TCU-Baylor Hate Week Leads Up To Sold-Out Brawl for Frogs and Bears

Once upon a time, there were two universities playing football in the same town, Waco, Texas.  One had fled Hell's Half-Acre in Fort Worth, while the other had begun in Waco.

Both were religious schools, although one adhered to the Disciples of Christ rather than the more common Baptist faith.

One started playing football in 1896 and had five wins before the other began in 1899.

And so when Baylor started up a football team, it played TCU in 1899 and the game ended in a tie, one of seven in the series.

And while Baylor would not lose to TCU until the eleventh meeting, the series now stands at 49-49-7.

TCU moved back to Fort Worth after a fire burned down the school.

And soon TCU began to dominate the series, as the Frogs rose to the level of national contenders and receiving national notoriety.

As the Frogs faded in the 1970s, Baylor rose and began to dominate the series, winning 18 of the last 24 meetings in Southwest Conference play.

Of course, it was the demise of the Southwest Conference that transformed a nice rivalry into true hatred.

As Texas looked for greener pastures and decided on killing the Southwest Conference and moving to join with the Big 8, significant Baylor alums and boosters got wind of the situation and worked with Texas Tech boosters to secure a spot for the Bears and the Red Raiders a stop in the new Big 12.

And while the role of Texas governor Ann Richards, a Baylor alum, has been exaggerated by folklore (other Baylor alums played a much larger role in the issue), it has been largely established that TCU would likely have garnered a spot before either Texas Tech or Baylor but for the political efforts.

So, TCU generated a substantial amount of hatred towards Baylor over being left behind to rot in the wastelands of college football.

Baylor would go on to get the big paychecks from being a member of one the major conferences of college football, while TCU would be left to find new conferences in which to find success.

TCU used this slight for motivation ever since to rebuild both the football program and the university.

The TCU of 2010 is little like the TCU of the Southwest Conference. 

But Baylor fans and coaches have ridiculed TCU ever since the day that politicians saved Baylor.

Baylor coaches have disparaged TCU to potential recruits, telling them that they would never get to play in a BCS game if they went to TCU.

Likewise, Baylor fans have continued to hold up their Big 12 status as if the Bears had something to do with the success of Oklahoma and Texas besides being a cupcake on their schedules.

When it looked like Texas was going to ditch Baylor and go to the Pac-16, rumors began following that Baylor was going to finally get its just reward and be blacklisted by both the MWC and C-USA.

Of course, Baylor, even with all of its Big 12 money, has been horrible since leaving the SWC.

Baylor has just 14 conference wins in 14 years in the Big 12.

Baylor coaches get run so quickly after years of failure that college football prognosticator Phil Steele has coined the verb "to Baylor," which describes when a small program keeps replacing coaches too fast and expecting too much improvement in a short time.

Current Baylor coach Art Briles is the fifth coach of the Bears since they joined the Big 12.

Briles came from Houston and brought his star recruit, QB Robert Griffin III (or RGIII to his fans). 

RGIII has potential to make Michigan's very dangerous young QB Denard Robinson an after-thought, although injuries have slowed him down significantly.

And while Baylor comes to Fort Worth 2-0, those wins came over two cupcakes. 

Unfortunately for Baylor, the Bears are the Frogs' next cupcake to eat.

Baylor will find something in Fort Worth that it never experienced as a member of the Southwest Conference, a sold out Amon G. Carter Stadium.

Frog fans will be packing the house and standing-room only tickets are on sale.

In the end, the Bears will be seeing a purple haze, as TCU should win this one 45-10.