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By Joe Gulick
Avalanche-Journal
Texas Tech was coming off a big victory and headed for a big loss when this Dirk West cartoon was printed on Nov. 7, 1980. And speaking of big wins and losses, Ronald Reagan had smothered Jimmy Carter with 489 electoral votes to Carter’s 49 only three days earlier.
Tech’s big victory was a 24-20 win over Texas on Nov. 1. When Dirk drew a character looking beaten up — such as the bandage and broken horn on the Longhorn here — the margin of victory generally was greater than four points, so he probably factored in the magnitude of the victory.
Unfortunately, the Red Raiders were stunned by TCU 24-17 on Nov. 8. It was the only win for the Horned Frogs in a 1-10 season.
When the Texas football team arrived in Lubbock a week earlier, Tech’s Saddle Tramps rolled out a red carpet at the airport to welcome the Horns. Texas coach Fred Akers and most of his players walked around the carpet, and some of the Longhorns spat tobacco juice on it. Lubbock Mayor Bill McAlister wrote a letter of complaint to Akers about it.
Notice the Rice Owl peeking out of the Cougar’s garbage can. The Owls had consecutive big wins over Texas A&M and Arkansas and were 4-4. Houston was 6-3 at the time.
The Boo Bird referred to a contest Dirk had to draw a face for Moss. The winning entry was published the next week and showed Moss bashfully holding his hands over his face.
Previous Dirk West Cartoons
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