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Backyard Brawl: Inside the Blood Feud Between Texas and Texas A & M | 
 enlarge | Author: W. K. Stratton
Publisher: Crown
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy Used: $0.65
You Save: $24.30 (97%)
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Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 984557
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.4 x 1
ISBN: 0609610538
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.332630976431
EAN: 9780609610534
ASIN: 0609610538
Publication Date: September 3, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
It happens once a year, creating a seismic divide throughout the country. It pits brother against brother. It breaks up business deals. It ruins relationships. And once it’s finished, all both sides want is for another year to pass by so they can do it again. It is the Texas/Texas A& M football game. And in the football-obsessed state that is Texas, no single game resonates more.
Every year during the Thanksgiving holidays, the two teams meet for something that has become much more than just a game. It’s a blood feud that represents a tremendous cultural divide in the state. It’s city against country, a rural agricultural school against an urban university. And yet both sides come from the same family, warring cousins who roll up their sleeves once a year in the backyard to settle the question of who’s number one—at least for the time being.
In Backyard Brawl, W. K. Stratton takes you through this rivalry and its history, covering the years when the game was postponed because the fans were just too violent, the branding of UT’s beloved steer, Bevo, by a renegade Aggie, the kidnapping of A&M’s beloved Reveille by boisterous UT students, the theft of UT’s cannon, Old Smokey, and its unceremonious dumping into the murky waters of Austin’s Town Lake, and the fistfights that broke out when celebrating UT fans rushed A&M’s nearly sacred Kyle Field after Texas won the last-ever Southwest Conference title on the Aggies’ home turf.
Stratton also relates the more serious side of the rivalry, particularly the way both schools came together after tradition turned to tragedy in 1999, when the A&M bonfire collapse killed twelve students. And in a touching epilogue, he captures the angst that hit the College Station campus when officials decided to cancel the return of the bonfire in 2002.
Stratton drew a bead on the 2001 season and followed both teams through their schedules leading up to the big clash in College Station. Taking you inside a renowned Aggie Yell practice and introducing you to fervid yet often zany orange-blooded Texas fans through their elaborate tailgating rituals, he creates revealing portraits of the two teams, including head coaches R. C. Slocum and Mack Brown, both of whom are legends in their own time, destined for the Hall of Fame.
Backyard Brawl is a fascinating examination of the greatest war in college football, destined to become a classic for students of the game.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 history lesson December 21, 2007
great book for anyone wanting to know the hate that builds between texas A&M and tu.
 LONE STAR RIVALS April 22, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a fun read, I believe anyone would enjoy this book, whether they attended UT or A&M. I admit I am biased, I attended UT, but I enjoyed the stuff about the Aggies, much of it I did not know, I agree with the other Amazon reviewer that the author seems to focus a bit more on A&M, but I really didn't mind, as a visitor to Kyle Field, I certainly acknowledge the Aggies spirit, pride, and traditions all of which are, sad for this Longhorn to admit, superior to ours. It's funny that in Texas everyone is either a Longhorn or an Aggie supporter, it really makes no difference if they have attended either university or even set foot on their individual campuses,it seems everyone has a horse in this race. Highly recommend..Hook 'em.
Culture war October 2, 2003
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
W.K. Stratton undermines his argument a little bit -- or perhaps just reinforces the paradoxical nature of the "blood feud" between the University of Texas and Texas A&M -- by noting that these days, the hick-versus-city slicker stereotypes no longer really apply. Both schools recruit the same kinds of high school students, graduates of both are, in turn, headhunted by the same companies, and relatively few Aggies even have any contact with "agriculture" any more.
But despite that demographic fact, the truth remains that U.T. versus A&M is a Big Thing in the Lone Star State. As a Texan with family connections to both schools (I attended a neutral university in San Antonio myself) as well as to Stratton's native Oklahoma, I really enjoyed his exploration of this feud that transcends mere football and has become a true Texas culture war.
I came away from this title with a sense that Stratton focused more on the distinctives on Texas A&M and its unique culture than he did on the U of Texas. Aggies would have an obvious explanation for this, and maybe it's just a false impression on my part, but his descriptions of A&M -- often funny, frequently insightful, and occasionally moving -- were very memorable. And while the author injects himself into the story fairly regularly, it's not a distraction.
On the whole, this book would be a fun read, I'd imagine, for any fan of college football and its classic rivalries. For a Texan, however, I think it becomes something even more than that. Texans who are neither Horns nor Ags will recognize quite a bit of their beloved homeland here. And partisans of these two schools will find their allegiances strengthened and pride reinforced, even while the other side becomes, maybe, a bit more human, a bit less caricature. And everyone will have a good time. I don't think you can ask a lot more from a book than that.
Could've spent less time on OU, but good book nonetheless December 30, 2002
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
"Backyard Brawl," should not have been titled "Blood Fued Between Texas and Texas A&M." Texas A&M itself seemed to have been forgotten in the original draft, and the various bits and pieces added later. They should have called this book "Inside the Blood Feud Between Texas and OU, oh, and A&M." But it was a good book, excellently written, and I laughed, cried, and fervently wished at times that the author would mention full names and addresses of a few people interviewed at the tailgate in Austin. The editing was absolutely horrid, but we can't blame the author for that. I didn't count exactly how many typos and grammatical errors there were, but I would expect better from a division of Random House. All in all, I enjoyed the book. It will make a great gift for all college football fans, but I don't think it will lessen the animosity, however variable, between the students and former students of Texas A&M and that other school in Austin.
About much more than a football game November 23, 2002
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A tremendous look into not just a football rivalry, but the two clashing cultures of Texas and A&M. This book is about much more than simply a football game. It's about rural v. urban. It's about conservative v. liberal. It's about all the things that make Texas v. A&M one of the best rivalries in college athletics. As a native of Austin, I understand the fervor created by the annual game between the Horns and the Ags. This book does a remarkable job of capturing that spirit. You don't have to be from Texas to enjoy this book. The real-life characters which encompass the Texas/A&M rivalry are on full display and make for a great read.
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