Take a good look at this picture.
High school football? Nah, that's a bigger draw any night of the week in Texas.
Okay, how about Odessa Permian freshman football? Semi-pro arena league something-or-other? Punt, Pass and Kick competition?
Nope, nope and nope.
Now take a look at the endzone logo in this next picture.
Nation? Stephen Colbert has a football game?!
No! It's Texas vs. The Nation in the Alamodome. Remember, the game is always held the day before the Super Bowl.
'Member? You 'member.
Remember the game's organizer and promoter Kenny Hansmire saying that El Paso disrespected the NFL logo by only bringing 28,000 to the Sun Bowl for last year's game?
If you don't, here's the clip. Just click and play:
Honestly, each part of that whole cheesy spiel made me laugh.
"I got three phone calls from an owner's daughter, and you all can guess who that might be," was good. Did you hear the one about the traveling promoter and the owner's daughter?
The part about the NFL calling him three times was good, too, like Roger Goodell has Hansmire on speed dial.
But the kicker has to be the one about the Pro Football Hall of Fame's logo being disrespected.
Like El Paso hocked a loog on Canton's Hallowed Shield and ground it in with its heel. Like, in righteous anger, the football spirits of Mean Joe Greene, John Matuszak and Dick Butkus should then materialize, marauding and pillaging El Paso in slow-motion, NFL Films-style.
After Kenny's knee-jerk reaction he apologized to El Paso, but the damage was clearly done. Kenny then took his beloved Logo and planted it firmly on the Alamodome's field...where it has been promptly ignored by San Antonio and South Texas, as was predicted here last year.
We hate to say we told you so, Kenny, but...
No, wait. We don't hate to say it at all.
We told you so.
San Antonio's reaction is exactly what everyone expected.
The game worked in El Paso because we don't see a whole lot of large-scale events -- the kind Dallas, San Antonio and Houston see all the time.
But, remember? UTEP basketball was playing an important game in its conference title run that night.
Remember? El Pasoans were unsure about the weather.
Getting 28,000-plus under those circumstances is great for El Paso, and should be considered great for any football game that doesn't really matter.
Credit Hansmire for doing lots of heavy lifting to get sponsorship from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, visiting schools, bringing in big names and more. The man is a good promoter.
How good? Check out this piece by WFAA-TV investigative reporter Byron Harris. Harris singles out Hansmire in roughly the last third.
Wow, not only money from the city and county, but $1.1 million from the state?
Harris' story didn't get into Texas vs. The Nation's real economic impact in El Paso, but it was minimal.
The straw that might have broken the game's back here was City Council's insistence -- after Hansmire's outburst -- that public funding would be tied to how many actual hotel rooms were occupied by people present for the event. With that caveat, the game wouldn't have made much. The only "tourists" who traveled to this game were a few professional football people.
Hansmire loved to brag about how Texas vs. The Nation brought the NFL to El Paso -- scouts, assistant general managers and more.
But not only were there few recognizable NFL faces in El Paso hotel lobbies, of those football officials who were here, many in line for the continental breakfast went straight for the Canadian bacon.
National or Canadian Football League, there really weren't that many of them.
It still doesn't change that the game was something else to do here. Doesn't change that any national exposure -- whether its CBS for the Sun Bowl or CBS College Sports for Texas vs. The Nation -- is still national exposure.
This wasn't a raw deal for anybody. Until Hansmire made it a raw deal for himself.
If Hansmire thought this game could play in Texas cities east of here -- heck, if he thought it could ever out-grow El Paso -- all he has to do is look at those Alamodome snapshots.
Texas vs. The Nation, which started off in El Paso as the nation's most well-attended college all-star game despite the fact it had no stars, is now dying. You could feel it the moment you heard Hansmire's ill-advised words.
Remember, Kenny? Remember the Alamodome.
Touché! Well said Duke!
Posted by: Miner Mike | February 08, 2011 at 04:21 PM
well put - screw 'em!
Posted by: julio | February 08, 2011 at 04:22 PM
Good job Duke. Well said. Tired of people always trying to s@#$ on El Paso.
Posted by: strum | February 08, 2011 at 10:05 PM
Well put Duke. Just A thought thou, anybody know of any other events receiving those incentives? Sun-bowl or maybe the CUSA Tourney?
Posted by: Daniel Rey | February 08, 2011 at 11:37 PM
LOL! Thats what this prick gets! I actually didnt mind forking up the $10 to do something like this in El Paso when I lived there... Gave us something to do in early Feb besides bball...
Posted by: RocketScientist | February 09, 2011 at 09:53 AM
This Hansmire idiot burned his bridge here in El Paso. No way will we accept his apologize or accept his game and him back to El Paso. No way is the City Council falling for his scam.
Only 2,500 spectators went to the Alamodome to check out the scam of a game with their new name NFLPA which is not even endored by the REAL National Football Leauge. It's the NFLplayersassociation which is really nothing but a bunch of money hungry entities.
Texas vs the Nation failed just as the Hula Bowl did. They are now defunct. Hansmire has sunk himself.
Good
Posted by: Blues | February 09, 2011 at 11:19 AM
It's hilarious how they have on the center of the field the logo reading NFL PLAYERS Game. This scam has nothing to do with the REAL National Football League. The REAL National Football League should sue the NFLPA and Hansmire for false misrepresentation. False advertisment. The NFL WILL BE HERE is a load of crap. El Paso was beginning to take notice and San Antonio knew it that is why noone in San Antonio went to this scam of a game.
Hansmire time to go back to the drawing board. Changing the name did not do it. STRIKE 2. One more strike and then you are completely done for.
Posted by: Blues | February 09, 2011 at 11:24 AM
man el paso can show the nfl that it could be an nfl city cause we love our football. i live in vegas now and only a few high schools can fill the stands like they do in el paso even if that school had a losing record.
Posted by: jdog | February 09, 2011 at 12:36 PM
d ray, el paso is gona use the money they were giving to the game to have the neoen desert music festival downtown this spring. What people dont understan is this, UTEP basketball, Football, the diablos all have a high attendence compared to the enitire nation. people tend to look at the major teams and compare El Paso to that. But we need to look at national attendence and see that we do show up for games. Well said Duke...
Posted by: avagix | February 09, 2011 at 03:24 PM
Great article Duke, I live in San Antonio now and work for a local TV station and they were giving away tickets by the dozens and people here still refused to go. This douche got what he deserved...i'd love to hear what he has to say now and whether he has any balls to call out people in SA. Of course we probably will never hear him mutter a word about it because cowards usually hide when the s#*$ hits the fan.
Posted by: rj | February 11, 2011 at 05:25 PM
This guy Hansmire has such a huge ego that even though he screwed 2 cities in El Paso and San Antonio with his scam he will keep doing it again again so long as the city councils keep giving him the money and believe his lies that his scam of a game will have a great impact on the city. He tells the City councils that his scam of a game will bring in millions upon millions to the city.
Hansmire? No, Hanslire.
Hanslire has a vision, motivation, desire, passion to succeed though they are filled with lies to the people to try to get their. He is a crook in my eyes.
Posted by: It's_a_Scam | February 12, 2011 at 09:54 AM
I have to admit to be semi-pro that stadium looks pretty impressive and I bet that it can hold a lot of people.
Posted by: Host Pay Per Head | January 18, 2013 at 06:34 PM