It’s Official, Lubbock Is Now a Basketball Town

I guess football here is a thing of the past.

Football in Lubbock had its heyday. They were called, "the Mike Leach years." I'm not really sure that we'll ever have that kind of excitement around here again. New coach Joey McGuire sure seems to have the passion and the punch, but I think the sports fans are just tired of trying to pull that big ol' boat ashore.

On the other hand, we've had a national championship women's team, a men's basketball team dip their toes into the National Championship, and now an honest-to-goodness rivalry versus a near-universally hated former coach.

The United Supermarkets Arena announced that Tuesday night's Texas Tech-UT game was a new attendance record at 15,300 -- during a pandemic! It wasn't just about warm butts in seats either, because the house was rocking from beginning to end.

Let's contrast that with football games, where we can barely get people to stay past halftime whether the team is winning or losing. Yes, I know we're talking about 15,000 in the USA versus 60,000 for Jones AT&T Stadium, but it's more about the passion than the volume.

Let's go one step further. The Texas Tech-UT game seemed to get attention outside of Lubbock as well with tweets from Dick Vitale and others adding to the excitement and hype of the game. I also think that the showing on TV is going to reap dividends for Texas Tech for years to come.

Hey, I could be wrong, maybe everybody was just getting the place heated up to see "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair or the nachos are especially delicious on Tuesdays, but it sure seemed like they bought into the basketball game as well.