Sports
 

Red and white may be getting the blues

Sports commentary

Richard Whitrock

Through great pain and sorrow comes beauty and greatness. Without the pain and sorrow from the deep South, post-civil war depression, America would never have known the beauty and greatness of the blues. The richness and emotion of the music was forged in fires of poverty and oppression. Artists like Skip James, Muddy Waters, Keb' Mo', John Lee Hooker and B.B. King owe much of their creative insight and blues genius to the hard-knock lives they experienced.

So what's the point of this mini-history lesson and why is it in the Sports section? With next season's football schedule the Cougars will not only be singing the blues, but they will be intimately familiar with its origin: pain and loss.

Last season's thrilling debut of the Art Briles era was like listening to the Beatles' debut album: a little rough around the edges, yet with an undeniable and infectious energy that promised greatness. However, by the end of Briles' sophomore effort, Cougar fans will feel like they've had B.B. King on repeat. 

The season's kickoff will be against athletically anemic Rice at Reliant Stadium. The joy of a season opener face-crush will be short lived as the second game of the season takes place many miles away to the north of us in a tiny speck of a town called Norman. As in the Norman, Okla., home of the University of Oklahoma. Cue King's first track, "The Thrill Is Gone."

With the Cougars in shellshock, recovery comes from a therapeutic session against Army for Game 3. Relief won't be ours for long. Our fourth game of the year is at Reliant Stadium against none other than Miami. Cue King's second track, "All Over Again."

Limping black and blue into a three-game road trip, the Cougars will have their work cut out for them. First, they'll be visiting King in Memphis for a personal performance of "How Blue Can You Get?" UH then travels to a tough Texas Christian and finishes up against Southern Miss. This is where King cuts in with a new single called "Ouch."

The schedule rounds out with games against Tulane, East Carolina, Alabama-Birmingham and Louisville, in that order. This of course assumes that the Cougars have become familiar with King's "I'll Survive" after the first part of the schedule.

Critics of the David vs. Goliath schedule are asking themselves if Briles has gone mad to run a gauntlet of this magnitude, let alone be its chief architect. But those who cannot see the method behind the madness have missed one crucial element: the sheer boldness and long-term vision of Briles.

The fact is that Briles is here to win. He is here to make UH football not just good but the best. Briles understands a crucial but simple categorical imperative of sports — to be the best, you've got to play the best.

UH may be bruised and beaten at the end of the season, or they may have risen to the occasion and learned enough from playing against the best in the land to get another bowl bid. Either way, one thing is certain: Briles is taking his team down a path to greatness, and B.B. King will be with them every step of the way singing "Paying the Cost to be the Boss."

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