Mike Celizic

As you may have heard, there’s no cheering in the press box, but I’m going to make an exception. From now until at least Sept. 8, I am the world’s biggest Texas Christian University fan.

I’ve got their Internet site, gofrogs.cstv.com/sports, bookmarked on my computer. I’m getting e-mail updates on the football team. I even found out where it’s located — it’s in Fort Worth — and checked out the campus on Google Earth — it’s flat.

It’s the least I can do for the purple and white, the little school that can blow the BCS to smithereens. On Sept. 8, the Horned Frogs, who come into the season ranked No. 20 by MSNBC.com and No. 22 by the Associated Press, take on the Texas Longhorns, who we have ranked No. 6 and other services have even higher.

TCU plays in the Mountain West Conference, which isn’t a BCS conference and thus doesn’t get the respect other teams do. But Texas is in the Big 12, a BCS conference, and it’s ranked in the Top 10. So if TCU wins, the Frogs have to be considered as a Top 10 school, and if it runs the table in the Mountain West (Memo to conference rival BYU: Do the right thing and let TCU win.), it’s going to be really hard to argue that one of those big conference one-loss teams belongs in the championship game ahead of TCU.

Of course, the BCS will make precisely that argument, which will touch off a chorus of complaint that will be heard by astronauts orbiting in the International Space Station. It’s exactly what we need just at a time when the stewards of the BCS, who match Dick Cheney in arrogance and outrank him in gall, have confirmed their intention of depriving college football fans of a playoff and a legitimate champion.

So, if you think as highly of the BCS as I do — and I place it right up there with people who drive 50 mph in the freeway’s left lane and golfing partners who spend five minutes plumb-bobbing their fourth putt — then I strongly urge you to join me in singing the TCU fight song during your morning and evening commutes.

The Horned Frogs, or “Horny Toads,” as Yosemite Sam would call them, are the BCS’s worst nightmare — a second-tier team in a non-BCS conference that has a chance not only to run the table, but also to lay a genuine claim to a No. 1 ranking.

Remember how much fun it was last year watching Boise State crash through their schedule without a loss? We dearly wished that the Broncos could have played Florida for the championship — and we doubly wished it after we saw the pathetic performance Ohio State managed — but the BCS nabobs could with justification argue that Boise State didn’t play any highly-ranked BCS teams and thus couldn’t claim to be as good as teams that played in tough conferences. It also didn't help that Boise State had plenty of ground to make up after not being ranked at all in the preseason polls.

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We’ve got no such problems with the Horned Frogs, thanks to their Sept. 8 meeting in the season’s second game with Texas. If the No. 22 Horny Toads hook them 'Horns, there are no legitimate arguments against TCU.

What makes the cheering worthwhile is that the Frogs actually have a shot at beating the Longhorns. They have nine starters returning to the nation’s second-ranked defense, and they have five starters, including most of the offensive line, returning to a rushing attack that last year was the nation’s ninth-best.

They’ve also got a coach, Gary Patterson, who has done a marvelous job of recruiting and has averaged nine wins a season over his six years in Fort Worth. His defensive coordinator, Dick Bumpas, runs an innovative 4-2-5 defense and is considered one of the game's better strategists.

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Now all they need is the knowledge that they’re going to have a nationwide fan base cheering them on — even in the press box — and singing their fight song.

I don’t know the tune yet, but I’m sure it’s as catchy as a cold in a kindergarten. While I’m looking for it, I’ll content myself with the lyrics:

“We'll raise a song, both loud and long
To cheer our team to victory.
For TCU, so tried and true,
We pledge eternal loyalty.
Fight on boys, fight with all your might Roll up the scores for TCU.
Hail white and purple flag
Whose heroes never lag,
Horned Frogs, we are all for you.”

Go Horny Toads!

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