Sports
The SEC’s prize for taking over the Texas-Oklahoma game: TV ratings, and corny dogs
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables has seen it all in his 15 trips to the Cotton Bowl for the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry game, long known as the Red River Shootout.
He remembers losing his first as a Sooners assistant 38-28 in 1999 but dominating the Longhorns 63-14 the next year en route to a national championship. There was Oklahoma 65, Texas 13 in 2003, the 12-0 “Red River Shutout” in 2004, and plenty of unpredictable swings and wild finishes since. The emotions, the big plays, the bus rides through the State Fair of Texas to the Cotton Bowl all make it special to him.
“It feels like time stands still,” Venables said.
But there’s one thing Venables has yet to do in this one-of-a-kind rivalry game: eat a Fletcher’s Corny Dog.
“I have never eaten anything at the fair other than what they bring me on the bus afterward,” he said.
To some Oklahoma and Texas fans, this revelation could qualify as heresy. Fletcher’s Corny Dogs, a staple of Texas’ state fair for more than 80 years, have become almost synonymous with the rivalry game. On Saturday morning, when the gates open at Dallas’ Fair Park and tens of thousands of crimson- or burnt-orange-clad fans wander onto the fairgrounds, many of them will make a beeline for a Fletcher’s stand.
Saturday will be the 120th meeting of the Sooners and Longhorns but their first as SEC members, more than three years after their shocking decision to leave the Big 12 went public. The series began in 1900, and Dallas became the game’s permanent home in 1929. After decades as a Big Eight-Southwest Conference clash followed by 28 years together in the Big 12, the spectacle of Red River, with the fried goodness of Fletcher’s in tow, is now part of the SEC’s portfolio.
“It’s part of the tradition for us,” said Nichole Williamson, a Texas alumnus and fan who has attended the game consistently since 2010. “I’m convinced if we don’t go have our corny dog before (the game) we’re going to lose, even though I’ve had it when they’ve lost and I’ve had it when they’ve won.”
“It goes along with the game,” said Trae Anderson, former president of the OU Club of Dallas. “It’s the first thing I’ve always done. You get your corny dog and a wax cup with the beverage of your choice, and that’s how you start. I don’t know of anybody that does anything else.”
Thousands of fans hit a Fletcher’s stand before entering the Cotton Bowl for the Red River rivalry’s renewal. (Courtesy of Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs)
The launch of Fletcher’s Corny Dogs was not an immediate success.
According to the company’s origin story, the first version of their corny dogs sold for 15 cents at a small stand at the 1942 State Fair of Texas. Neil and Carl Fletcher, brothers who were former Vaudeville performers, developed the concept four years earlier after seeing a local baker serve hot dogs baked in cornmeal in the shape of an ear of corn. The Fletchers decided to put a stick in the hot dogs and fry them to shorten the cooking process and make it easier to consume.
But when they opened their first stand at Fair Park, they had to cut the corny dogs in half and give away samples to convince fairgoers to try them. Forty-one years after their debut, Neil Fletcher told the New York Times that people would approach the stand, ask what it was and then walk away. “We didn’t make much money,” he said then.
Neil and Carl experimented with the cornmeal batter for more than a decade before coming up with the recipe that stuck. Once it did, it became a rousing success.
When Neil died in 1988, he left the business to his two sons, Neil Jr. and Bill Fletcher. Neil Jr., known as Skip, became “the Corny Dog King,” further elevating an already successful enterprise. In 1983, Fletcher’s sold an estimated 350,000 corny dogs at the State Fair of Texas. At the 2023 state fair, it sold 550,000.
But is a Fletcher’s Corny Dog really that different and special from a traditional corn dog? Red River attendees swear it is.
“It’s one of the staples of going to OU-Texas,” said former Oklahoma offensive lineman Gabe Ikard. “People buy them because they’re delicious. … The lines are absurd; don’t care. Gotta wait in it or recruit somebody who will wait in it for you.”
Count Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione as a Fletcher’s fan. When several vendors showed an interest in selling corn dogs at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, he knew there was only one that deserved to be there. So he instructed his staff to get in touch with the company.
“Someone with OU reached out to us several years ago and said their athletic director loves Fletcher’s and ‘What do I need to do to get Fletcher’s here?’” said Amber Fletcher, who now runs the company with her brother Aaron and cousin William. The partnership with Oklahoma began in 2021, and Fletcher’s has been sold at Sooners games ever since.
BOOMER!! Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs are NOW available for Sooner Football this fall at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium. Only the Best for the Best AD @soonerad ☝️ pic.twitter.com/e2qPuF9UXG
— Amber Fletcher (@AmberFletcher_) September 10, 2021
“I’m sure (the other corn dog vendors) were fine, but they weren’t Fletcher’s corn dogs,” Castiglione said.
The cooking process is simple. Hand-stick a traditional hot dog — Fletcher’s gets dogs made with custom spices — and dip it in the batter, which is made on-site from a proprietary, secret mix. Stick it in the fryer at 365 degrees for three minutes until it has the right texture and color. Then six inches of hot, crunchy, corn dog heaven are ready to eat.
“Everything is the same way my grandfather did it,” Amber Fletcher said.
Texas and Oklahoma fans have their traditions. Although Fletcher’s has seven locations on the fairgrounds, many fans have a preferred source: the Fletcher’s stand at Big Tex circle.
A 55-foot-tall cowboy figure, sporting a Dickie’s shirt and jeans with a 95-gallon hat and size 96 boots, Big Tex is known as the “official greeter” of the State Fair of Texas and has been a fixture at the fair since 1952. It’s customary to see fairgoers consuming their fried goods while sitting next to Big Tex or taking selfies with him in the background.
The Fletcher’s stand that is steps away from Big Tex will be staffed with 60 to 80 employees on Saturday to get the hordes of Sooners and Longhorns their corny dogs as quickly as possible.
Grant Pinkerton, a Texas alum and superfan who owns the renowned Texas barbecue joint Pinkerton’s Barbecue, makes it his first stop every year.
“We beeline it for that very Fletcher’s stand,” said Pinkerton, who went to his first Red River at 9 years old. “We all get at least one corn dog pregame. … Then I have a rule that if Texas wins, you have to go back and get a victory corn dog after the game. It doesn’t matter how hot or soaking wet you are.
“And if they don’t win, no friggin’ dogs after the game.”
Ikard has the same order every year: a Fletcher’s Corny Dog, a funnel cake and three wax cup beers. When he played, he’d have his parents get him one, though he said former coach Bob Stoops would let the players hang out at the fair for an hour if the Sooners won. Now Ikard, who calls Oklahoma games on the Sooner Sports Radio Network, has his wife secure his refreshments while he does the postgame show.
Cade McCrary, who played 51 games for the Longhorns from 2009 to ’13, said that after Texas beat Oklahoma in ’13, Mack Brown allowed players to stay in Dallas and enjoy the fair with their friends and families.
McCrary, who was the holder for Justin Tucker’s game-winning kick in Texas’ 2011 win over Texas A&M, said his victory corny dog was “the greatest taste in the world.”
“It’s the most unique rivalry game in college football,” McCrary said. “There may be others that are as big, but they’re not at the Texas state fair. There’s 100,000 people in the stadium and 200,000 people outside the stadium.”
Of the 550,000 corny dogs that were sold at least year’s state fair, which ran more than three weeks, 124,000 were sold on Red River weekend and 45,000 on game day alone.
Texas has joined Oklahoma in installing a Fletcher’s stand at home games. Drew Martin, Texas’ executive senior associate athletic director for external affairs, said he’s learned a lot about the culture of the game since first attending in 2018. Because less than half of a standard Texas home crowd can attend the game — the 92,000-seat Cotton Bowl is split evenly at the 50-yard line between Texas and Oklahoma fans — he wanted to bring part of the Red River experience to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. This year, for the first time, there’s a Fletcher’s Corny Dog stand at the “Smokey’s Midway” fan experience area outside of DKR and also a permanent stand inside the stadium.
“That’s a tried-and-true tradition for that game,” Martin said. “They can get a Fletcher’s Corny Dog just like they do at the state fair.”
The football game is only part of the State Fair of Texas festivities for many fans who descend on Dallas every fall. (Bryan Terry / The Oklahoman / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
It’s not just about the corny dogs. The attachment is borne out of good times shared with family and friends at the fair, rooting for the Longhorns or Sooners.
Williamson said her dad turned her on to Fletcher’s and she cherishes every trip to Red River with her father and husband. “He’s why I’m a Longhorn today,” she said.
Pinkerton’s parents met at the 1977 Red River Shootout as freshmen and later had their first date the night Earl Campbell won the Heisman Trophy. Pinkerton’s first trip was in 1998, as a 9-year-old. He still has a photo from it and remembers the T-shirt his dad bought him and the cooler temperatures. “I burned my mouth on some hot chocolate,” he said.
Anderson joked that he’s trying to teach his son about corny dogs to perpetuate the unhealthy tradition. “You’re in the middle of the fair, you’re not going to get sushi,” he said. Fletcher’s stands become meeting points before or after the game. “Every year you show up and see your friends you went to school with … and it’s something you end up sharing.”
Amber Fletcher and at least of a dozen of her family members plus 200 employees will have their hands full. “It’s the most incredible day,” she said. Amber, 37, has been going to the fair all her life. She has been part of the family business as long as she can remember, sticking dogs and serving up smiles. After Skip’s death in 2017, Amber has emerged as the face of Fletcher’s.
But she has never seen the game.
“I go to the game every year, but I’ve never seen the game,” she said. “I’ve been in the press boxes delivering corny dogs, and I may peek out to try to see the field, but then I’ve got to get back to work.
“Maybe one day when I retire, I’ll get a ticket and go watch the game. But we’re out doing what our family’s always done, which is serve corny dogs to the fairgoers.”
While fans gobble up the dogs outside the Cotton Bowl, the Longhorns and Sooners meet with plenty on the line. No. 1 Texas, which leads the all-time series 63-51-5, is one of just three teams unbeaten in SEC play entering Week 7. No. 18 Oklahoma, which made a quarterback change from Jackson Arnold to freshman Michael Hawkins Jr., would love to win its second straight over the Longhorns and remain in College Football Playoff contention.
Neither head coach has had a Fletcher’s Corny Dog. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Wednesday that in his three years coaching the Longhorns, he hasn’t had a chance to enjoy the state fair and all its trimmings. “Maybe if we win, I’ll try to find a corny dog or something,” he said.
Venables, who was seen running stadium steps in 99-degree heat this summer, said “my body might shut down if I eat one of those fried corn dogs” when encouraged by a reporter to try one.
But, Venables said, “If we get a W, I’m gonna have one.”
(Top photo courtesy of Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs)
The first half against unranked USC did not go so well for No. 4 Penn State, but the Nittany Lions got the second half started with a bang.
The Nittany Lions went deep into their playbook to score a wild touchdown.
At USC’s 32-yard line, Penn State had backup quarterback Beau Pribula take a snap from tight end Tyler Warren. Yes, a tight end snapped the ball.
Tyler Warren (44) of the Penn State Nittany Lions runs with the ball against the Maryland Terrapins at SECU Stadium Nov. 4, 2023, in College Park, Md. (G Fiume/Getty Images)
To make matters even more confusing, quarterback Drew Allar was lined up out wide, and the five offensive lineman were on the right side of Warren at the line of scrimmage.
The Lions seemed to be in a normal football formation, until everyone moved all over the place. Out of nowhere, Warren was snapping the ball with no linemen to his left.
So, Warren snapped it to Pribula, who threw a backward pass to Allar on his left. Then, Warren (remember, he hiked the ball) ran straight, and Allar hit him in the end zone for a wild touchdown catch.
The broadcast team said it looked like a “flag football” play.
Drew Allar of the Penn State Nittany Lions throws during the first half of a game against the USC Trojans at United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Oct. 12, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Ric Tapia/Getty Images)
OLE MISS RESPONDS TO ALLEGATIONS OF THEIR PLAYERS FAKING INJURIES AHEAD OF BIG GAME AGAINST LSU
Warren also lined up at quarterback and running back in the game, making work a little more fun for offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.
Penn State headed into the locker room at halftime trailing 20-6, but the trick play got momentum back on their side, and the game was tied at 20 at the time of publishing.
Penn State tight end Tyler Warren (44) is tackled by Southern California defensive tackle Gavin Meyer (91) during the first half Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
This is the highest Penn State has been ranked by the AP since they were No. 4 entering Week 6 of the 2021 season. USC has had a rude welcome to the Big Ten, losing road games to Michigan and Minnesota.
If USC can fight back, though, it would be the program’s biggest win in quite some time.
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As Dodgers fans, our fears of nonexistent hitting and flat pitching that plagued too many Dodgers postseasons were finally laid to rest by eliminating the San Diego Padres. And, to our pleasant surprise, not only did the Dodgers bats come alive when needed most, but who would have thought that a thin starting pitching rotation and a yet-unproven bullpen in postseason play would completely shut down a top-five-hitting lineup for 24 consecutive innings!
Both were welcome signs that catapulted the Dodgers to a deeper playoff run than seasons past. Continue!
Rick Solomon
Lake Balboa
::
Having finally disposed of the annoying Padres, our Dodgers can now set their sights on the Mets, who have been the surprise of the playoffs. Then, if things go as expected, it’s the Dodgers vs. the Yankees in the World Series, and who wouldn’t want to see that again? Baseball, at last, restored to its glorious past.
Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates
::
2017: Yu Darvish loses winner-take-all, series-deciding game at Dodger Stadium after surrendering multiple home runs.
2024: Yu Darvish loses winner-take-all, series-deciding game at Dodger Stadium after surrendering multiple home runs.
Amazing how the more things change, the more they remain the same!
Nick Rose
Newport Coast
::
Kiké Hernández brings great energy in playoff games. He is a catalyst to release the pressure for his teammates. He must play every playoff game. And his scoop at third base for the final out was spectacular. That ball could’ve easily skipped through for a double.
David Waldowski
Laguna Woods
::
This Dodgers Game 5 NLDS victory has been brought to you by Hernandez Bros. Demolition Co. “Tearing down San Diego since 2024.”
Axel W. Kyster
Bradbury
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Against all odds, Wednesday night’s combined shutout against a hot Padres team was an incredible achievement by the Dodger bullpen and a masterstroke by manager Dave Roberts.
If our season ultimately ends in disappointment and someone’s head should roll it should be Andrew Friedman’s for throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at fragile pitchers who cannot go the distance and overseeing a pitching program that blows out far too many young, promising arms!
David Reynolds
Marysville
Sports
Tennis player association led by Novak Djokovic calls anti-doping processes ‘broken’ in letter
The cold war between tennis players and the sport’s integrity authority grew several degrees hotter this week, as the leading but nascent organizing body for tennis players directly questioned the methods by which tennis polices doping and corruption.
In a letter addressed to Karen Moorehouse, the chief executive of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) and seen by The Athletic, Ahmad Nassar, the executive director of the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), alleged that ITIA investigators have on occasion seized the personal mobile phones of players, harassed their families and threatened players with sanctions and suspensions unless they immediately do what is being demanded of them.
“The reports we have received demonstrate that the ITIA’s investigative process is broken, and that ITIA investigators are abusing their roles,” Nassar wrote.
“While we would hope that these incidents violate the ITIA’s investigative protocols, given the prevalence of complaints, we believe there are flaws at the core of how the ITIA conducts itself,” he added.
Nassar, who leads the PTPA alongside Djokovic, told The Athletic that more than 10 players have contacted the PTPA in recent months to allege aggressive treatment by ITIA investigators.
One player alleged that investigators demanded he turn over his phone and threatened to provisionally suspend him if he contacted a lawyer before doing so. Other players alleged that they were threatened with public disclosure of a provisional suspension without any clear, established grounds for a sanction. These players cannot be identified as doing so would reveal their being under ITIA investigation.
The PTPA did not disclose whether these allegations related to anti-doping offences or anti-corruption offences, and a footnote in Nassar’s letter characterized an investigator as “all individuals acting under the control of the ITIA.”
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In a statement to The Athletic issued through Adrian Bassett, the chief spokesperson for the ITIA, the agency characterized the allegations as “serious, yet generic,” and said that it would investigate any specified allegations of improper behavior.
“It is currently our belief that ITIA investigators work according to the rules, with respect and reflecting our values,” it said.
The agency added that the procedures for issuing a provisional suspension are clearly described in its list of rules regarding anti-doping and anti-corruption, and said that it does not take lightly the decision to take a player’s mobile phone. “It must be necessary, proportionate and lawful. We will not request a device without full consideration of both the intelligence received, and the impact it will have on an individual.”
According to people involved in crafting the letter to the ITIA, who spoke on condition of anonymity to outline the process, the letter marked a change in the PTPA’s strategy in how it engages with the most powerful organizations in tennis.
Nassar copied law firm Weil, Gotshal and Manges, which has acted on behalf of the N.F.L. Players Association and the National Basketball Players Association, on the letter. The PTPA has now retained the firm to represent the organization and to explore potential litigation and other challenges to the governing bodies that have controlled tennis for the past half-century — the ATP and WTA Tours, and the four Grand Slam tournaments, all of which were copied on the letter. It has also hired James Quinn, a former Weil partner and sports antitrust attorney.
Ahmad Nassar has been executive director of the PTPA since summer 2022. ( Ilya S. Savenok / Getty Images for PTPA)
The challenges to the sport’s power structure could take many forms according to Quinn and the involved with crafting the ITIA letter. They include possible antitrust lawsuits, and pleas to the U.S. Congress and other governmental entities.
“You look at tennis and how it treats players and it’s basically pre-Neanderthal,” Quinn said in an interview Thursday. “This is an antitrust fire zone.”
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Nassar’s letter to the ITIA, which requested an initial response by October 15, includes questions about the qualifications and compensation of investigators and doping control officers charged with collecting urine from players for drug tests.
It also asks how the ITIA balances the legal principle of presumption of innocence with its suspension system, in which a player who does not successfully appeal the provisional suspension that comes with a positive doping test is named and banned from the sport while the full ITIA investigation into their test is conducted.
Nassar also asked for clarity on the nature of the evidence the ITIA requires to begin an investigation, whether into doping or anti-corruption, which can include match fixing and spot betting by players or umpires.
“Players sign up to these to be part of events run by our funders (ATP, WTA, Grand Slams and ITF),” the ITIA said.
“Provisional suspensions cannot be issued without due cause, there is a strict process which is adhered to, and an independent appeal process for players.”
The letter comes on the heels of two significant developments for the ITIA.
Last Saturday October 5, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced that it would appeal the ITIA’s decision not to suspend men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner for two anti-doping violations.
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Sinner twice tested positive for clostebol in March, but an independent hearing convened by the ITIA found that Sinner bore “no fault or negligence” for those positive tests. The tribunal accepted his explanation that he had been contaminated by a healing spray purchased by his trainer, Umberto Ferrara. Sinner’s physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi, used the spray on a cut on his hand and then subsequently gave Sinner a massage on his back and applied treatments to his feet, through which Sinner was contaminated.
WADA, which sits above the ITIA is seeking “a period of ineligibility of between one and two years,” in which the two-time Grand Slam champion would be banned from playing tennis. The WADA appeal is now being overseen by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
On Thursday October 10, CAS released the written reasons for its decision to reduce the ITIA’s banning of former women’s world No. 1 Simona Halep from four years to nine months. The large discrepancy between CAS and the ITIA’s conclusions, and perceptions of Sinner’s treatment being favorable, have further roiled players’ impressions of the body that governs integrity in their sport.
Simona Halep earlier this month played in Hong Kong after her return to tennis was derailed by injury. (Yu Chun Christopher Wong / Eurasia Images via Getty Images)
“It’s quite obvious that we have a system that is not working well,” Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion, said during a news conference in Shanghai. “There’s way too many inconsistencies, way too many governing bodies involved, and, you know, just this whole case is not helping our sport at all.”
Djokovic is a founding member of the PTPA, the organization he and others created four years ago to give players a united voice independent of the two tours, the ATP and the WTA. He is among many players, not all of them PTPA members, who have grown frustrated with the tennis status quo, despite the existence of ATP and WTA player councils which are designed to engage the players with the machinations of the sport which they show off to the world.
“We acknowledge it is not pleasant for players to be under investigation for alleged wrongdoing; however, it is our job to investigate matters thoroughly – to protect everyone in the sport, including PTPA members,” the ITIA said.
Nassar’s letter concurs — to a point.
“The players want a game defined by fair play and integrity, but they do not deserve to be subject to arbitrary and overbearing investigative mistreatment,” he wrote.
(Top photo: Hector Ratamal / AFP via Getty Images)
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