Dear UTEP Fans,

I hope you are doing well after Saturday night's tough loss to a very good team. At least the Cowboys won on Sunday. I'm sure that eased your pain a bit.

I must compliment every one of you for a fantastic turnout and for turning the UTEP campus into an incredible college game day experience. I have never seen that kind of enthusiasm for UTEP football. The Texas fans were very impressed with our massive tailgate.

I want to congratulate you on your manners. I saw plenty of Texas Longhorn fans tailgating right next to you Miner fans and you were on your best behavior. I saw no fighting or bickering. Most all of the ribbing was in good fun and added to the electric atmosphere.

The Longhorn fans I were able to chat with really liked us. They loved the food, the drink and the people. They especially loved the food. Kudos to you UTEP fans who shared your descada and other El Paso staples with our out of town friends. I gave one group of guys directions to Downtown so they could buy a disc and a burner to take back to Austin. They were eager to try and recreate our cuisine at their next tailgate in Austin, which play into my strategy of making the rest of Texas more like us instead of being more like them.

Our team played well considering the competition. I have nothing but respect for the Miners after they put up six unanswered points to start the game and ran all over the Texas defense. It wasn't a win, but it was a good showing. I got lots of text messages from friends watching around the country who indicated that they thought Trevor Vittatoe was the "real deal." Overall, a great game.

However, not all things were perfect. I must bring a few things to your attention.

Did you guys happen to see the cops on the Segways? Yeah, they didn't see me. I needed that toe to continue walking the rest of the day.

We all could have done without the very drunk guy hanging around the stadium entrance at the Durham Center telling all the pretty girls that he could introduce them to his friend the "professional fighter."

The next time we have a game this big they need to commandeer every porta-potty in the city and place them in and around UTEP. Thank you to the folks who got each of my tires in the parking garage of all places. I weep for the bushes on campus.

I noticed a bouncer at O2 Lounge carry an extremely intoxicated girl out of the bar and set her down outside the door. Instead of her puking in your bar, she puked outside of the door and let everyone track it into the bar one piece at a time. You defeated yourself on that one.

Thank you very much to the folks with the ice luge behind Mesa Street Bar and Grille. If you look up the phrase "good times" in the dictionary you'll see it's defined as sticking your lips on a block of ice while they pour assorted liquors down your throat. Judging by the line to receive a shot from the ice luge I'd say you had at least 500 people participate. There's nothing like getting herpes to remember what a good time you had.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Thank you to the couple who climbed all the way up to the top of the mountain to watch the game. You didn't have money for a ticket, but you had the determination to climb the hill and sit on a hard rock to cheer on your Miners. While you two were out of reach from security, you weren't out of reach from the camera lens.

The TV cameras wanted to reward your determination to watch the game by putting you on live TV. You could have shared a kiss, a hug or even waved for your first NATIONAL TV APPEARANCE. Instead you ended up as the next big viral video on the net and the only thing many people will remember about UTEP's biggest home game ever.

Only in El Paso.

Love,

David Karlsruher