaching predecessor.
It was 1990 when since retired Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles announced his decision to move the Razorbacks from the Southwest Conference to the SEC.
Switching to the SEC has been an Arkansas godsend, particularly considering the SWC’s demise shortly thereafter, and the perpetually troubled Big 12 originally formed uncomfortably by aligning the Big Eight and four SWC schools (Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor).
All that divine right arrogance that makes Texas so loved to be loathed as a rival can make it impossible to love being in a league with the Longhorns.
Just ask Missouri and A&M, united in flight from the Big 12 to the SEC, and Nebraska and Colorado, which left the Big 12 last year for points north and west.
Yet despite Arkansas’ fierce next-door SEC rivalries with LSU and Ole Miss, Texas, the Swatters Club reaffirmed, remains the one Arkansas most loves to hate.
“Even after all these years, it’s still great to beat Texas!” emcee Chuck Barrett said to thunderous applause officially opening the meeting, even though swarms had already congratulated Van Horn for beating Texas without mentioning Tech or Houston.
To Arkansas, Texas always defied the coaching cliche that the most important game is the next game. It still does.
Why else would Van Horn save Friday ace DJ Baxendale to start Sunday against Texas?
Van Horn pleased the masses back home and enabled those prospects he’s recruiting from the Houston area to experience Arkansas united as only Texas can unite it.
“It gave them a chance to see us play and to see our fans,” Van Horn said of recruits witnessing the vast turnout among Arkansas alums from the Houston area, which is virtually the Longhorns’ back forty. “An 11 a.m. game and we had more fans than Texas had. We were louder, and we had a lot to cheer about.”
“A lot to cheer” always has been the case for Arkansas whenever the Hogs could beat Texas in anything.
Apparently it always will be.
Sports, Pages 20 on 03/10/2012