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Mack Brown Tarheel Football: The Orange Slice Boogaloo


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I think he lived just north in Wortham and this was circa 2000-03
You grew up with Vicki Nicole Hogan?

I ate at Jim’s krispy plenty but she was long gone by the time she changed. Wrights bbq, snack shack, donut shop….this is bring back the feels.

And wortham was a bigger bumfuck than Mexia but I always liked going to the bait and tackle shop there as a kid.
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Yeah, maybe it was Wortham.  I met him in Mexia once for a business lunch back then.  He had some kinda office there as I recall.  But yeah, i think he lived in Wortham.  He had some massive 3-day weekend mini "festival" at his place IIRC around 2000/01/02.  

Hadn't thought about Sugarhorn in awhile, RIP Benson.  Helluva nice guy and his rum-laden stories of flying his plane were legend.  

I still remember all of us getting there at 5:01p on Friday when the state lots opened by Waller Creek to tailgaters and we'd all swarm into spots with Wheeler's truck to block off an area.  Spend the evening getting shitfaced on crap beer and worse rum.  I'd ride by bike or get a cab back to Travis Heights and crash for a few hours before heading back down there with the then GF to properly tailgate in the morning.  Now if I even smell keg beer or rum, I dry-heave.  Simpler times I suppose.  

Had no idea at the time where the Mack Brown regime would take us just a few years later.  And then no idea what would happen after 2009.  I still like Mack Brown and Wheeler, and lord knows they could both bullshit with the best of 'em.  And not always in a good way.  

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45 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Yeah, maybe it was Wortham.  I met him in Mexia once for a business lunch back then.  He had some kinda office there as I recall.  But yeah, i think he lived in Wortham.  He had some massive 3-day weekend mini "festival" at his place IIRC around 2000/01/02.  

Hadn't thought about Sugarhorn in awhile, RIP Benson.  Helluva nice guy and his rum-laden stories of flying his plane were legend.  

I still remember all of us getting there at 5:01p on Friday when the state lots opened by Waller Creek to tailgaters and we'd all swarm into spots with Wheeler's truck to block off an area.  Spend the evening getting shitfaced on crap beer and worse rum.  I'd ride by bike or get a cab back to Travis Heights and crash for a few hours before heading back down there with the then GF to properly tailgate in the morning.  Now if I even smell keg beer or rum, I dry-heave.  Simpler times I suppose.  

Had no idea at the time where the Mack Brown regime would take us just a few years later.  And then no idea what would happen after 2009.  I still like Mack Brown and Wheeler, and lord knows they could both bullshit with the best of 'em.  And not always in a good way.  

Yeah I will always view Wheeler favorably every interaction I ever had with him resulted in good times. Were you out there for his big Texas Independence Day soiree? 

And yes that damn.    puncheon rum was noxious. Wild Bill would laugh his ass off at us young bucks trying to one up each other only to wind up puking and/or blackout drunk on Friday nights haha.

He was a true legend we were lucky enough to kick it with. I rode my motorcycle out to his funeral in Hitchcock to pay my respects then lo and behold his son was on the same flight from IAH to Columbus for the Ohio State game 2 years later and we have been friends ever since.

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That's a good story.  I'm quite certain, based on his lineage, his son is good people as well.  

Yeah, I guess it was a Texas Independence Day "festival."  We didn't go, but I know many who did.  It was apparently some 2-night wild bender with him and some buddies playing live music.  I guess that woulda been 2001?  

Whenever I come across "Slingblade" on streaming/cable, I get to that scene where Doyle and his buddies are playing with a legit amp setup on the back porch and everybody is completely shitfaced.  Reminds me of how I envisioned that Wheeler party going.  

Man, they really don't make guys like Benson anymore though.  I have lived many lives and served many masters, but that was a guy with tales as old as time.  He saw and did some shit, that much I know.  I'd say he was forged of a hotter fire, but fucking Wheeler stole that line ;)  

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2 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

That's a good story.  I'm quite certain, based on his lineage, his son is good people as well.  

Yeah, I guess it was a Texas Independence Day "festival."  We didn't go, but I know many who did.  It was apparently some 2-night wild bender with him and some buddies playing live music.  I guess that woulda been 2001?  

Whenever I come across "Slingblade" on streaming/cable, I get to that scene where Doyle and his buddies are playing with a legit amp setup on the back porch and everybody is completely shitfaced.  Reminds me of how I envisioned that Wheeler party going.  

Man, they really don't make guys like Benson anymore though.  I have lived many lives and served many masters, but that was a guy with tales as old as time.  He saw and did some shit, that much I know.  I'd say he was forged of a hotter fire, but fucking Wheeler stole that line ;)  

Yeah I always held Benson in the absolute highest regard. He was basically my grandparents age and no offense to my grandparents I loved them dearly but I always said I wanted to go out swinging like Benson did sharing stories with the younger generations and partying my ass off until they put me in the ground. So much better than sitting around at home getting old and doing very little outside of their local community. And yes Benson's son and granddaughter are both really good peeps his legacy lives on.

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Good point, he's one of a handful of people including my own paternal grandfather and my maternal grand-uncle who just keep living life well into their 80's.  My grand-uncle still takes cruises and flies and drives 'n shit.  He's a widower now but is dating a woman 25 years younger than him (if you can call a 70yo a sugarbaby).  But like Benson, they stay alive because they keep moving.  That's the trick, playing it safe just makes you wither away at home.  Ah, who the hell knows?  

I do remember thinking at the 2005 MNC game/06 Rose Bowl that I wish Benson coulda been with us.  He'd probably have died right after the VY touchdown but either way, he went out smiling.  Kinda like with Mack Brown, I just try and remember the good times.  Plenty of time for hang-wringing and what-if'fing on the other side I suppose...

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When Vince destroyed ole Frostee on 4th and 5 I actually looked up to the sky, pointed, and mumbled to myself "that's for you Wild Bill"

I have little doubt he was enjoying the game from Valhalla... Now we just need to get our shit together and do it again.

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2 hours ago, closetojumping said:

I never truly followed the bus debacle, as I generally viewed LonghornBob as irritating background noise on the forums. 

Did he really steal a bunch of peoples’ money and then they were marooned, unable to go to Stillwater? I always figured it was bullshit, but it still comes up every now and then. 

I think Bob just disappeared immediately after that fiasco so I would say he likely screwed some people over.    I think a few people actually forgave him for some reason

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He really did go fully off the grid for a long while.  I tried to call him for some reason a year or two later but his number had changed.  I think shortly thereafter some guys from the original crew bought the website rights and tried to revamp it.  He showed up mysteriously to some post-game party around 08/09 and a small group hung out for awhile.  Nobody brought up the bus debacle as I recall.  And then I ran into him again around 2011/12/13 when we had some late season non-conf. game versus FAU/UCF or one of those garbage teams.  Still Wheeler in the Lee Jeans and white shirt and hat, like McMurray from Letterkenny.  Just shot the shit for a minute over a couple beers.  I think he had gotten engaged or married.  He was trying to keep a low profile which worked out well, because nobody around recognized him unlike the old days when he was a minor celebrity.  Also helped he got much, much quieter with age.  so yeah, been a full decade since I last talked to him.  

If you're out there Bob, let us know you're still alive at least.  You renegade bastard.

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6 hours ago, Pimphand said:

Can I get a roll call for those who were in Chapel Hill in 2002 for Mack Brown's return home 5 years later?

If you were there you should remember some subset of the following events...

1) We meet up at He's Not Here on Friday to pregame party

2) Crazy bipolar girl comes and starts to hang out with us

3) Wheeler talks to her and convinces her to move to Texas with him

4) I decide its time to leave the bar and check into the hotel so I can taxi back to the bar

5) Wheeler asks me if I will give bipolar girl a ride home with no additional context and me being fully unaware of #3

6) On the way to her house she tells me how excited she is to move to Texas and when I get there if I would wait for her to get her things to which I respond I only agreed to drive her home

7) I check into hotel and get a cab back to He's Not Here

😎 About 30 minutes later bipolar girl shows up with her stuff at He's Not Here including a kevlar vest  There is an ATF agent at the bar who starts to ruminate about having something illegal at the bar and I promptly leave to find another venue.

9) I won't disclose step #9 to protect the identity of the Longhorn fan who jumped on the grenade but he gave her a place to stay for the night.

10) On Saturday before the game we found some other random Texas fan buying her flowers and I disappeared like a fart in the wind as I had my fill.

I was there. I’m aware of at least 40% of that story. 

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2 hours ago, closetohumping said:

I think Bob just disappeared immediately after that fiasco so I would say he likely screwed some people over.    I think a few people actually forgave him for some reason

So the treason people forgave him for the bus deal (me at least) is he sponsored parties and tailgates for like 10 years and dumped a metric shit ton of his own money into all that shit. I was in law school when I first met him and never saw him not pick up a tab. The money involved in they bus trip was negligible, like $5k or less I would think- and I doubt he set about to do it to scam 50 people out of 100 bucks- he sucked st logistics. I a have no idea what happened to him after that, as I was married to a total cunt and hadn’t kept up with him at all, but that’s my take on it. 
it would be like if Imma collected $200 a head from 10 people for Bama tickets and didn’t show- I’d shrug and figure something happened and hope he was ok. 

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3 hours ago, Pimphand said:

When Vince destroyed ole Frostee on 4th and 5 I actually looked up to the sky, pointed, and mumbled to myself "that's for you Wild Bill"

I have little doubt he was enjoying the game from Valhalla... Now we just need to get our shit together and do it again.

I was joking around with him one day and asked him why he didn’t upgrade to another trophy wife. He told me at his age (he was 80) a trophy wife was someone who could drive you around and keep track of your pills. 

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24 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

So the treason people forgave him for the bus deal (me at least) is he sponsored parties and tailgates for like 10 years and dumped a metric shit ton of his own money into all that shit. I was in law school when I first met him and never saw him not pick up a tab. The money involved in they bus trip was negligible, like $5k or less I would think- and I doubt he set about to do it to scam 50 people out of 100 bucks- he sucked st logistics. I a have no idea what happened to him after that, as I was married to a total cunt and hadn’t kept up with him at all, but that’s my take on it. 
it would be like if Imma collected $200 a head from 10 people for Bama tickets and didn’t show- I’d shrug and figure something happened and hope he was ok. 

Thing is, I "think" he's ok but I don't believe he's returned them money.  I could be wrong.

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On 1/7/2024 at 12:35 PM, YGIFS said:

He really did go fully off the grid for a long while.  I tried to call him for some reason a year or two later but his number had changed.  I think shortly thereafter some guys from the original crew bought the website rights and tried to revamp it.  He showed up mysteriously to some post-game party around 08/09 and a small group hung out for awhile.  Nobody brought up the bus debacle as I recall.  And then I ran into him again around 2011/12/13 when we had some late season non-conf. game versus FAU/UCF or one of those garbage teams.  Still Wheeler in the Lee Jeans and white shirt and hat, like McMurray from Letterkenny.  Just shot the shit for a minute over a couple beers.  I think he had gotten engaged or married.  He was trying to keep a low profile which worked out well, because nobody around recognized him unlike the old days when he was a minor celebrity.  Also helped he got much, much quieter with age.  so yeah, been a full decade since I last talked to him.  

If you're out there Bob, let us know you're still alive at least.  You renegade bastard.

You can find him on Facebook at this profile.  I was in college during the glory days of LFZ and Bob was always cool as shit to us at the tailgate parties.  I remember getting drunk with several of the players parents and even seeing Bob get kicked out of a UT tennis match during the spring game tailgate.  I don’t know the whole story on the bus debacle, but I remember when it went down and I wasn’t involved.IMG_3437.thumb.png.7783ad6c69448733a00fdab98187ec65.png

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